Weihersberg Castle

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Weihersberg Castle (2015)

The listed Weihersberg Castle (formerly called Zessau or Neu Zessau , but then renamed Weihersberg in 1489, i.e. the castle on the mountain, at the foot of which is a large pond) is located in the Weihersberg district of the Upper Palatinate municipality of Trabitz in the Neustadt an der district Waldnaab of Bavaria (Weihersberg 1).

history

The Weihersberg estate has always been considered a Leuchtenberg fief , initially with reference to Zessau . In 1425 it came to Hans Löneiß auf Kaibitz as the marriage property of a daughter of Ulrich Erlbeck and then remained in the possession of this Upper Palatinate noble family until about the middle of the 16th century. From the Löneiß family are attested: 1466 Hans Löneiß and around 1471 his son of the same name Hans Löneiß . He was probably the builder of today's Weihersberg Castle, which at the time was called New Zeissaw in a document . Around 1477, but no later than 1489, Sigmund Löneiß is mentioned, who already uses the Weihersberg suffix. Hieronimus Löneiß resides here from 1507 to around 1548 .

In November 1563 Hans von der Grün bought the Weihersberg estate from him. After the death of Hans von der Grün on March 5, 1585 Weihersberg came to his two sons Johann Christoph von der Grün , who later became electoral chancellor of Heidelberg, and Philipp Jakob von der Grün , who had been in office since 1602 as the district judge and curator of the Palatinate office of Waldeck . These two brothers had with her brother Hans also Trautenberg and Burggrub ; In 1613 they left both properties to Hans as the sole owner. Christoph and Philipp Jakob died in quick succession and in 1628 the heirs of Philipp Jakob are registered on Weihersberg . A daughter of Philipp Jakobs von der Grün married Hans Wilhelm Heinitz von Hirschberg from Bohemia , who from then on belonged to Weihersberg's heirs uxore nomine . His brother-in-law Hans von der Grün , son of Philipp Jakobs , was enfeoffed with the estate and seat of Weihersberg by Elector Maximilian on August 19, 1626, but he too died before 1628. The widow of Hans von der Grün , Sabine Elisabeth, née von Thürling , was not of Catholic faith and was asked to become Catholic in the course of the Counter Reformation . At the end of October 1628, because of the ordered transfer, she asked for an extension of the date until the coming Easter festival, since she did not know how to get by in winter and there was no prospect of a buyer for the sale of the property. In February 1629 she and her children, including four between the ages of eight and fifteen, were expelled. Even in 1635, all efforts by Sabine Elisabeth von der Grün to return to Weihersberg were unsuccessful. Since they kept their daughters with the enemy in pastures and their sons in real enemy pay , charges were brought against them for rebellion and the property was confiscated.

Finally, Hans Wilhelm Heinitz von Hirschberg , who had been one of Grün's heirs since 1625, bought the Weihersberg estate. This remained - with a short interruption - in the hands of the Hirschbergers into the 21st century. The owners of this family are: 1696 Johann Christoph Erdmann von Hirschberg (from the Schwarzenreuth line), 1707 Johann Christoph Gottfried von Hirschberg's heirs, namely Veit Christoph Gottfried von Hirschberg , 1709 Johann Christoph Erdmann von Hirschberg , 1747 Heinrich Ernst Ludwig von Hirschberg , 1748 Georg Carl Adam von Hirschberg , in 1762 Christine Eleonore von Hirschberg is named after her son Karl Heinrich von Hirschberg as the landlady, in 1778 Karl Heinrich von Hirschberg , later the Grand Ducal Chamberlain and royal Bavarian State Directorate in Würzburg, took over the property. In 1803 the jurisdiction was exercised as a local court, in 1819 a first class patrimonial court was established here, which was converted into a second class patrimonial court in 1831. Bernhard von Hirschberg lived here around 1871 , followed by his son Otto von Hirschberg , who died early in 1912. For this reason Weihersberg came to Otto's cousin, namely Bernhard Karl von Hirschberg . In 1933 he sold Weihersberg to his relative Felix Graf von Hirschberg . In 1961 this Weihersberg had to be sold.

It was followed by Arno Wothe from 1961–1996 , a dentist from Berlin and later his community of heirs. In 1996 Lutz Volker Freiherr von Hirschberg bought Weihersberg Castle back and has lived there with his family ever since.

Weihersberg Castle today

After the last takeover of ownership, the castle made a neglected impression from the outside; this particularly affected the facade, the windows and the mighty roof structure. The masonry itself could be described as satisfactory due to the strong outer walls and the well-preserved inner walls. The renovation work began in 2001 with the support of the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation and it was completed in 2003 in the outdoor area. For structural reasons it was necessary to raise the roof by three meters, which means that the appearance of the castle is as it was in the oldest pictures.

Today the castle is a three-storey pitched roof building with a polygonal stair tower facing south ; a three-storey wing with a flat gable roof extends to the north. Some of the building has late Gothic window frames , the core of the castle dates back to the 16th century. A coat of arms stone bears the year 1766. The castle wall with arrow slits and remains of defensive towers is still there today. It is made of quarry stone and dates from the Middle Ages . A draw well with a shaft made of sandstone blocks probably goes back to the 17th century.

Directly on the road from Pressath to Kemnath , at the beginning of the village Weihersberg, the castle chapel, which is dedicated to Franz von Paola , is on the right . In the 18th century it was supposed to be relocated to the Schlossberg, which was forbidden by the Vatican . Pope Benedict XIV issued the consecration certificate for the original round chapel in 1752 with the stipulation that it should be built on the street so that it was also accessible to people passing by. In 1871 it was given a square porch. In 1995 it was renovated both inside and outside through the efforts of the Pressath parish priest Ludwig Bock .

A representative holm oak avenue , which was laid out in 1888 by Bernhard Freiherr von Hirschberg , leads from the beginning of the village to the castle . Originally there were exactly 200 oak trees, 88 of which are still there today. Oak avenues are very rare and are therefore considered a protected landscape component .

The castle is privately owned and is not open to the public.

literature

  • Heribert Sturm: Kemnath. District judge Waldeck-Kemnath with sub-office Pressath (p. 170ff). (= Historical Atlas of Bavaria, part of Altbayern issue 40). Commission for Bavarian State History, Verlag Michael Lassleben, Munich 1975, ISBN 3-7696-9902-5 .

Web links

Commons : Schloss Weihersberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 49 ° 47 ′ 10.2 "  N , 11 ° 55 ′ 35.7"  E