Zerbst Castle

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The east wing of Zerbst Castle, as it was in 2014

The Zerbst Castle in the city of Zerbst in Saxony-Anhalt was the residential palace of the Princes of Anhalt-Zerbst . It was badly damaged in World War II and then largely removed. Since 2005, the Friends of Zerbst Castle has taken measures to rebuild the important baroque building.

The first castle complex

Tower of the first castle complex next to St. Bartholomäi

The castle in Zerbst is based on a Slavic moated castle from the 12th century. The Ascanian and Margrave of Brandenburg Albrecht the Bear had a new castle built in place of the Slavic moated castle. The complex, which was mentioned for the first time in 1196, consisted of a front and a main castle and was surrounded by a moat and fortress wall. To the east of it a castle settlement with the Bartholomäus Church , consecrated in 1215, was built . Its bell tower ( thick tower ), which is now free-standing, still comes from this fortification.

The Ascanian Margraves of Brandenburg enfeoffed the Lords of Barby with the castle, town and surrounding area. In 1307 Albrecht I von Anhalt acquired this fief from them. With this, the castle and town came under the rule of the Anhalt Askanier line, whose headquarters were Köthen Castle . Sigismund I was co-regent with his brothers in Köthen until 1396 and afterwards became prince in Dessau and Zerbst as a result of an inheritance, but resided in Dessau. Only his great-grandson Johann IV received Anhalt-Zerbst in a renewed division of the estate as an independent principality in 1544.

The castle was constantly rebuilt and enlarged over the years and developed into a Ganerbeburg with several individual houses for the various branches of the family until the 16th century . Roßlau Castle on the Elbe, which was also in the Zerbst principality, also served as the family seat . From 1603, parts of the building had to be renewed and extensively repaired, as the castle was in an almost dilapidated condition at that time. In 1618 the high castle tower was removed. Although the castle survived the Thirty Years' War without being destroyed, the maintenance of the buildings was neglected, so that the complex was largely uninhabitable in the second half of the 17th century.

The residence of the House of Anhalt-Zerbst

Aerial view of the undestroyed Zerbster Castle

Prince Karl Wilhelm decided to build a contemporary new building for his residence and commissioned the Dutchman Cornelis Ryckwaert with the work. For this purpose, the northern parts of the building of the old castle were first demolished, the material obtained was used to fill the foundation, the southern parts of the building were partially integrated into the new castle. A typical baroque , three-wing complex with a courtyard was planned , which was stylistically based on Dutch models. The foundation stone was laid on May 31, 1681. The shell of the Corps de Logis was completed in 1689, the decoration and finishing work dragged on until 1696. The inauguration of the main building of the castle took place on June 23, 1696, the cost of the construction project was estimated at 57,000 thalers at that time .

From 1703 to 1706 the west wing was built under the direction of Ryckwaert's successor Giovanni Simonetti , who was to house the palace chapel, among other things. Work on expanding the chapel was to continue until 1719. From 1721, the central projection of the Corps de Logis was expanded into a castle tower with a baroque hood. In 1743 the remains of the old castle were finally removed and the east wing was built in its place from 1744. With the completion of the work on the shell in 1746, the castle finally received its planned shape. The interiors of the new wing were decorated in the Frederician Rococo style . The multi-flight staircase in the east wing with wrought-iron rococo railings, which Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff supposedly designed, was particularly magnificent .

Since the ruling Prince Friedrich August had to go into exile in Basel due to a dispute with Frederick the Great , construction work came to a standstill in 1758. The exterior of the castle was completed at that time; only the second floor of the east wing remained undeveloped and should remain so until the establishment of the castle museum in these rooms. From 1750 the princess mother Johanna Elisabeth had the new Dornburg Castle built on the Elbe as a widow's residence in order to have a baroque residence à la mode appropriate for the reception of her imperial and royal relatives (her daughter, the Tsarina Katharina the Great , however, never came Visit, nor her brother, King Adolf Friedrich of Sweden); after the princess went into exile with her son, the castle was orphaned.

Farmhouse parlor on display in the castle museum, 1935 or earlier

The castle Zerbst was after the expiry mostly empty of Zerbst royal house. In 1872 the ducal house and state archive was set up in the Corps de Logis. In 1881 the tower burned down; he was then restored to his old form. The castle museum was opened in 1921, and some municipal institutions, such as the Zerbst tax office, moved into the empty rooms.

The "Reitbahn", today the town hall

On April 16, 1945, the castle was hit by bombs and then burned down completely. The valuable, preserved interior was destroyed, as were the exhibits in the museum and the documents in the State Archives. A reconstruction of the castle, still standing in its foundation walls, would have been possible, but this was rejected due to political decisions, so the corps de logis and the west wing were blown up, and only the ruins of the east wing remained.

Some memories of the former appearance and size of the residence have been preserved on the castle grounds. Immediately next to the castle is the former riding arena, a baroque building from 1724 that once served as a covered tournament area and now houses the town hall. Parts of the castle park and some outbuildings have also been preserved. The park was once laid out as a baroque garden and was converted into a landscape park around 1798. There were also practical reasons for this, as the old baroque broderies and lawns had long been left to their own devices and the former structure could no longer be recognized.

Backup and reconstruction

Since 2005, the Friends of Zerbst Castle has started security and reconstruction work. The aim is to faithfully restore the external appearance of the east wing of the palace. A new overall concept was presented in September 2016.

See also

literature

  • Dirk Herrmann: Zerbst Castle in Anhalt. Schnell & Steiner publishing house, Regensburg 2005.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. Aims of the Friends 'Association Website of the Friends' Association Schloss Zerbst
  2. Zerbster Castle: A Vision for the Castle , Volksstimme , September 11, 2016

Coordinates: 51 ° 57 '50 "  N , 12 ° 4' 54.5"  E