Zwingen Castle

Zwingen Castle
Main castle Zwingen Castle with chapel, wooden bridge and core castle (2009)
Creation time :	around 1260
Castle type :	Moated castle
Conservation status:	Well preserved parts
Place:	To force
Geographical location	47 ° 26 '15.6 "  N , 7 ° 31' 37.3"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 26 '15.6 "  N , 7 ° 31' 37.3"  E ; CH1903:  606669  /  254102
Height:	340  m above sea level M.

The castle Force is at the heart of the medieval city founded in forcing Laufental in the Swiss canton of Basel-Land .

location

Zwingen Castle is located between Basel and Delsberg in the middle of the Birs river - where wood was cut - and on the way through the Laufental valley at that time . From Zwingen train station, Zwingen Castle can be reached in five minutes on foot.

investment

The whole system was built on islands in the Birs river . However, the branches of the Birs, which still flowed through in the Middle Ages, fell dry or were drained between the islands. After all, the entire complex is still surrounded by the Birs. The overall design corresponds to a compromise between a castle and a town foundation: Wohl one hand Burg characteristic features such as a keep provided on the other hand, the system is created by the size of the square walled forth for the creation of a settlement.

Vorburg (Eastern Island)

Eastern outer bailey of Zwingen Castle (2009)

The eastern outer bailey is dominated by the gate tower with its crenellated crown . This Ramsteiner tower protected the access from the path towards Basel. The original drawbridge over this arm of the Birs was replaced by a stone bridge. Considerable parts of the Bering are still standing, and a shell tower reinforces the south-eastern corner of the wall (see picture).

A covered wooden bridge connects the outer bailey with the main part of the complex. This historic wooden bridge is one of the few that still largely consists of the original timber. The Birsarm, which used to pass under the bridge, has now fallen dry, but is still easy to see.

Wooden bridge in Zwingen Castle (2009)

Main Castle (Middle Islands)

The main castle is dominated by the approximately oval core castle . This originally stood on its own small island, which can no longer be recognized as such today. The round keep, which protrudes from the top of the main castle today, represents the first essential construction step. Later various buildings were attached directly to it. Today these additions have all merged with the keep and form the core castle. On the north side of the main castle there were previously several toilet bays, which the Birs used as natural flushing water.

The two gates of the main castle have disappeared, but considerable pieces of their ring are still present on the central islands. The Oswald Chapel is located in the southeast corner of the main castle . The space within the Bering was never completely built over, which is seen as an indication of the failure of the city to be founded.

The municipality of Zwingen is housed in a building that has probably been changed over time, but still contains a number of medieval structures.

Municipal administration Zwingen (2009)

Western island

The rift between the central islands and the western island was artificially leveled. This western island was probably never included in the complex. Due to the heavy commercial and industrial use, only a few traces would have been preserved. However, it can be safely stated that the paper mill, as the owner of Zwingen Castle, has a major share in the current good condition of the facility.

history

No documents have been received about the construction period. The oldest parts are dated after the middle of the 13th century. The barons of Ramstein are documented in 1312 as the owners of the complex, which was a fiefdom of the Bishop of Basel . The Ramsteiners came to power and influence as episcopal ministerials . They will have pushed the expansion into a small town in order to be able to compete with the episcopal city foundation in Laufen and to further develop their own power. This even went so far that, as partisans of the Habsburgs , they harassed the bishop. The main reason for the failure of the city to be founded - including the halt in the construction of further buildings inside the complex - is likely to be the successful assertion of the interests of the Bishop of Basel . When the Ramsteiners died out with Rudolf von Ramstein, who had no legitimate sons, the bishop withdrew the fiefdom in the 15th century and had it administered by a bailiff . Sigismund von Roggenbach was born in 1726 at Zwingen Castle.

Major modifications were made in the 16th and 17th centuries, for example the Oswald Chapel was rebuilt from 1571 to 1575. In 1795, as a result of the turmoil of the revolution, the plant was sold to private owners and then taken over by the Zwingen paper mill in 1913. It has been owned by the municipality of Zwingen since 1993 .

literature

• Werner Meyer : Castles from A to Z - Burgenlexikon der Regio . Published by the Castle Friends of both Basels on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. Klingental printing works, Basel 1981, pp. 164–166.
• Werner Meyer, Eduard Widmer: The great castle book of Switzerland . Ex libris, Zurich 1977.

Web links

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

• Castle world: Zwingen Castle
• Website of the Zwingen Castle Association ( Memento from April 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Werner Meyer: from Ramstein. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . July 27, 2010 , accessed June 8, 2019 .