Storm spring lock

Sturmfedersches Castle in Dirmstein
View from the east (main facade)
Data
place	Dirmstein
Client	The Sturmfeder von Oppenweiler family
Architectural style	Baroque, hipped roof building
Construction year	around 1770/80 (today's form)
Coordinates	49 ° 33 '48 "  N , 8 ° 14' 51"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 33 '48 "  N , 8 ° 14' 51"  E

The Sturmfedersche Schloss in the Rhineland-Palatinate municipality of Dirmstein is a castle-like mansion from the Baroque period , which has early classicist elements. The neighboring Michelstor , the image of which is used as the town's landmark, is located in the preserved southwest section of the castle's wall belonging to the castle square . The complex is - like the other restored castles in the town, namely Koeth-Wanscheidsches , Quadtsches and Episcopal Castle - a listed building .

Geographical location

Schlossplatz (looking south-west), on the right the Sturmfedersche Schloss

The Sturmfedersche Schloss is 102  m above sea level. NHN on the palace square named after him in the historic center of the former upper village of Dirmstein. Castle and Michelstor separate the castle square, which originally represented the inner courtyard of the complex and today, with its arched pavement, has the function of a market and fairground, to the west from Marktstrasse . Prominent buildings nearby include v. a. the baroque Laurentiuskirche , the Spitalhof , the old town hall and Franz Rothermel's house .

Building description

building

The nine-axis, white plastered building has two and a half floors and consists of two full floors and a mansard floor . The half-hip roof has seven dormers on each side . The cuboid structure extends in a south-north direction with the main facade facing east, while the rear facade faces west. The second entrance there on Marktstrasse has a relatively narrow sandstone staircase with four steps. Across in front of the main facade is a two-tier pedestal-like flight of steps made of red sandstone , which supports two small fountains with round bowls made of the same material on the sides .

Michel Gate and Wall

Michelstor in front of the south front of the castle

A wall that is concave towards the Schlossplatz, the former inner courtyard, extends the west facade of the palace to the south to the historic St. Michael Pharmacy . The wall is broken through by the open arch of the Michel Gate, which is flanked by two narrow, also open gates.

Building history

Fortified courtyard

A previous building of the castle was laid out in the 13th century as a fortified courtyard with defense towers by a knight from the Lerch von Dirmstein family , who must have been the ancestor Jacob of the famous local aristocrat Caspar Lerch (IV.) During the construction period .

The latter and his father Caspar Lerch (III.) Are immortalized on the heavily weathered lintel of a Renaissance portal, which is walled in on the north side of the building:

CASPAR LERCH THE THIRD VND DOROTHEA ZV ELTZ EHELEVT CASPAR LERCH THE VIRTE VND MARTHA BRENDELIN EHELEVT

The content suggests that the portal, which no longer exists, was created between 1602, when the younger Caspar Lerch married his wife Martha Brendel, and 1621, when he and his family had to go into exile for 19 years during the Thirty Years' War . An identical inscription can also be found on the successor building of Lerch's "Burg", today's "fencing school".

Extensions, conversions and new construction

Coat of arms of the Sturmfeder von Oppenweiler family

St. Michael with the Flaming Sword

In the course of the following centuries, the system was modified again and again and provided with elements of the respective style epoch. From 1736 she experienced major structural changes from Baron Marsilius Franz Sturmfeder von Oppenweiler (1674–1744), a great-grandson of the younger Caspar Lerch. Sturmfeder, known for his extravagance and rudeness, offended his family not only in Dirmstein because of his lust for power and argument, but above all in his home country of Württemberg. He had his legendary quarrel with the authorities immortalized in 1738 on the new Michel Gate in the form of a sculpture as his allegedly victorious fight with the devil . The archangel's gold-plated flaming sword is probably an allegory for the knight's lance known as the “storm feather”; According to contemporary reports, the devil defeated by St. Michael is said to wear the face of the then mayor as a representative of the Electors Karl Philipp and Karl Theodor , who succeeded each other in 1742. A stone " envy head " is also embedded above the right side gate from the outside next to the gate , which was apparently not attached to ward off evil according to old custom, but to mock adversaries. Immediately in front of the gate entrance planned by Sturmfeder, but on community property, they dug a cross ditch to hinder the use of the gate or make it completely impossible. As a result, Sturmfeder moved the wall and gate in the middle back to his own property in an arc shape.

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  Inscription on the left at the Michel Gate

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  Inscription on the right at the Michel Gate

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  Inscription above the side door

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  Head of envy over the side gate

Sturmfeder used the erection of the Michel Gate not only to install the sculpture, he also permanently recorded accusations and allusions to unnamed enemies by carving numerous inscriptions above the archway and on both sides. The target persons of the inscriptions can only be inferred indirectly today, but they should have been known to all initiates at the time the texts were written.

Apparently around 1770/80, a later generation of the Sturmfeder family converted the castle into the present-day castle, with elements originally made of wood being replaced by masonry.

Expropriation and auctioning

Arch of the Michelstor with keystone after removal of the coat of arms

When the French Revolution attacked the Palatinate towards the end of the 18th century , the palace complex was expropriated and auctioned. During this time, the Sturmfedersche family coat of arms was knocked off the surface of the keystone above the archway and an - amateurishly executed - inscription "EXTINCT" was carved below the now empty area . On April 3, 1809, Agnes Würtz , the widow of the Mennonite Christian Möllinger from Monsheim , came into possession of the palace via the auction . She passed it on to her daughter Katharina , who had married Johann Janson from Dirmstein . From Janson's descendants it was bought by the local church in 1970.

Modern times

In the 20th century, all the functional buildings that had previously enclosed the palace square on all sides and turned it into an inner courtyard were demolished. The gate on the left next to the Michelstor did not originally exist; it was a mock gate . Unaware of this property, it was mistaken for a walled-up passage and broken through without the monument protection authority being involved. The measure happened on the initiative of the mayor Erich Otto , who was in office from 1964 to 1986. On top of that, the work was carried out very unprofessionally, so that the structure of the wall was impaired.

Todays use

The palace, which was restored at the end of the 1980s, houses the local administration, the council chamber and the community archive , a bank branch , the branch of the Leiningerland music school , a branch of the adult education center and the community library .

The baroque council chamber on the first floor with classicist style features, which is named after the Dirmstein honorary citizen Eux Stocke (1895–1992), is reached via a representative staircase. It can seat around 100 people fully seated and is used not only for meetings of community bodies, but also for cultural events. For piano concertos is there a historic Bechstein - wings available.

A converted apartment on the top floor is rented.

literature

• Georg Peter Karn, Ute-Konstanze Rasp: Castles and palaces in Dirmstein - Former Sturmfedersches Schloss . In: Michael Martin (Ed.): Dirmstein. Nobility, peasants and citizens . Chronicle of the Dirmstein community (=  promotion of Palatinate historical research . Volume 6 ). Self-published by the Foundation for the Promotion of Palatinate Historical Research , Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 2005, ISBN 3-9808304-6-2 , p. 447 ff .
• Georg Peter Karn, Ulrike Weber (arrangement): Bad Dürkheim district. City of Grünstadt, Union communities Freinsheim, Grünstadt-Land and Hettenleidelheim (=  cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany . Volume 13.2 ). Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 2006, ISBN 3-88462-215-3 .

Web links

• City hall Oppenweiler - also a "Sturmfedersches Schloss" ( Memento from October 18, 2004 in the Internet Archive )

References and comments

1. ^ Georg Peter Karn, Ulrike Weber: Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany, cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate . 2006.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (Ed.): Informational directory of cultural monuments - Bad Dürkheim district. Mainz 2020, p. 28 f. (PDF; 5.1 MB).
3. ↑ Map service of the landscape information system of the Rhineland-Palatinate nature conservation administration (LANIS map) ( notes )
4. ↑ The names Oberdorf and Niederdorf for the two settlement centers of Dirmstein derive from the location above and below at the Eckbach , which flows through Dirmstein from west to east.