Günthersleben moated castle

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The complex of the former moated castle in Günthersleben is next to the St. Petri Church the most interesting sight of the district in the Thuringian district of Gotha . The castle was the seat of the local gentlemen until 1945. The intact moated castle with farm buildings was demolished from 1947 to the early 1950s. The site was later designed as a small local recreation area with an information pavilion and a small local museum of the Geopark Inselsberg - Drei Gleichen .

history

  • In 1143 the moated castle was built by the von Hartmann and Ortwin von Günthersleben family ( bailiffs of the village at that time).
  • In 1349 the bailiff of the Mühlburg , Heinrich Gutenhuser, became the owner of the castle.
  • From 1409 the lords of Stotternheim (formerly Stutternheim) were bailiffs of the castle.
  • In 1478, Count Siegmund von Gleichen enfeoffed the two Jürgen and Johann von Stotternheim with the castle.
  • Melchior von Wangenheim owned the castle from 1573 to 1580 , which he then sold to Countess Walburgis von Gleichen.
  • In 1607 the property changed to the knight Friedrich von Volgstädt, whose descendants sold it on June 9, 1680 to the Imperial Councilor and Chamber Director Freiherr Friedrich von Born.
  • From 1691 the moated castle under Heinrich Bonhorst (1643–1711), who among other things also had the St. Petri Church in Günthersleben rebuilt, was replaced by a large castle complex with bastion-like protruding corners, surrounded by a wide water-filled moat. The von Bonhorst family and their heirs owned the castle until 1737.
  • 1737: Johann August von Bonhorst handed the castle over to Johann Heinrich von Mecken, his son-in-law.
  • 1786: The next owner was Heinrich Bünau , whose wife comes from the von Mecken family. The price was 63,000 guilders .
  • In 1819 Dorothea Friedericke von Bünau sold the property to Paul Ruge, landlord in Großfahner .
  • The Ruge family lived in the castle until 1837 when their daughter, Leopoldine Rentsch, sold it to Johann Christoph von Weiß (1779–1850). This was the secret finance councilor at court, Mr. zu Glücksbrunn and owner of textile factories. He was raised to the nobility in 1836 and expanded the farm on the Wasserburg, ran a successful sheep breeding business and had the wool processed in his spinning mills in southern Thuringia. A memorial for JC von Weiß from 1898 is on the east corner of the complex.
  • In 1850 his son of the same name (1812–1901) took over the property. He was the Privy Councilor and Chamberlain at the Meininger Hof and Lord of Glücksbrunn.
  • In 1909 his wife Caroline von Weiß, b. von Starck (1821-1909). The castle went to Baron Ascan Heinrich Christian von Swaine (1867–1954), great-nephew of Mr von Weiß, who died in 1901, and owner of Obertheres Castle in Lower Franconia .
  • 1918: After an inheritance division of property between her siblings, Freia Freiin von Swaine (1896–1981) received the castle. She ran the property together with her brother Richard von Swaine until the expropriation without compensation in 1945.
  • In 1944/45 during the Second World War , the buildings served as a security depot for valuable art objects in the Gotha Castle Friedenstein , which was in danger of being threatened by the air war , especially the Gotha Local History Museum.
  • Castle inventory and museum property were looted in 1945
  • The expropriation through a land reform in 1945 was followed by the initially illegal, then supported by SMAD Order No. 209, the complete demolition of the intact buildings of the castle and the farm buildings from 1947 to 1954 and the transition to public property in the GDR.
  • From 1974 to 1976 a local recreation area was built on the site of the castle on the island.
  • In 2000 the Günthersleben-Wechmar community became the owner of the facility.
  • Today, in the new exhibition pavilion, some paintings and chronological tables remind of the history of the palace.

Currently (2010) the development of the site of the Günthersleber moated castle, which was demolished in the post-war years, is the focus of local events. The information center for regional history and geology was set up by the community and its citizens on the listed site, which is unique in Thuringia . An exhibition gives an insight into the regional history, the geology , the flora and fauna as well as the scenic features of the Burgenland "Drei Gleichen" within the GeoPark Inselsberg - Drei Gleichen .

Only the now restored foundation walls, the moat and the two bridges remain of the palace complex. The existing castle bridge from 1692 was renovated. In order to remove the rubble, a rampart that can be driven over by trucks was raised in the moat in the north-western area of ​​the moat.

Description of the castle

Dimensions

The outer edge of the moat (19) has the dimensions 200 × 150 m. The southeastern part of the moat is about 50 m wide, while the northwestern part is only about 25 m wide. The northeast and southwest moats both have the same width of about 25 m. The castle island is therefore not in the middle of the water, but offset a few meters to the northwest. The castle island describes a regular rectangle of about 140 × 75 m.

Günthersleben-Wasserschloss-Lageplan.jpg

Terrain division

The main access to the castle island was via the northeast bridge with a drawbridge directly at the entrance gate (2). The visitor met the narrow side of the rectangular castle grounds. Through the main gate (3) and the subsequent gate passage (4) you got into the inner front courtyard (5). The front courtyard was probably the only thing that stood on the island in the past, until cattle sheds (10) and the south-west closing store (12) were added later. The economic orientation of the building is characteristic of the facility. The front courtyard, with its clear structure of the operating buildings, forms a contained space that is economical and functional and at the same time has an attractive design for an agricultural estate.

The architecturally unsuitable north-western bridge (13) over the moat to the pastures was not built until the cattle sheds were built. Tractors and carts were housed in the carriage depot (8), which was located just behind the gate on the left. The cattle stood in the three-storey cattle barn (9) on the south side of the site. These buildings took up about two thirds of the length of the property. The upper floors served as a feed store. The cattle stalls were arranged lengthways to the stable. They were accessible through a connecting passage in the middle and eight entrances. Pig and horse stalls (10) were northwest of the cattle stalls in the rear courtyard (6). There were also other cattle sheds for sheep, goats and other small animals with feed stores on the upper floors. From the rear courtyard the north-western bridge led directly to the pastures, meadows and paddocks over which all animals had to go to pasture.

Three-story barns and storage buildings (12) formed the south-western end of the front courtyard and separated it from the rear courtyard. There was a passage high and wide enough for harvest vehicles. Here on the first floor a small area was reserved for foal rearing. Other buildings of this type also formed the end of the rear courtyard to the southwest and thus the island. The northwest corner of the front courtyard was occupied by a repair shop (17). In the middle of the front courtyard was a manure and cesspool (16); a privacy wall (15) right next to it prevented a direct view of this pit from the mansion and inspector's house. In the northeast corner of the castle island was the main house of the landlords (1), the inspector's house (7) was adjacent to it in a south-westerly direction.

The inspector directed all affairs in the yard. His position towards the landlord is also documented by the proximity of his residential building to the manor house. He was the only employee who (with his family) lived on the island. The other employees and workers lived near the castle, mostly on Gothaer Straße. The two buildings were connected by a 90 cm high “terrace” (18), on which one could always reach the other house without stumbling and with dry feet. The floors of the courtyards were only compacted and softened during prolonged bad weather, so that crossing the courtyards was difficult.

The castle island was surrounded by trees and bushes, some of which are still standing today.

gallery

swell

  • Information brochure of the museum on the castle island
  • Udo Hoff: The castle ruins at Günthersleben. Preserved in wars, destroyed in peace . In: Gothaisches Museum-Jahrbuch 2007. Ed. Stiftung Schloss Friedensstein. Volume 10. Hain-Verlag Weimar and Jena, 2006. ISBN 3-89807-095-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. Udo Hoff: The castle ruins at Güntersleben. Preserved in wars, destroyed in peace . In: Gothaisches Museum-Jahrbuch. Volume 10. Edited by the Friedensstein Castle Foundation. Hain-Verlag Weimar and Jena, 2006. ISBN 3-89807-095-6 , p. 181.

Web links

Commons : Wasserschloss Günthersleben  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 54 ′ 10 ″  N , 10 ° 45 ′ 33 ″  E