Wensburg

Wensburg
Wensburg residential tower
Creation time :	around 1400
Castle type :	Spurburg
Conservation status:	ruin
Construction:	Quarry stone
Place:	Lind (near Altenahr)
Geographical location	50 ° 28 '34.5 "  N , 6 ° 54' 42.1"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 28 '34.5 "  N , 6 ° 54' 42.1"  E

The ruins of Wensburg , also known as Wensberg Castle , are castle ruins in the Lierstal . The Spornburg is hidden in the forest on a hilltop southwest of Lind in the Rhineland-Palatinate district of Ahrweiler and was once the center of the rule of the same name .

Probably built at the end of the 13th or beginning of the 14th century, the complex changed from the von Gymnich family to the von Helfenstein family to the von Orsbeck family . After a large part of the building structure had been torn down in 1832, the owner Louise Scheib undertook repair and conversion work at the beginning of the 20th century, the results of which characterize the ruins of the freely accessible ruins that are still preserved today. The ruin, the roof of which has burst, is now in a state of disrepair.

description

Main entrance to the ruin

The approximately 20 x 40 meters measured plant is divided into two parts: the rectangular core Burg area with his residential tower and the main castle zwinger like surrounded Vorburgbereich provided by circular wall of rubble is enclosed. Most of the buildings you see today are from modern times . The roughly chest-high, almost oval outer ring wall has two ogival entrances, of which the northwestern one is today's main entrance. On the mountain side it is secured by a neck ditch .

Today's main castle area is dominated in the west by the 20 meter high residential tower that was changed in the 20th century . Its 2.5 meter thick outer walls rise on a 9.5 by 10.7 meter floor plan and, in terms of wall thickness, used to have a staircase leading to the upper floors. Only at the not quite as stable east side there are window openings, the jambs of brick were installed only at a conversion about 100 years ago. The tent roof of the tower also dates from this time .

Directly next to the residential tower, the former access to the inner castle area was previously located south of it. Its profiled stones made of trachyte are now scattered around the castle grounds. In the 1930s, the main castle was still surrounded by a seven-meter-high bering, but its height is barely more than three meters today. The wall, which in its older parts consisted of alternating layers of basalt blocks and quarry stones, once had a battlement at the top , which could be reached via a staircase that was as thick as the southern long wall.

A castle chapel, which was consecrated to St. George and was laid down in 1833 , used to belong to the complex .

history

The castle was first mentioned in 1401 in documents as "home to Wentz Bergh" when its then owner Dietrich von Gymnich they "ind with all SYNEN Muren, Portzen, Graven, Vurburge ind Getzymmere with all syme Beforengen" the Cologne archbishop Friedrich of feudal auftrug and at the same time granted him the right to open . It is likely, however, that the castle was founded at the end of the 13th century or at the beginning of the 14th century. The architectural features still existing today, such as the arrangement of the buildings and architectural details such as the use of pointed arched gates, provide evidence of the dating.

Via Dietrich's granddaughter Katharina von Gymnich, the property passed to the family of her husband Johann von Helfenstein, whose family sold the facility to Engelbert von Orsbeck, subject to a right of repurchase. His relative Dietrich von Orsbeck replaced the family's right of repurchase in 1506 with 200 guilders and finally brought the castle to his family, who owned it until the 17th century.

View of Wensburg around 1725 on an ink drawing by Renier Roidkin

After the buildings were said to have been destroyed by Spanish troops in the course of the Thirty Years' War in 1633 , they came to the barons of Bourscheid . Eva Katharina von Bourscheid brought the castle to her husband Franz Friedrich von Lütze (n) rode by marriage, whose family sold it together with the rule to Johann Franz and Franz de Sales Biolley from Verviers in 1818 .

After several changes of ownership in the first quarter of the 19th century, the wine merchant and iron manufacturer Carl Theodor Risch from Reifferscheid bought the castle. He had them put down in 1832 except for the remains that are still preserved today.

The castle came to the Scheib siblings through succession. Louise Scheib had the ruin repaired at the beginning of the 20th century, bringing it to its approximate current condition. This included the expansion of the residential tower and the walling up of the outer ring wall to its current height. The property was then sold to the Cramer family from Düsseldorf . In the 1930s there was still a coat of arms stone above the entrance to the residential tower, showing the alliance coat of arms of the von Orsbeck and von Frenz families including the year 1614.

literature

• Gabriele Nina Bode: "[...] the bow has disappeared". Considerations on Wensburg in the Lierstal . In: Castles and Palaces . Journal for Castle Research and Monument Preservation . Volume 38, No. 2, 1997, ISSN  0007-6201 , pp. 106–110.
• Werner Bornheim called Schilling : Rhenish hill castles . Society for Book Printing, Neuss 1964, p. 55.
• Paul Clemen (Ed.): The art monuments of the district of Ahrweiler. 2nd half volume: Kirchdaun – Wirft (= The Art Monuments of the Rhine Province . Volume 17, Section 1). L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1938, p. 499.
• Ignaz Görtz : Castle and rule Wensberg . In: District Ahrweiler (Hrsg.): Homeland yearbook for the district Ahrweiler. 1967 . Weiss, Monschau 1967, ISSN  0342-5827 , pp. 40-43 ( online ).
• Hirschfeld, Heusgen: Wensburg (Kr. Adenau) . In: Messages of the Rhenish Association for the Preservation of Monuments and Heritage Protection. Volume 4, No. 3, 1910, pp. 255–257.
• Paul Lehfeldt: The architectural and art monuments of the administrative district of Coblenz . Voss, Düsseldorf 1886, p. 29.
• Michael Losse : Theiss castle guide Hohe Eifel and Ahrtal. 57 castles and palaces . Konrad Theiss, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8062-1775-0 , pp. 147-149.
• Michael Losse: "[...] from the earliest medieval, perhaps Franconian foundation"? Notes on the history of the Wensburg in the Lierstal . In: District Ahrweiler (Ed.): Heimat-Jahrbuch . No. 62, 2005, ISSN  0342-5827 , pp. 136-143 ( online ).

Web links

Commons : Wensburg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Entry on Wensburg in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
• Reconstruction drawing

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gabriele Nina Bode: "[...] the bow has disappeared". 1997, p. 108.
2. ^ Kurt Frein: Castle Wensberg. In: Castles and Palaces. Journal for Castle Research and Monument Preservation. Volume 60, No. 2, 2019, ISSN  0007-6201 , pp. 116–117.
3. ↑ Gabriele Nina Bode: "[...] the bow has disappeared". 1997, p. 109.
4. ↑ Cf. Paul Clemen: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Rheinprovinz. 1938, p. 499.
5. ↑ Ignaz Görtz: Burg und Herrschaft Wensberg , accessed on January 2, 2020.
6. ^ Paul Clemen: The art monuments of the Rhine province. 1938, p. 499.
7. ↑ Quoted from I. Görtz: Burg und Herrschaft Wensberg , accessed on January 2, 2020.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Gabriele Nina Bode: "[...] the bow has disappeared". 1997, p. 107.