Herzberg Castle
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Herzberg Castle () is a German ''
schloss ''Schloss'' (; pl. ''Schlösser''), formerly written ''Schloß'', is the German term for a building similar to a château, palace, or manor house. Related terms appear in several Germanic languages. In the Scandinavian languages, the cogn ...
'' in
Herzberg am Harz Herzberg am Harz (Esperanto: ) is a town in the Göttingen (district), Göttingen district of Lower Saxony, Germany. Geography Herzberg is situated on the southwestern rim of the Harz mountain range and the Harz National Park. Natural monument ...
in the district of
Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...
in the state of
Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...
. The present-day, quadrangular building has its origins in the 11th century as a
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
''
castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
''. After a fire in 1510 it was rebuilt as a ''schloss'' and is one of the few in Lower Saxony that was constructed as a
timber-framed Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...
building. Because it belonged to the
House of Welf The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconian family from the Meuse-Mo ...
for 700 years it is also known as the Welf Castle of Herzberg (''Welfenschloss Herzberg'').


Geography

Herzberg Castle stands on a wooded eminence () immediately above and west of the centre of the town of Herzberg am Harz, which lies on the southwestern edge of the
Harz Mountains The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a Mittelgebirge, highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The nam ...
. A stretch of the River Sieber runs past the castle to the north.


Architecture

The present castle is an enclosed four-winged building with a rectangular courtyard (40 x 58 m) and was rebuilt after a serious fire in November 1510. Since the new castle was completed in 1528 its basements have been made of
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
. One wing has an upper storey of stone, while the upper floors of the other three wings have been constructed using
timber-framing Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs. If the struc ...
. Its access through a gate tower and adjoining
barbican A barbican (from ) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Europe Medieval Europeans typically b ...
has been retained. The old castle and the inner courtyard of the new one are entered after passing through the two-story
gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the most ...
. The castle tower, known as the Clock Tower (''Uhrturm''), was built in the eastern corner. Its three upper storeys are made of timber.


History

Originally the ''schloss'' was a medieval castle that was based on a hunting lodge built on the spot between 1024 and 1029. The castle was probably built at the behest of King, later Emperor,
Lothair III Lothair III, sometimes numbered Lothair II and also known as Lothair of Supplinburg ( June 1075 – 4 December 1137), was Holy Roman Emperor from 1133 until his death. He was appointed Duke of Saxony in 1106 and elected King of Germany in 1125 b ...
, known as Lothair of
Süpplingenburg Süpplingenburg is a municipality in the district of Helmstedt, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is part of the collective municipality (''Samtgemeinde'') of Nord-Elm. The village developed next to a 10th-century water castle at the Schunter river, prob ...
. In 1144, Herzberg Castle was given to the von Göttingen family of
ministeriales The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a legally unfree but socially elite class of knights, administrators, and officials in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire, drawn from a mix of servile origins, free commoners, and ...
from Bavaria by the
House of Welf The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconian family from the Meuse-Mo ...
, who charged them with maintaining the castle and its surroundings. Previously, Count Hermann of Lutterberge had lived here, but he died in 1143 without any heirs who could inherit the fiefdom. The castle was first recorded in 1143 and, in 1158, it finally became a Welf allodial possession as the result of an exchange of property between
Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...
and the Welf,
Henry the Lion Henry the Lion (; 1129/1131 – 6 August 1195), also known as Henry III, Duke of Saxony (ruled 1142-1180) and Henry XII, Duke of Bavaria (ruled 1156-1180), was a member of the Welf dynasty. Henry was one of the most powerful German princes of ...
. Henry the Lion gave up estates inherited through his first wife, Clementia of Zähringen in
Swabia Swabia ; , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of Swabia, one of ...
. Since then the castle has been in Welf hands uninterruptedly for 708 years until the demise of the
Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover () was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Hanover, and j ...
in 1866. Empress Maria of Brabant, widow of Emperor
Otto IV Otto IV (1175 – 19 May 1218) was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1209 until his death in 1218. Otto spent most of his early life in England and France. He was a follower of his uncle Richard the Lionheart, who made him Count of Poitou in 1196 ...
, made out a deed at the ''Hertsberg'' in 1218, thus the castle was an imperial residence for a short while. In 1279 the castle served as the residence for the widow of Duke
Albert the Great Albertus Magnus ( 1200 – 15 November 1280), also known as Saint Albert the Great, Albert of Swabia, Albert von Bollstadt, or Albert of Cologne, was a German Dominican friar, philosopher, scientist, and bishop, considered one of the great ...
. From 1337 to 1714 the castle was a ducal residence almost continuously. In 1290 the castle became the residence of the Welf line of Brunswick- Grubenhagen, which was formed around this time. From 1486 the dukes of the Principality of Grubenhagen lived here until they died out in 1596. Thereafter the estate was transferred to the Welf line of Brunswick-
Lüneburg Lüneburg, officially the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg and also known in English as Lunenburg, is a town in the German Bundesland (Germany), state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of another Hanseatic League, Hanseatic city, Hambur ...
. There was a major fire at the castle in 1510. The lord of the castle, Duke
Philip I Philip(p) I may refer to: * Philip I of Macedon (7th century BC) * Philip I Philadelphus (between 124 and 109 BC–83 or 75 BC) * Philip the Arab (c. 204–249), Roman Emperor * Philip I of France (1052–1108) * Philip I (archbishop of Cologne) ( ...
, his wife, Catharine, and their son, Philip, were rescued at the last minute from the rapidly engulfing flames. The duke's shield bearer and the duchess's chambermaid died in the fire. Duke
George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...
of Brunswick and Lüneburg lived in the castle until 1635 with his wife, the Landgravine Anne Eleanor of Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1629, the first
Elector of Hanover The Electorate of Hanover ( or simply ''Kurhannover'') was an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire located in northwestern Germany that arose from the Principality of Calenberg. Although formally known as the Electorate of Brunswick-Lünebur ...
was born here, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In 1714 the ''schloss'' was given up as a residence and from 1882 it was the seat of the district court of Herzberg. In 1900 a museum was established in the castle. Although the castle had survived largely undamaged by fire over the centuries, it suffered severe damage at the end of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, which has since been repaired. On the night of 4 April 1945, there was a mighty explosion at a nearby
ammunition dump {{Commons cat Logistics Logistics logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (ec ...
, where 40,000 kg of
explosives An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...
and 8,000
mines Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun Mi ...
had been stored. This blew the roof off the castle and, in the wake of the explosion, the museum was destroyed and probably looted. In 1947, further damage was caused when some nearby military
bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...
s were blown up. Today the castle houses a small cultural centre with a restaurant, a museum and the
great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages. It continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great cha ...
, which is used for various cultural events. The museum portrays the history of the forestry industry in the Harz, the castle's history and that of the Welfs. Other exhibition areas present the history of Herzberg arms manufacture as well as the work of Herzberg organ maker Johann Andreas Engelhardt. In part of the permanent exhibition there is a facsimile of the
Gospels of Henry the Lion The Gospels of Henry the Lion were intended by Henry the Lion, Rulers of Saxony, Duke of Saxony, for the altar of the Virgin Mary in the church of St. Blaise's Abbey, Braunschweig, Brunswick, better known as Brunswick Cathedral. The volume is co ...
, a masterpiece of Romanesque book illumination of the 12th century containing the four
Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
accounts.


See also

*


Sources

* Ernst Andreas Friedrich: ''Wenn Steine reden könnten.'' Bd 4. Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1998, * Hans Adolf Schultz: ''Burgen und Schlösser des Braunschweiger Landes'', Braunschweig 1980, * Phillip Julius Rehtmeier: ''Historische Beschreibung'' S. 311, Braunschweig 1722 * Jürgen Wilke, ''Die Geschichte des Wappens der Stadt Herzberg/Harz'' S. 1-33 + Literaturverzeichnis, Göttingen 1998 * Wolfenbüttel Nds.StA. 1 Urk. 2 * Die Chronik Arnolds von Lübeck. Nach der Ausgabe der Monumenta Germaniae, übersetzt von Dr. J.C.M. Laurent, Berlin 1853


External links


Museum Schloss Herzberg Castle Museum




of Herzberg Castle at karstwanderweg.de {{Authority control 12th-century fortifications Castles in the Harz
Castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
Renaissance architecture in Germany Museums in Lower Saxony Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor