Herten Castle () is a

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

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 ...

situated in the town of

Herten Herten (; Westphalian: ''Hiätten'') is a town and a municipality in the district of Recklinghausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated in the industrial Ruhr Area, some west of Recklinghausen. Geography Town area Herten cov ...

in the administrative district of

Recklinghausen Recklinghausen (; ) is the northernmost city in the Ruhr-Area and the capital of the Recklinghausen district. It borders the rural Münsterland and is characterized by large fields and farms in the north and industry in the south. Recklinghaus ...

in the state of

North Rhine Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is located within an old

English landscape garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

and its first mentioning dates back to 1376. In 1962, the main castle building was declared a

cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by socie ...

monument. While foundations of today's main castle building incorporate elements from the 14th-century building, the buildings visible today were built in the 16th and 17th century by

Coesfeld Coesfeld (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Koosfeld'') is the capital of the Coesfeld (district), district of Coesfeld in the Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. History Coesfeld received its city rights in 1197, but was first ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Henric de Suer and his son Johann. They were built for the families Stecke and

Nesselrode The House of Nesselrode is an old German nobility, German noble family originating in the Duchy of Berg. Over the centuries, the family expanded their possessions through marriage with the most powerful families of the region. As a former Imperi ...

. After the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the main castle building was no longer used as a residence and started to deteriorate.

Subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope mov ...

caused by the widespread

sub-surface mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

in the surrounding industrial

Ruhr area The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

added to the structural damage, bringing the castle buildings close to collapse. Only radical restoration measures taken by the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe () from 1974 to 1989 saved the late Gothic castle complex from total decline. Today it is used as a venue for concerts, cultural events and festivities. It also houses a café. The castle's park is popular for walking, picknicking, jogging and biking.

History

Owners and residents

The Herten family,

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...

s of the

Werden Abbey Werden Abbey () was a Benedictine monastery in Essen-Werden (Germany), situated on the Ruhr. The foundation of the abbey Near Essen Saint Ludger founded a monastery in 799 and became its first abbot. The little church which Saint Ludger b ...

(now part of

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

), was first documented in 1286 with the mention of "Gerlach von Hertene". At that time, their residence was probably in the center of today's city next to St. Antonius church. In the 14th century, the family with "

Ritter Ritter (German for "knight") is a designation used as a title of nobility in German-speaking areas. Traditionally it denotes the second-lowest rank within the nobility, standing above " Edler" and below "" (Baron). As with most titles and desig ...

" (knight) status built a

fortified house A fortified house or fortified mansion is a type of building which developed in Europe during the Middle Ages, generally with significant fortifications added. During the earlier Roman Empire, Roman period it was common for wealthy landowner ...

on the site of today's castle. In 1376, this building was mentioned as

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

of Werden Abbey. Through marriage, the Herten house fell into the possession of the von Galen family in mid-14th century. In 1488, it changed hands in the same manner to Dietrich von Stecke zur Leythe. Ultimately, in 1529 Anna von Stecke married Betram I. von Nesselrode. As part of the powerful house of

, he was steward for the

Electorate of Cologne The Electorate of Cologne (), sometimes referred to as Electoral Cologne (), was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. It consisted of the Hochstift—the temporal posses ...

in the

district and expedited the modification and extension of the buildings in 1530. For nearly 300 years, the castle complex remained property of the house of Nesselrode. After the last Nesselrode son and heir died in 1826, the castle fell into possession of parts of the house of Droste zu Vischering, who called themselves "Droste zu Vischering von Nesselrode-Reichenstein". The family kept the castle as their residence until 1920, when they moved on to another castle. Due to the lack of maintenance, deserted Herten castle started to deteriorate. During the

occupation of the Ruhr The occupation of the Ruhr () was the period from 11 January 1923 to 25 August 1925 when French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr region of Weimar Republic Germany. The occupation of the heavily industrialized Ruhr district came in respons ...

by French troops between 1923 and 1925, the castle was used for the housing of French troops. They left the castle devastated. The current owner is the ''Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe'' () which bought the then run-down castle along with the surrounding park in 1974. The park changed hands in 2008, becoming property of the city of

Construction history

The Herten family built 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 ...

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, to command and defend strategic points ...

in the first half of the 14th century, relics of which can be found in the vaulted basement of today's northern wing. The

rib vault A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic a ...

stands on foundations that are probably even older. A salvage excavation in 1974 produced more building elements from that time which couldn't be reconstructed. Starting in 1520, the tower house was expanded and converted into a late Gothic

quadrangular castle A quadrangular castle or courtyard castle is a type of castle characterised by ranges of buildings which are integral with the curtain walls, enclosing a central ward or quadrangle, and typically with angle towers. There is no keep and frequent ...

. Herten castle bears resemblance to the

Schloss Nordkirchen Schloss Nordkirchen is a palace situated in the town of Nordkirchen in the Coesfeld administrative district in the state of North Rhine Westphalia, Germany. The ''schloss'' was largely built between 1703 and 1734 and is known as the "Versaille ...

of that time, because they were built by the same architects: Henric de Suer and his son Johann. After the completion of this project in 1560, contemporary reports describe the castle complex as an "enormous building with fortifications and ramparts". During the

Cologne War The Cologne War (, ''Kölnischer Krieg'', '' Truchsessischer Krieg''; 1583–1588) was a conflict between Protestant and Catholic factions that devastated the Electorate of Cologne, a historical ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Em ...

, it withstood a two-year

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

led by

Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg (10 November 1547 – 31 May 1601) was the archbishop-elector of Cologne from 1577 to 1588. After pursuing an ecclesiastical career, he won a close election in the cathedral chapter of Cologne over Ernst ...

. Remains of these ramparts can still be found by the chestnut avenue to the eastern side of the castle. Bertram von Nesselrode and his wife Lucia von Hatzfeld started remodeling the castle buildings around 1650. This included removing fortifications from the complex and adding a ceiling fresco utilizing linear perspective in 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 ...

of the eastern wing. The fresco was rediscovered during the 20th-century restoration works and is unique in Westphalia. SchlossHertenGartenanlagen

Around

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

1687, a fire destroyed much of the northern and western wing, obliterating most of the precious library. From 1687 to 1702, the castle was reconstructed in today's form by

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , ) and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in ...

Franz von Nesselrode-Reichenstein. He also added the elaborate

portal Portal may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), a series of video games developed by Valve ** ''Portal'' (video game), a 2007 video game, the first in the series ** '' Portal 2'', the 2011 sequel ** '' Portal Stori ...

on the western wing of the castle and ordered the creation of a

French formal garden The French formal garden, also called the , is a style of "Landscape architecture, landscape" garden based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order on nature. Its epitome is generally considered to be the Gardens of Versailles designed ...

with numerous fountains and statues. Around 1730, the

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

Renier Roidkin created

quill A quill is a writing tool made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen/metal-Nib (pen), nibbed pen, the fountain pen, and, event ...

drawing Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...

s of Herten Castle's gardens. 20 of these drawings are still conserved. About 200 meters (650 ft) north of the castle, an

orangery An orangery or orangerie is a room or dedicated building, historically where orange and other fruit trees are protected during the winter, as a large form of greenhouse or conservatory. In the modern day an orangery could refer to either ...

was completed in 1725, following an English trend that became fashionable then. Following that trend, the French formal garden was converted into an

between 1814 and 1817. When the castle complex ceased being used in 1925, it was already in bad shape after being neglected by its owners and vandalized by French occupying troops. This and the structural damage inflicted onto the castle by

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope mov ...

left it on the verge of collapse. First safeguarding measures on the building foundations were taken in 1967. Since this did not affect the part of the buildings above ground, these parts kept deteriorating until the ''Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe'' bought the castle complex ruins in 1974. Restoration measures were taken immediately and lasted until 1989. A considerable amount of original building fabric was beyond repair: the entire foundations as well as the ceilings were replaced by

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

structures and most of the castle was re-

roof A roof (: roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of tempera ...

ed.

Description

Today's Herten Castle complex consists of two parts. The main castle is a

ed red

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

building with round towers at three corners and

crow-stepped gable A stepped gable, crow-stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in ...

s. A red brick

carriage house A ''carriage house'', also called a ''remise'' or ''coach house'', is a term used in North America to describe an outbuilding that was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and their related tack. Carriage houses were often two ...

and a chapel are on a separate island in the moat to the west of the main castle. A third island in the moat to the south of the main castle was probably used as a garden.

Main castle

The main castle consists of four wings creating an inner courtyard. Except for the one-story southern wing, the wings have two stories. Both the eastern and western wings have

s with

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was main ...

s. Round two-story towers with

cone In geometry, a cone is a three-dimensional figure that tapers smoothly from a flat base (typically a circle) to a point not contained in the base, called the '' apex'' or '' vertex''. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines ...

-shaped roofs are at three corners of the main castle. The main

, built in today's form at the beginning of the 18th century, is in the western wing. This wing also contains the best-preserved portion of a rhombical pattern of glazed bricks within the castle's

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

. The portal is framed by an

aedicula In religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion, an ''aedicula'' (: ''aediculae'') is a small shrine, and in classical architecture refers to a Niche (architecture), niche covered by a pediment or entablature supported by a pair of columns an ...

Cartouches file:Birth and Throne cartouches of pharaoh Seti I, from KV17 at the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. Neues Museum.jpg, upalt=A stone face carved with coloured hieroglyphics. Two cartouches - ovoid shapes with hieroglyphics inside - are visible at the ...

to the left and right of the portal tell about the families who resided at Herten Castle, the fire and subsequent reconstruction, along with the motto QUAERATUR VIRTUS – INVENIETUR HONOS (Search for virtue - and honor will be found). The northern façade of the inner courtyard is framed by two staircase towers. The southern façade consists of a late Gothic

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

, the

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

s of which have unusual spiral-like riffles. Most rooms of the main castle had to be modified during the 1980s restoration. Only the two representative rooms in the eastern wing retained their original

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

features: for example, the smaller room's

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

ceiling dating back to around 1700. Especially valuable is the ceiling fresco from the mid-17th century in the main festival room.

Buildings on the moat's western island

; Carriage house The core of today's red brick carriage house probably dates back to the 16th century. It probably was only the western part of a larger building. On its northern end, the ruins of an adjacent wing can still be seen. SchlossHerten05

; Chapel Originally, the castle's chapel was within the southern wing of the main castle building. In 1908 however, a coal mining company bought the grounds of a neighboring castle, Schloss Grimberg, as an addition to their premises. While the Grimberg castle building, now wedged between a coal mine and a canal harbor, slowly deteriorated and was torn down completely in the 1960s, the castle's Gothic chapel was immediately moved to stand next to Herten Castle's carriage house on the moat's western island. Parts of the chapel date back to the 16th century. It consists of three

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

s and the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

interior was installed in 1747. At the front walls of the side aisles, sandstone

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

s of Bertram von Nesselrode, his wife Lucia von Hatzfeld, and Bertram's parents Franz von Nesselrode and Anna Maria von Wylich can be found. These epitaphs were made in 1680/81 and were originally in another Herten church. When the chapel moved from Grimberg to Herten, the two decorated

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek σάρξ ' meaning "flesh", and φ� ...

of Heinrich Knipping († 1578) and his wife Sybilla von Nesselrode († 1602) were also relocated. They can be found within the chapel.

The castle's park

Originally a French formal garden, the castle's park was modified into an English landscape garden between 1814 and 1817. While doing so, the

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

garden architect Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe kept elements of the symmetrical Baroque garden, for example some avenues and the

. The

hedge maze A hedge maze is an outdoor garden maze or labyrinth in which the "walls" or dividers between passages are made of vertical hedges. History Hedge mazes evolved from the knot gardens of Renaissance Europe, and were first constructed during the mi ...

no longer exists, but the

open-air theater An amphitheatre ( U.S. English: amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ('), meaning "place for vie ...

was reconstructed in a reduced form and is now used again for drama group performances. Between the mid-19th century and the

, the castle's owners laid out two

fish pond A fish pond or fishpond is a controlled pond, small artificial lake or retention basin that is stocked with fish and is used in aquaculture for fish farming, for recreational fishing, or for ornamental purposes. Fish ponds are a classical g ...

s and a

mixed forest Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions. These ...

of approximately 200 hectares (500 acres). Furthermore, two buildings for employees at the northern entrance of the castle grounds were built during that time. When the ''Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe'' () stepped in to save the castle from total collapse in 1974, the park had also been neglected for over 50 years and looked accordingly. The restoration of the park lasted until 1982, at which time the park was opened to the public. About half of its roughly 30 hectares (75 acres) are woods, five hectares are lawns and the rest are water and paths. According to castle park information, 3,067 trees from over 300 species can be found in the park, among them rare species such as a 125-year-old Chinese handkerchief tree, a

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese bigleaf magnolia and an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

lily-of-the-valley tree. These exotic plants were brought to Herten by the castle's former owners upon returning from diplomatic missions in distant countries. Due to its botanic diversity the park was awarded the status of a cultural monument in 1988. ; Orangery In 1725, a one-story

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

was built at the northern end of the northern castle garden (today known as the "Narzissenwiese",

daffodil ''Narcissus'' is a genus of predominantly spring flowering perennial plants of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. Various common names including daffodil,The word "daffodil" is also applied to related genera such as '' Sternbergia'', '' ...

lawn A lawn () is an area of soil-covered land planted with Poaceae, grasses and other durable plants such as clover lawn, clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawn mower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic an ...

). The front of ten windows was crowned by a

balustrade A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

with twelve life-sized

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 ...

statues representing figures of

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

. The building was not only used for wintering sensitive plants, but also as a garden social venue and dining room. While being functional, the orangery was also home to one of Germany's most famous collections of Japanese camellia. Today, the building is only a ruin. ; Tobacco House A square garden

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

in the eastern part of the park is called "Tabakhaus" (

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

house) and commemorates two

count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

s of Riaucourt who were sons of a

countess Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

and fled to Herten when the French Revolution swept through their home country. While living in Herten, the two counts smoked tobacco in the "Tabakhaus" since it was regarded as a new-fashioned sin and not permitted in the main castle. The "Tabakhaus" is a small Louis Seize-style brick building with a

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called French roof or curb roof) is a multi-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper, and often punctured by dormer wi ...

. Private

fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

made the restoration possible.

Today's Use

The main castle today is a venue for numerous cultural events, for example the international ''Klavierfestival Ruhr'' and the Herten castle concerts. Every year at

whitsun Whitsun (also Whitsunday or Whit Sunday) is the name used in Britain, and other countries among Anglicans and Methodists, for the Christian holy day of Pentecost. It falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter and commemorates the descent of the H ...

, the castle's park hosts a two-day arts and crafts market including several performances. The castle houses a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

with two rooms in the northern wing. During summer there is seating also on the wooden bridge across the moat. It is possible to have civil weddings in the castle. The vaulted castle basement contains an exhibition by the German " Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union"

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

showcasing the

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

and

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

of the park. The carriage house is used as a social center and

day hospital A day hospital is an outpatient facility where patients attend for assessment, treatment or rehabilitation during the day and then return home or spend the night at a different facility. Day hospitals are becoming a new trend in healthcare. The num ...

of the adjacent

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...

and

psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

clinic run by the ''Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe''. File:Herten - Im Schlosspark 02 ies.jpg, Entrance avenue to the park, looking out File:Herten - Schlosspark 03 ies.jpg,

London plane The London plane, or sometimes hybrid plane, ''Platanus'' × ''hispanica'', is a tree in the genus ''Platanus''. It is often known by the Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Platanus'' × ''acerifolia'', a later name. It is a Hybrid (biology ...

avenue in the park File:SchlossHerten07.jpg, Detail of the entrance portal with cartouche File:Herten - Schlosspark - Theaterplatz 02 ies.jpg, The reconstructed open-air theater

References

A. Kracht: ''Burgen und Schlösser im Sauerland, Siegerland, Hellweg, Industriegebiet'', S. 294. A. Duncker: ''Die ländlichen Wohnsitze, Schlösser und Residenzen der ritterschaftlichen Grundbesitzer in der preußischen Monarchie''. Herten's information brochure about the castle park (German)
(PDF; 352 KB, German) S. Kleineschulte: ''Schloss Herten'', S.342. U. Schumacher-Haardt: ''Schloss Herten'', S. 4.
last access on November 25, 2013. U. Schumacher-Haardt: ''Schloss Herten'', S 3.
last access on November 25, 2013. The year it was built in is disputed and ranges from the 17th century to 1795.

External links

* ttp://www.herten-tourismus.de/schloss-schlosspark/wasserschloss-herten/historie-und-baugeschichte.html History of Herten Castle, including several photographs and drawings from the past (German)
"Förderverein-Orangerie-Herten e. V.", friends of the Herten orangery (German)

Herten castle café website (German)