Friedberg (Bavaria)

As of December 31, 2015, the population of the Friedberg community is 29,339 people. ^[2]

There are no exact data on the fortifications on the site of the current Friedberg castle. There is only the assumption that the unusually deep moat in front of the castle dates back to the ninth century, when in these places the Germans defended themselves against the invasion of the Hungarians. The fact is that on the Lech plain between Tirhaupt and Mehring there are several fortifications of those times, and it seems quite likely that the high hill above the plain, on which the castle now stands, was part of the fortification system that blocked the way for the Hungarians to Augsburg. It is natural to assume the possibility of an ancient Roman watchdog settlement on Castle Hill, with which the surrounding area can be seen for many kilometers around.

The castle in Friedberg appeared in 1257 under the Duke Ludwig Strog as a building of Romanesque architecture. It was intended to protect the Duke's customs from the claims of the Prince Bishop of Augsburg , with whom the Duke was at enmity. Since 1264, a settlement began to appear around the castle, which later turned into the city of Friedberg. At first there were two rings of walls encircled by a high hill, with battlements on the towers, protective walkways and loopholes for shooting. Behind the outer wall stood the inner one, with three towers. From the upper ring, a steep plumb road led to the lower wall belt with a closed descent on the western side. The outer ring was surrounded by two large round towers. There was a dungeon in the north tower, which was called literally “The Ax-Bashka” in folk speech. In the west, the castle was facing the Leh valley with a steep descent of 50 degrees. On three other sides, the castle was surrounded by a moat 10 meters deep, the remains of which are still visible. At the very top, the width of the moat reached 30 meters. At the deepest point of the moat was a drawbridge, separated by a special design from a permanent stone bridge.

Near the entrance is the main tower of the fortress ("Wachturm"). In the rectangular courtyard, now you can see romantic arcades and water sources for the defenders of the castle. With the construction of two more walls in the north, Friedberg Castle turned into a pentagon. In the northwestern part of the first floor is the Gothic Knight's Hall. In the northeast corner of the upper floor there was once a chapel of St. George. In the south wing and the west wing there was a palace, the manor house, with separate female chambers and fireplaces. In the north wing were stables, carts, and grain storage.

Today's walls of the fortress and the entrance to the castle have existed since the 15th century. After the great fire of 1341, the castle was partially rebuilt in 1408 by Duke Ludwig VII. The restoration of the castle continued until 1559 and ended only under Duke Albrecht V. It was then that the northern wing, portal, arcades and bay windows in the Renaissance style were finally completed. The architectural design is owned by Jörg Stern, and the construction management is Narcissus Krebs. The medieval building was expanded by the west wing. In 1567, the Dowager Duchess Christine of Lorraine significantly renewed the castle. The castle was badly damaged between 1632 and 1646 by military fires during the Thirty Years War. The restoration of the upper floors was carried out by Elector Maximilian in 1650.

From 1754 to 1766, the famous faience manufactory was located in the castle premises. The faience museum of this manufactory is now in the castle. Since 1789, the castle has been managing forest land, and since 1803 - the pension administration. In 1866, a local history museum was opened in the castle. In 1915, the main premises of the castle were occupied by the geological department, merged in 2007 with the geological department of Aihah - and transferred in connection with this in Aichach. Since many premises of the castle were vacated in this connection, the city of Friedberg acquired a castle from Bavaria, and is now preparing a draft for its new use. As a first step, the green belt around the castle is put in order to better “fit” the architecture of the castle into the overall picture of the surrounding urban areas. In 1977, extensive restoration work began in the castle, preparing the opening of a new museum. Since 1982, the museum occupies 14 rooms in the Friedberg castle.

Mount Fried is one of the many city fortifications founded in the 13th century in indigenous Bavarian places. The plan of the planned city is attached to the constituent document, and even today the chess device of the city is recognizable. The size of the city fortifications was then 300 by 350 meters. Other cities with the same approximately square plan are, for example, Neustadt an der Donau or Kelheim. Fortifications on Mount Fried appeared in 1257, as the outpost of the Bavarian Duke Ludwig the Strict against Augsburg. The terrain here rises up to 50-60 meters from the level of the Leh valley. The height already gave an advantage to the defenders of the fortifications, and the castle and city ramparts made the fortress well prepared for defense. In the west, the wall rises directly above the valley, in the northwest it joins the fortifications of the castle. In the northeast, the natural pattern of the slope makes the course of the fortifications arched, then open space and a moat separate the city and the castle. The first fortifications (1269-1409) of Friedberg were wooden. For them, materials collected for the construction of dams on Leh were used. These were palisade shafts. However, already in 1400, part of the fortifications was made of stone. Fortifications were needed because Friedberg was at enmity with Augsburg over customs rights at Lech. The city chronicler Lüber writes about the siege of Friedberg by the troops of Augsburg in 1296, 1372 and 1388, when the city was set on fire.

Fortifications of the Duke Ludwig the Bearded (1409-1412).

To save the inhabitants of Friedberg from the dangers of the siege, Duke Ludwig the Bearded improved the city fortifications. A moat was widened in front of the wall and around the castle. The wall itself was now built from burnt bricks and covered with clay. The average height of the walls was 5 meters. From the embrasures was a wooden defensive passage lying on the consoles. The reconstructed remnant of this defensive passage lies north of the Old Water Tower (it served in 1604-1888 as a water reservoir). There are also semicircular towers from the side of the city wall - at the corners of the quadrangular fortifications: Alte Wasserturm, Büchsenmacher-, Zwinger-, Hungerturm. In total, there were 14 gates in the fortified belt of the city walls.

During the wars of the Dukes of Munich and Ingolstadt, Friedberg was besieged more than once in the 15th century, taken by an attack and plundered. New destruction occurred in 1632 and 1646 during the wars between the French and Swedes, but then only the top of the fortifications was destroyed. In 1703, during the Spanish Succession War, the fortifications of Friedberg were again destroyed, up to the height of human growth: by the British, Dutch and imperial troops. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the importance of the Friedberg Fortress as a defensive complex decreased all the time. The Western “Lower” or “Augsburg Gate” were included in the wall of fortifications, and in 1793 they were demolished during the campaign for the construction of mountain roads. The gate between the castle and the city, referred to as the “Hunting Gate”, was demolished shortly after 1812. No entries on the form of the gate have been preserved. The “Upper” or “Munich Gate” was a five-story device in the form of a tower with a rectangular plan and sharp arcuate passage. Due to losses in the field of construction and in order to provide more free passage, the tower of this gate was demolished in 1868. There are no more gates in today's fortifications of the city.

City fortifications today are mostly rebuilt and attached to buildings, the former dry foundation pit is filled. Best of all, the western side of the walls is preserved opposite the Leh valley. Here, the fortifications are open, not associated with buildings, in their original form, about five meters high. Buttresses support a design. The former combat move and loopholes (key nicks in niches) are clearly visible. In the south-west, a short part of the defensive passage was reconstructed. Outside you can see the remains of several semicircular towers protruding from the wall, the reverse sides of which were previously open, so as not to create cover for the penetrating enemy. Towers in most cases are closed by slanting roofs. Corner towers have round shapes. The water tower in the southwest is a 17th-century building; the southeastern part of the wall collapsed in 2003 during construction work. The fate of the ruins is still unknown

The current Town Hall is the third building of the city magistrate. The first town hall was built at the base of the city in 1264 as a wooden building. The second town hall was built in 1404 already from stone. The third, modern Town Hall, was built in 1673/74 by the students of the famous Augsburg architect Ellias Hall in the style of his teacher. Until the 19th century, in the western part of the first floor was Schranne (a grain camp with a shop), in the eastern part - Brothaus (a baker's shop). Also in the Town Hall were basement cold rooms for prisoners. In the eastern part of the Town Hall, customs were located, the proceeds of which replenished the city treasury.

The eastern side of the upper floor of the Town Hall, during construction in 1673/74, was intended for the hall of the town hall. The wonderful coffered ceiling of the hall is from those times: the decoration of the hall began from it, but due to a lack of money the work was interrupted. The reason for the cash deficit was military taxes in 1702 and 1796. The Hall of the Town Hall served as a registry, and remained unwritten until 1892, when the Munich artist Joseph Widmann, a specialist in historical painting, decorated the hall with murals.

On the western wall of the hall is a visit to Friedberg in 1582 of the Hungarian king Matias and brother of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian. The guests arrived in Friedberg from the imperial city of Augsburg on 55 carriages to visit the castle of Duke Wilhelm of Bavaria. A deer hunt was arranged for guests in the duke's forests.

On the south wall is the Duke of Ludwig the Bearded and other historical figures of the 15th century. By order of the Duke in 1409, the wooden fortifications of the castle in Friedberg were changed to stone. His wife Margarita after the death of her husband became the mistress of Friedberg in 1445. Duke George the Rich established the first charitable institutions in the 15th century in Friedberg.

On the north side of the hall is the Duchess Catherine of Lorraine, who arranged in 1568 in the castle of Friedberg a magnificent court holiday. In the center is the Duke Albrecht the Magnanimous, who in the 16th century secured a significant part of Bavaria to the Wittelsbach family. On the right is the Duchess Maria of Austria, the widow of Emperor Maximilian, who spent her widow years in the castle of Friedberg. On the eastern side, in front of the view of Friedberg in 1892, a symbolic event from the history of Friedberg is depicted as an allegory: a peasant finds on the field a sword from the time of the famous battle with the Hungarians at Lech in 955. The chaos of war is shackled and the peaceful goddess is watching the city. In the bay window of the hall there is a medallion of the regent of Bavaria, Prince Louis-Paul, model 1892.

Now in the lower part of the Town Hall is Bürgerbüro Friedberg, and on the second floor - Standesamt. The Town Hall Hall is used for events and as a boardroom of the municipality.

Church of St. Jacob (Stadtpfarrkirche St. Jacob)

St. Jacob's Parish Church is a landmark building for Friedberg: the church building and its tower create a city silhouette. It was built in 1871/1872 in the pseudo-Romanesque style, after the bell tower of the previous temple collapsed in 1868. St. Jacob from the outside is structurally identical with the San Zeno Cathedral in Verona, and inside - with the San Apollinare in Classe Cathedral in Ravenna.

There are indications that already in the 13th century - a few years after the founding of Friedberg - one must proceed from the church with the name of St. Jacob. We do not know anything about the appearance and decoration of this church. The fact, however, is that this old church was severely damaged in the riots of the Thirty Years War in 1632, and that restoration work only began in 1713, after 81 years. At the same time, only the dilapidated church choirs were restored. Even during this restoration, the municipality turned to Elector Max Emanuel and asked him to allocate funds for the repair and increase the height of the bell tower of the church. As a reason for the request, the fact is given that the citizens of Friedberg do not all hear the bell ringing for prayer. At that time, 75,000 bricks were needed as material, which erected a tower to a height of 232 feet (approximately 75 meters). No funds were allocated, and the gradually dilapidated bell tower collapsed in 1868. The lower layers of the masonry could not withstand the pressure of the upper ones, and spread to the sides. This happened on the afternoon of March 2, 1868, but, by a lucky chance, there was no one in the church then, although the bell tower fell on the dome of the church and broke through it. In 1871, the construction of a new temple began. At the time of its construction, services were moved either to the Town Hall, or to the nuns' building on Zheleznaya Gora, or to stone barns, when it was necessary to perform services on weekdays during working hours. The construction of the new church cost Friedberg 93,000 guilders. During the summer months of 1873, a renowned historical writer, Ferdinand Wagner from Augsburg painted an apse fresco and murals in the apse's spring arch. The artist from Friedberg Ferdinand Schweighardt took over the work of gilding and painting arabesques in the room of the choir. Wagner’s frescoes are preserved today only in the apse, and partially distorted. Four new bells from Johann Hermann's bell tower in Memmingen were raised to the tower. The consecration of the temple took place on October 18, 1873. At the same time, work on the completion of the new church was carried out until 1881.

A special mention deserves the organ of the Church of St. Jacob. Established in 2001, it is made, on the one hand, according to the ideals of the organ art of the Baroque period, and on the other, can also play music of romance and modernity. The tool consists of 4 parts: the main part (I), positive (II), Schwellwerk (III) and the pedal. Positive and Schwellwerk stand on a common basis with holes, which gives great opportunities for acoustic tone combinations. The clarity and distinctiveness of sound characteristic of baroque and pre-baroque music is the signature difference of Metzler organs.

Pilgrimage Church “Rest on the Way to the Lord God” (Wallfahrtskirche “Herrgottsruh”)

The Wallfahrtskirche pilgrimage church “Herrgottsruh” (“Rest on the Way to the Lord God”) lies on the former eastern border of Friedberg. The construction of the monumental late-baroque structure was attended by some of the most significant Bavarian Rococo artists who designed the premises of the church with rich and rich painting. This painting was completely restored during the general restoration of the church at the beginning of our millennium.

The history of this church is based on the legend of the solemn promise of a medieval pilgrim from Friedberg. He fell into Turkish captivity on the way back from the Holy Land and promised to build a chapel on his arable land if he returned home. Indeed, in 1964, near the pilgrimage church found the foundation of a small chapel, which could be a chapel from the tradition. But the Wallfahrtskirche "Herrgottsruh" on the site of the current church was built only at the end of the 15th century. In October 1496, Bishop of Augsburg Johannes consecrated the choir and main altar of the chapel for pilgrims. This small church was expanded in 1599. It was a simple chapel with a Byzantine dome, which was damaged in 1632 during the Thirty Years War, and then restored. The misfortunes of the Thirty Years' War led to a sharp increase in the number of pilgrims seeking salvation from the misfortunes of the faith. Pilgrims who visited the church in Friedberg talked about miraculous cures and prayers, the appearance of divine music at night - the characteristic features of the psychology of that time, reflected in numerous sources. During the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1705, the Wallfahrtskirche "Herrgottsruh" was seriously damaged. But, despite the war, the flow of pilgrims continued to grow, and by 1720 the need for new construction became apparent.

In 1727, a somewhat later modified priest's house was built on two floors. He now stands in front of the western facade, with a peculiar shape of a palm roof. On June 16, 1731, the Bavarian Elector Karl Albrecht laid the first foundation of a new pilgrimage church in the Rococo style. The unfinished construction of the church was completed in 1738. The executive architect was Johann Benedict Ettle (1678-1749). Then began the interior decoration. It was led by the best Bavarian artists and skilled workers. The stucco works by Franz Xavier and Johann Michael Feichtmires and the works of artists Damian Azam and Matthias Gunther frescoed the walls and ceilings. Together with the Öttle architecture, these works turned the Wallfahrtskirche "Herrgottsruh" into one of the most significant religious buildings of 18th-century Bavaria. September 30, 1753 Vicar Franz Adelmann solemnly opened a new church. In 1756 and again in 1758, severe storms caused the church so severe losses that Matthias Gunther again had to paint part of the church.

At the beginning of the 19th century, after secularization, the Wallfahrtskirche Herrgottsruh wanted to be demolished in order to save money on the maintenance of this church. The municipality of Friedberg saved the church by including its budget in the item of expenses for the maintenance of the city cemetery, in the territory of which it, according to the new legislation, ended up. In 1868/70, the church building was restored, while changing the artistic style in the taste of the new era. Some of the wall murals of Azam’s work were painted over and painted again in the spirit of the Italian Renaissance due to the missing “artistic value”. So did the altar. Since 1964, a reverse restoration was gradually carried out, restoring the original state of the altar and frescoes. A new phase of restoration began in 1998. Original colors began to return to the outer lining of the church. In this case, until today, internal work on the restoration of painting of the XVIII century continues.

Widely located in length, but slightly constrained from the sides, the church building rises above the courtyard: the dome of the rotunda and the tower of the choir in the north. To the south of the rotunda is added a three-story sacristy, which has a semicircular apse shape. The outer space of the walls of the church is divided into parts by double pilasters, between which windows are cut. On the south side, a triangular pediment simulates a missing transverse nave. The middle nave is highlighted by the relief of a stepped pseudobasilica. The three-axis front facade of the building is slightly unstable in its lines in the middle part - this is due to the terrain.

The western portal is located in a high niche of the semicircular arch, around which the middle nave rises. Under the slope of the palm roofs runs a frieze ribbon. The rotunda is crowned by a dome. A similar, low dome extension is also characteristic of the bell tower on the north side. From the western portal, they enter the spacious lobby, which is separated by an iron forged grate from the two-span ship of the church, built in three naves, separated by powerful columns. The middle nave opens to the round room of the choir, the lateral longitudinal naves are completed by the altar of brotherhood and graces.

The three-span device and the “late Gothic” elevation (about 2.20 meters) of the middle nave should give the impression of medieval architecture. The spans of the ship are covered with six murals, and the naves are separated by wide supporting arches. The western dome of the middle nave is lit through a small window and recessed with a small arch. With favorable lighting, an impressive baroque illusion effect is thus obtained. The “Just Judges” move during the Last Judgment through the drawn rocky gates directly into the sky, and from the gates light shines through a closed window onto the stage. The dome of the choir is divided by 8 plaster ribbons into 8 parts, the choir room is divided by marble double pilasters. Here are the wall murals of Azam freed from late layers.

The museum, located in the Friedberg castle, consists of several different exhibitions on the subject. This is a collection of watches, a collection of faience and a collection of antiquities.

Watch collection.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, skilled Friedberg watchmakers made art watches for the nobility and the big bourgeoisie throughout Europe. Today, the special collection of watches (watches for bags, watches for carriages, table clocks, clocks for plates), significantly expanded over the past 20 years, together with the so-called “chamber of treasures” form the art center of the museum.

Faience collection.

Founded by Elector Maximilian III Joseph in the Friedberg Castle “Privileged Porcelain Factory”, he produced artistic porcelain dishes from 1754 to 1768. White-glazed and richly decorated Friedberg dishes often decorated the festive tables of those times.

A collection of antiquities.

Mesolithic period - Neolithic - Bronze Age - Hallstatt culture - Celtic time - Roman imperial time - Middle Ages.

The collection includes flint tools and weapons, bronze and iron swords, Celtic gold jewelry, and Roman coins. Costumes and painted peasant furniture - cabinets, chests, cradles and beds - give a wide view of the culture of peasant life in the vicinity of Friedberg.

The best photo gallery of Friedberg on the Internet is located at: www.friedberg-bayern.info This is a unique project for a small city, combining the functions of a guidebook and a photo gallery. This site has over 400 photos covering dozens of topics. There, in the “Texts” section, there are active links to other Internet resources that contain texts (in German) and photographs according to Friedberg.

• Official Page (German)