Hardenstein Castle ( German: Burg Hardenstein ) - the ruins of the castle, located northwest of the Herbede district of the Westphalian town of Witten - is surrounded by the eponymous natural park; the castle with a moat was built between 1345 and 1354, abandoned in the 18th century due to the depletion of local coal deposits, and transferred to the ownership of the city in 1976. It is an architectural monument and is open for free visits.
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History and Description
In 1354, Henry II von Hardenberg bought the territory of a modern castle from Count Berg Gerhard I. In the same year, Henry II settled with his family on the south bank of the Ruhr - between Herbede and Witten. The castle with a moat was built here between 1345 and 1354. The descendants of Henry II - who took the name "von Hardenstein" - probably experienced financial difficulties. So in 1378, Henry IV von Hardenstein provoked a feud with the city of Dortmund , because he owed a considerable amount of money to the local Jewish merchant. The attack on the city of Dortmund, in which about 1,000 people participated, failed; during the ensuing campaign, Henry IV was captured by Cologne forces and executed.
As a result of a marriage with the daughter of Henry V, the last of the Hardenberg clan, the castle was transferred in 1439 to Robert Stahl from the von Holstein clan. In 1430-1440, the south side of the castle was expanded by two flank towers and a protective (jaw) wall. Coal deposits , located for many years next to the former castle, led to the fact that it was still inhabited in the XVI century. Only from the XVIII century, after the deposits were abandoned, the castle fell into decay.
In 1974, the castle was leased to the city of Herbede (Herbede), since 1975 - to the city of Witten, in which Herbede was one of the districts. The ruins of the castle continue to be explored - since 1974, the local association Burgfreunde Hardenstein has been supporting them. The archives of the castle and a collection of archaeological artifacts discovered on its territory are today in a small museum at the Witten-Herbed primary school; here they can be visited freely. Weather conditions and untimely security measures led to the fact that the castle continues to collapse: so, among other things, on the night of March 16, 2010 the intermediate wall of the main building collapsed. In 2017, the reconstruction and restoration of the affected areas was completed and the ruins again became available to visitors. Since 2009, Hardenstein Castle has been illuminated at night; in 2017, a video surveillance system was installed on its territory.
Since April 2006, the local Hardenstein ferry has been passing near the ruins. As the only ferry on the Ruhr, it is a local attraction and part of the bicycle network in the Ruhr Valley. The ferry, whose route ends on the opposite bank - near the gateway Herbede - is served by fifteen volunteers and a permanent employee, skipper . The MS Schwalbe II sightseeing boat, owned by the local utility company Stadtwerke Witten, also runs regularly next to the ruins.
See also
- Herbede Castle
- Witten Town Hall
- Baden Castle
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 OpenStreetMap - 2004.
- ↑ 1 2 German National Library , Berlin State Library , Bavarian State Library , etc. Record # 4530655-2 // General regulatory control (GND) - 2012—2016.
- ↑ 1 2 Record # 246279779 // VIAF - 2012.
Literature
- Heinrich Schoppmeyer: Witten. Geschichte von Dorf, Stadt und Vororten. Band 1. VOHM, Witten 2012, ISBN 978-3-00-040266-1 , S. 109-113.
- Hans Dieter Radke, Heinrich Schoppmeyer (Hrsg.): Burg Hardenstein. Geschichte und Geschichten. Burgfreunde Hardenstein, Witten 1999, ISBN 3-00-004703-4 .
- Gotthard Kießling: Burg Hardenstein // Burgen AufRuhr. Unterwegs zu 100 Burgen, Schlössern und Herrensitzen in der Ruhrregion / Ministerium für Bauen und Verkehr des Landes NRW / Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe. Klartext Verlag, Essen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8375-0234-3 , S. 149-153.
Links
- Hardenstein ad Ruhr (German) . EBIDAT - Die Burgendatenbank . Deutschen Burgenvereinigung eV Date of treatment November 2, 2018.