Moyland Castle

First mentioned in written sources under 1307. Later, it was bought by Roland von Hagedorn, whose lethal possession is confirmed by the letter of Count Dietrich VIII of Cleves of 1339. The castle changes its owners several more times until 1662, when Moyland transfers to the Brandenburg commander Alexander von Spen . The latter rebuilds it in the Baroque style . Alexander's heir, Friedrich Wilhelm von Spaen, who also worked on landscaping the castle, sold Moyland in 1696 to the Brandenburg Elector (later King of Prussia ), Frederick I , for 150 thousand thalers. Friedrich uses Moyland as a hunting castle, as well as a date with his mistress from the neighboring city of Emmerich, 17-year-old Katharina Rickers. On September 11, 1740, in the castle of Moyland, the Prussian King Frederick the Great met with the French philosopher and writer Voltaire . After a long conversation, they create a project of the “Factory of Truth” (Wahrheitsmanufaktur), which is supposed to be based in Moyland Castle. In 1766, the castle became the possession of the Dutch clan van Steengracht. Its head, Adrian van Steengracht, receives Moyland from the Prussian king as compensation for damage to his possessions during the Seven Years War . Between 1854 and 1862, the facade of the Moyland castle, according to the instructions of its owner, Nikolaus Johann van Steengracht, was rebuilt in the Neo-Gothic style , which attracted the Cologne architect Ernst Friedrich Zwinger for this purpose.

At the same time, during the Second World War, Moyland did not suffer until the occupation of his allied forces on February 25, 1945. British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery has his headquarters here. At the same time, Moyland visits Winston Churchill . After Montgomery leaves his castle with his men, he becomes a victim of the looting and vandalism of Canadian soldiers stationed nearby. The owner of the castle, Gustav Adolf Steengracht von Moyland , the former state secretary of the imperial minister Joachim von Ribbentrop , was convicted by the Nuremberg Tribunal and sentenced to imprisonment (he later died in the castle of Moyland in 1969). An attempt in 1954 to restore the castle and the subsequent fire in 1956 did not change the deplorable state of this property. In July 1990, the Steengracht family transferred their rights to the newly created “Foundation Museum-Castle Moyland” ( Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland , created in 1987). Restoration work, funding of which was taken over, including by the government of North Rhine-Westphalia, was completed by May 24, 1997, when the castle museum and the adjacent park areas were open for visitors.

Moyland was originally rebuilt by Roland von Hagedorn from 1345 to 1355 as a classic Gothic castel-fortress, with a square base and four towers, the highest of which was round, located in the northern part of the building. Around the courtyard on the third floor of the castle, there were comfortable rooms with a fireplace, a source well and niches along the walls for lamps. In the XV century, new wings were erected near the east tower - the chapel. When the castle was owned by the Steengracht family, in the 18th-19th centuries, considerable attention was paid to the park area. Here is the so-called "English park". Also in the park are numerous sculptures. Currently, Moyland presents a quadrangular castle building, to which is adjoined from the southeast an outbuilding, where there is a cafe, museum management and library. The towers at the corners of the castle are three-storyed, with the exception of one, in the southeastern part, which is one floor higher. The museum contains a library of 60 thousand volumes and an archive of Joseph Beuys from the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts, with 200 thousand items.

In the park area there is a sculpture museum, since 2004 it has been included in the list of "Masterpieces of park art between the Rhine and the Meuse". Here you can see the works of such artists as James Lee Beyars, Uwe Klaus, Eduardo Chillida , Huub Cortekaas, Kubbach-Wilmsen, Josef Jäckel, Heinz Mack , Gerhard Marx , Holger Runge . Anthony Tapies . The entrance to the castle staircase (at the main entrance to the building) is decorated with molded animal figures. Until 1996-1997, these were two ancient sculptures of lions. They were later replaced by the figures of a wolf and a pug. The first should be reminiscent of the meeting in Voltaire of Moyland in 1740 with the Prussian King Frederick the Great, and the polemic between them then. The figure of a pug is set in memory of a visit to the castle by Winston Churchill in 1945. Two figurines of dogs on the stairs were created by German sculptor Hans Karl Burgheff .

About the castle

• Otto Brües, Guido de Werd, Alois Puyn: Schloss Moyland. Von Voltaire bis Beuys. Mercator, Duisburg 1988, ISBN 3-87463-146-X ( Niederrhein erleben ).
• Alexander Duncker: Die ländlichen Wohnsitze, Schlösser und Residenzen der ritterschaftlichen Grundbesitzer in der preußischen Monarchie nebst den königlichen Familien-, Haus-, Fideicommiss- und Schattull-Gütern. Band 9, Berlin 1866
• Fritz Getlinger, Matthias Graß: Schloss Moyland. Zerstörung und Wiederaufbau. Keuck, Geldern 1997, ISBN 3-928340-08-5 .
• Karl-Heinz Hohmann, Rose-Marie Wörner, Gustav Wörner: Museum Schloss Moyland und sein Park in Bedburg-Hau (Kreis Kleve). 2. Auflage. Neusser Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Neuss 1998, ISBN 3-88094-825-9 ( Rheinische Kunststätten. Heft 346).

About the Museum

• Karl Ebbers, Bettina Paust, Florian Monheim (eds.): Museum Schloss Moyland. DuMont, Köln 1997, ISBN 3-7701-3947-X
• Förderverein Museum Schloss Moyland e. V. (ed.): Schriftenreihe Schloss Moyland. Boss, Kleve 1990–1995
• Fünfzig Jahre Sammlung van der Grinten. Vorwort von Johannes Look und Ron Manheim. Beiträge von Ron Manheim, Barbara Strieder, Ute Haug, Bettina Paust, Hans van der Grinten und Franz Joseph van der Grinten u. v. a. Museum Schloß Moyland, Bedburg-Hau 1999. ISBN 3-929042-22-3 .
• Bettina Paust, Florian Monheim (Red.): Museum Schloss Moyland - Skulpturenpark. DuMont, Köln 2001, ISBN 3-8321-5589-9

• Site of the Moyland Castle Museum