Herten castle

HERTEN CASTLE

Herten Castle was first mentioned in a document in 1376 and was initially built as a small fortification. The remains of a keep are still visible today. In 1529 the castle came into the possession of Bertram von Nesselrode through a marriage. From 1530 he had the castle expanded as a closed fort with corner pavilion towers. The towers are still standing today. After further eventful years, a siege in 1593 and a fire almost a century later (1687), Herten Castle was rebuilt by Baron Franz von Nesselrode by 1702. Until 1920 it was the count's residence. The facility then fell into disrepair. Through the initiative of the regional association, extensive renovations were possible in 1974, which were to last 15 years and were only completed in 1989.

IMPRESSIONS OF HERTEN CASTLE


 I took the majority of these photos on a November day in 2018. I've been walking in the castle park in my neighborhood for decades. As so often, we neglect the obvious. I didn't always have my camera with me, well I'll be photographing this gem more often in the future.Here's a little anecdote, the small white chapel originally stood in the city of Gelsenkirchen. In order to save the now very dilapidated castle chapel from final ruin, the former lords of the castle had the building demolished stone by stone in 1908 and rebuilt on the outer bailey of their Herten Castle .

Art  Burgenland

 There is a lot to discover in Herten Castle Park. One of those discoveries is on this trail. The Burgenland art axis is very interesting and not only takes you on a journey through the historical epochs of the cultural landscape, but also allows visitors to experience nature intensively in this way. As part of the RUHR.2010 Capital of Culture, the artist Nils-Udo created Burgenland, which consists of 15 green mounds of earth between one, two and three meters high. The change in the landscape caused by industrialization can be seen in the green hills, since human intervention has also changed the natural landscape. Nils-Udo has installed typical colliery buildings made of Corten steel on eight of fifteen hills. The models of the collieries, which have now become historic themselves, represent Herten's 130-year mining tradition. Corten steel has the property of rusting very quickly, only on the surface, so that shortly after they were erected, the miniature buildings became symbols of transience. The building ensembles consist, among other things, of the conveyor tower and the Malakow tower. A shed roof hall is also part of it. The artist, known under the name of Nils-Udo, began his career as a painter. After ten years, working with nature became the focus of his work. He is now one of the most prominent LandArt artists.

The Castle Park

 Hard to imagine today, the Herten Castle Park was not accessible to the public for centuries. In the possession of Count Nesselrode, the approximately 30-hectare park was surrounded by high walls and the mighty gates remained firmly closed. Since the opening of the park in 1974, the palace park has enjoyed great popularity among the citizens of Herten. Between the middle of the 19th century and the First World War, the castle owners had two fish ponds and a large mixed forest, the castle forest, laid out in the southern part of the garden. The castle forest is 179 hectares in size. Of this, 125 hectares are forest areas and 31 hectares are agriculturally used fields and pastures. There are also water areas, sunbathing areas and wild meadows. The main tree species are English oak, hornbeam, copper beech, birch, poplar, red oak, alder, ash, sycamore maple, wild cherry and linden. The oldest stocks of red beech are 175 years old and the pedunculate oaks are 195 years old. Right in front of my front door, this park and the forest is a place of rest in the early morning hours and is populated by many animals, especially waterfowl.

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