Arnsberg Castle
[2] The electors resided, hunted and feasted there during their visits, the Landdrost had his seat there as governor, and partially the provincial assemblies also took place there.
[2] A fundamental redesign in the baroque style took place from 1739 onwards under Elector Clemens August of Bavaria (1700–1761) with help of the architect Johann Conrad Schlaun (1695–1773), creating a cheerful palace and hunting lodge.
[2] The development and construction history of the complex can be traced more precisely through artistic representations, plans, and descriptions only since the 16th century.
Around 1060, count Bernhard II of Werl (1010–1070) built the so-called old castle, also known as "Rüdenburg", on a hill at the confluence of the Walpke and Ruhr rivers.
Earlier, the construction of the "Grafenburg" (i.e., the location of the current castle ruins) on the hill opposite "Rüdenburg" was attributed to him, with the year of origin given as 1077.
In 1102, a castle in the area of present-day Arnsberg was destroyed by Frederick I, Archbishop of Cologne (1075–1131), because count Friedrich had sided with Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV (1050–1106) during the Investiture Controversy.
Another destruction of the castle occurred in 1166 under the rule of count Heinrich I, whose brother's murder triggered a punitive campaign by Henry the Lion (1129/31-1195).
[1][2] During the Soest Feud (1444–1449), it served as the main base for the troops of Archbishop Dietrich II von Moers (1385–1463).
The redesign focused on dismantling the roof and timberwork of the castle and reusing and integrating the walls for cost reasons.
Passing by additional outworks, visitors entered a gate in the western tower and reached the courtyard of the castle complex.
This area also included additional structures such as a brewhouse, a battery facing north, and the powder tower.
A contemporary inventory by the Oberkellner Hermann Dücker listed forty-nine rooms in total, including a castle library and a chamber for Jesuits.
In the following decades, not least the Thirty Years' War contributed to the deterioration of the complex, until under Elector Maximilian Henry of Bavaria (1621–1688) from 1654, first a restoration and later a redesign took place.
[1] Immediately after taking office, he ordered the responsible monasteries of Wedinghausen and Rumbeck to restore the dilapidated waterworks.
The three artillery batteries in front of the east and west towers and to the north were expanded with partly underground outworks.
Beneath the floor with the hall were five cross vaults housing the kitchen, dispensary, wine cellar, bakery, silver chamber, and similar spaces.
Lightning struck the White Tower, dating back to the Middle Ages, three times between 1660 and 1683, causing significant damage.
[1] In 1685/86, the tower was renovated, and adjacent buildings in disrepair were demolished, leading to design proposals for the expanded castle square.
After some emergency measures, a thorough examination of the building was conducted in 1717, involving the master builder Lambert Friedrich Corfey.
The poor condition of the building was brought to attention by the Oberkellner of the Duchy of Westphalia, Bernhard Adolf von Dücker, in 1718.
[1] Consequently, Clemens August decided on a restoration, accompanied by significant redesign into a residential castle and hunting lodge.
These included portraits of the last five Cologne electors, members of the Wittelsbach family, and Emperor Louis IV the Bavarian (1282–1347).
The Elector's bedroom had yellow silk damask wallpaper and a canopy bed made of similar fabric.
During the Seven Years' War, the castle and the city were bombarded and set on fire and destroyed in April 1762 by Prussian and Hanoverian troops under the command of Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick (1735–1806), to force a French garrison allied with Electoral Cologne, consisting of 200 men, to surrender.
[1] It was strategic unimportant decision and led to a loss of cultural important residential castle and hunting lodge.
[2] The LWL Landesmuseum in Münster has a set of designs made by Johan Conrad Schlaun for Schloss Arnsberg.
Among others, the Düsseldorf garden architect Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe transformed the Schlossberg area into a landscape park in the romantic style from 1818 to 1821.
[1] The plans of the architect Engelbert Seibertz to build a Kaiser Wilhelm Tower with a restaurant and museum were thwarted by the outbreak of the First World War.
The overgrown walls were cleared, a large-scale memorial for war victims was relocated to another location, and a circular path was created.
It is said that the pastor and poet August Disselhoff (1829-1903) composed the song "Nun ade, du mein lieb Heimatland" (Now farewell, my beloved homeland) in the ruins of the Arnsberg Castle.
