Haus Weitmar

The ruins of the manor house with its perron, the remains of the chapel including three headstone, as well as a gatehouse and a gateway from the beginning of the 20th century have been protected as historic monument since 26 April 1995.

[4] Through shards of Pingsdorf and Paffrath earthenware found in it, it could be determined that it must have been filled in during a comprehensive expansion of the upper court in the early 13th century.

Apparently, a ministerialis of Werden Abbey expanded the Schultenhof into a more representative seat,[7] because before 1250, a chapel located northwest of the two-room house was also built on the courtyard area.

During his time Weitmar - as well as the surrounding Bauerschaften Bisping, Klevinghusen, Nevel, Branthorpe and Eppendorf - was plundered in the Dortmund feud of 1388/1389 by 40 swiss mercenaries under their leader Bitter von Raesfeld.

In addition, he also received as a fief the bureau about wooden law of the Weitmarer Mark and the Bisping court, which also belonged to the Werden Abbey.

Wennemar was a Margravian Amtmann of Bochum and had already received permission in May 1464[11] to build a new residential house on the grounds of the Schultenhof Weitmar, because his old family seat in Stiepel had become dilapidated.

[11] During the expansion, an almost square extension was added to the house at its southeast corner, so that it subsequently had an L-shaped floor plan.

Christine, the daughter of Wennemar's grandson Wessel, had married Heinrich von Eickel, who was enfeoffed with a part of the Haus Weitmar in 1577.

[11] However, the final and legally binding transfer of the house did not take place until 2 June 1650, when the widow renounced the Eickel part of the property in exchange for a payment of 300 Reichsthaler for herself and 2125 Dutch thalers for her children.

[14] With the death of the unmarried Johann von Hasenkamp, the family died out in 1764, and the rights to Haus Weitmar were to be sold.

He did not remain so for long, however, but sold it again as early as 1780 to Andreas Friedrich Wilhelm von Berswordt-Wallrabe, whose family is still the owner today and has taken up quarters in the neighboring Galerie m. They had changes made to the manor house once again in the late 18th century.

The facades and roof form were the reasons why later art historians often mistakenly classified Haus Weitmar as a purely classicist building.

On the island in front of the castle, a stable and residential building was built at the same time, incorporating older structures such as the house chapel, which also had a gate-like character.

It is formed, among other things, by a long access avenue, at the starting point of which in the east a gatehouse was built at the beginning of the 20th century.

[18] In 1890, Ludwig von Berswordt-Wallrabe reacquired the Sylvester chapel, which had meanwhile fallen into disrepair, together with the associated land for 1000 marks for the Haus Weitmar.

The small house of worship had been so dilapidated that the Protestant congregation had already decided to build a new church elsewhere in the 1860s and thus no longer had any use for the chapel.

During World War II, Haus Weitmar was hit by bombs during an air raid on 13 May 1943, and burned down to the outer walls.

[19] In September 2005, the remains of both structures had to be closed off with construction fences because falling chunks of stone were endangering visitors.

A building was completed for Situation Kunst in May 2010 as part of the Ruhr.2010, providing around 1,200 square meters of space for cultural and scientific events, exhibitions, and storage and workrooms.

The artists represented, who are very well known in the art scene, are François Morellet, David Rabinowitch, Erich Reusch, Ulrich Rückriem, Richard Serra, Giuseppe Spagnulo, William Tucker and Lee Ufan.In the past, every summer from the 1990s to 2010, students from the Schauspielschule Bochum performed in the park.

The manor house and outer bailey used to stand on two separate islands in the middle of a pond (moat) fed by the Linnebecke river.

[9] A single-arched bridge made of rubble masonry, which is still preserved today, led from the outer castle island across the moat to the simple, two-story manor house.

[2] At the end of the 18th century, the von Berswordt-Wallrabe family had this L-shaped building expanded into an almost transverse rectangular house with a multi-story mansard roof.

Its slightly buckled façade on the east side probably resulted from the unstable building ground in the area of the former moat, which was drained at the time.

[1] A double-flight, curved flight of steps leads to the main entrance.The Sylvester chapel, first mentioned in a document in 1397, stands northwest of the manor house and has predominantly Gothic elements.

The small cemetery next to the chapel testifies to the fact that the place of worship was the church of the Protestant parish for centuries.

On the east side, a pointed arch opening leads into the late Gothic choir, which is three steps higher than the nave.

At its starting point on Hattinger Street stands a gatehouse with a mansard roof and corner turrets from the beginning of the 20th century.

[18] The lattice gate is made of wrought iron and consists of elements in the form of arches, foliage and lambent spikes.

Until the year 2000, the oldest tree in Bochum, a dwarf beech planted in 1740, also stood there until it broke apart due to arson.