Bunderhee Castle

The Steinhaus Bunderhee is one of the oldest preserved castles in East Frisia. The three-story medieval tower house in Bunderhee from the 14th century was a chieftain's seat and has been preserved in its fundamental substance unchanged. The Baroque extension to the west was completed in 1735. The Steinhaus Bunderhee is located in the Leer district, 2 km northeast of Bunde in Rheiderland.

The Steinhaus is located on the outermost northern edge of a 5 m high geest ridge that extends over Bunde, and originally also belonged politically to this place.

According to oral tradition, the beginnings of the Steinhaus Bunderhee date back to the 9th to 10th centuries. The activity of the chieftain Gala Nommcka (Okkel Noneka) in Bunde in 1391 is attested. A connection with the Steinhaus is still unclear. This also applies to the Bunde chieftain Luwert Saninga (Sanninge), attested in 1448 and 1463.

According to current knowledge, the tower house dates from the 14th century. The three-story complex was initially used only as a protective and storage building and not as living space. Since the construction of tall stone houses was forbidden according to the Brokmerbrief, which was still the valid Frisian legal basis in the 14th century, special privileges of the local chieftains must have prevailed here. The law book states:

"The Brokmen establish this as law, that there shall be no castles and no walls and no tall stone houses under (a penalty of) eight marks ... If any stone house is built higher than twelve rod feet high in the square, and a cellar extending over two house compartments in the square, then he to whom it belongs shall pay eight marks."

– Brokmer Law, § 150

Presumably, there was a well in the original complex. The old access to the first floor was at a height of 3 m on the east side and could only be entered via ladders. This, like the originally very small windows, indicates the defensive function of the building.

Archaeological excavations in 1977 and exploratory boreholes in 1999 confirmed that there was a water connection between the Steinhaus moat and the Dollart north of the Steinhaus. A 5.5 m wide and 1.2 m deep dry moat from an older period was found, which enclosed the Steinhaus from the west, north, and east, but its origin is still unclear. A younger moat could be associated with the advance of the Dollart to the Bunder Geest at the beginning of the 15th century. This moat was the last offshoot of a waterway, allowing ships to dock in Bunderhee. Ubbo Emmius recorded on his map of East Frisia, north-east of Bunde at the height of "Hochee" (Bunderhee), the small island of Jarde(n), which offered refuge to refugees. This access to the sea was lost at the latest with the impoldering in 1707. The current pond with a hill on the north side is not a remnant of this moat, as was long suspected, but is due to garden design towards the end of the 19th century.

When times became more peaceful in the 16th century, the Steinhaus was converted into a residential building by enlarging the window on the east side on the first floor around 1500 and installing a late Gothic open fireplace and an altar niche. In the course of a new roof, the Steinhaus received its current upper finish. Towards the end of the 16th century, the altar niche on the first floor was converted into a window. The second floor was fitted with an asymmetrical Renaissance fireplace and further windows were installed. In addition, the tower building received stairs, after access to the second floor and the attic had previously only been possible via ladders.

Petrus Ficinus († 1623) from Geldern owned the Steinhaus from 1595 and served the Counts of East Frisia. In 1599, Count Enno II granted the Steinhaus noble freedom. The building was leased from 1600. Ficinus' daughter Katharina Ficinus married Tiberias van Heteren from Geldern. Various traces indicate that access in the west in the 17th century was through a small extension.

After water access was no longer possible, Johannes van Heteren erected a comfortable single-story residential building in the Baroque style on the western side in 1712. The presumed attached tower access in the west gave way to the "new house". In 1735, the renovation measures were completed. A building inscription on the west wall testifies to the laying of the foundation stone: "Dit Hius is gebauwt von Johannes von Heteren als men Schref na De Heilsame geborte unses Heeren Jesu Christy het Jahr 1712 ende is hyr vonaldo op den 28 April De Eerste Steen gelecht" (This house was built by Johannes von Heteren when one wrote after the blessed birth of our Lord Jesus Christ the year 1712 and here on April 28 the first stone was laid).

The tower house became the back house, henceforth serving again as storage space and remaining untouched by changes. The van Heteren family inhabited the building until the end of the 19th century and also managed the neighboring farm. The freestanding "Stokhus", a small outbuilding built east of the tower, also dates from this late period. After the van Heteren family, the Steinhaus passed into the possession of the Elias family.

In 1928, safety measures were carried out, in 1972 the roof was re-covered and the beam ceiling partially renewed. In 1976, the Ostfriesische Landschaft acquired the Steinhaus from the widow Klasine Elias and carried out a complete renovation from 1976–1978.

From 1978 to 2002, the Steinhaus was the seat of the North German Organ Academy under the direction of Harald Vogel. Professors from all over the world spent their sabbatical year here to learn the works of the Old Masters in historical playing on the historical organs of the East Frisian organ landscape. Starting from the Steinhaus, Vogel also conducted international summer courses (master classes). In addition, the Steinhaus housed a valuable collection of historical stringed keyboard instruments and various replicas. The instruments were transferred to the Organeum in Weener in 2002.

Between 2002 and 2008, the Steinhaus served the East Frisian artist Elisabeth Tatenberg and the Dutch architect Jan Timmer as a studio under the name "Kunsthaus Steinhaus" and as a residence.

The planned construction of a wind farm and a holiday park near the Steinhaus has polarized the public for years.

Since the structural condition of the building had further deteriorated and the studio moved to Weener in 2008, the Steinhaus remained uninhabited. The structural safety of the roof construction was no longer guaranteed, as the load-bearing beam heads had rotted due to the moisture in the masonry. After funding of € 400,000 was secured and grants were approved, the renovation of the Steinhaus took place from April 2010 to March 2011. In the future, the building will house an exhibition on the history of the East Frisian chieftains and the Steinhaus and will be open for cultural events. In 2007, the Ostfriesische Landschaft, with the help of the Ostfrieslandstiftung, acquired the neighboring Tammen farm with the adjacent park, which will also be made accessible to the public.