Hengebach Castle

Hengebach Castle is located in Heimbach (Eifel), a town in the northern Eifel, above the Rur in the district of Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia.

Hengebach Castle is an oval ring castle complex from the 12th to 14th centuries, built on a mountain ridge rising freely from the Rur valley. The core of the complex is the western courtyard from the 12th to 13th centuries with the keep/palas combination. The eastern part of the castle complex belongs to the 14th-century expansion. This includes the forecourt of the hilltop castle, the garden, and the zwinger. The residential buildings erected on the south side above the Rur valley, which are also set up for defensive purposes, also date from this construction phase.

Middle Ages

Godizo von Aspel-Heimbach was the first verifiable owner of the castle. In 1011, he bequeathed it to Count Gerhard of Metz. However, through the marriage of Gozilo's widow, Gerhard von Monterberg came into its possession. Thereupon, the Lotharingian Gerhard and his ally Balderich of Drenthe besieged the castle to wrest it back from Gerhard von Monterberg. The latter was killed in an ambush, and the castle guards surrendered. From 1016 to 1021, the castle was the seat of Count Balderich of Drenthe, who was expelled from his own possessions in 1016, undertook raids from there, and died there in 1021.

Who was lord of Heimbach Castle in the following decades is unclear, but it ultimately returned to Gozilo's descendants. Between 1075 and 1094, Ethelger (Adelger) von Zülpich, a great-grandson of Gozilo, is referred to as Lord of Hengebach in documents. Thereafter, at the beginning of the 12th century, Hermann I von Hengebach, a son of Adelger, is mentioned. He was the first owner of the castle who belonged to the Hengebach family and was probably the progenitor of the Hoen von Heimbach line at Loevenich Castle. The line ended with the death of Everhard III around 1237. The Jülich and Heimbach territories were united under the rule of Count Wilhelm IV of Jülich.

Until the occupation of the Left Bank of the Rhine by French revolutionary troops and the associated practical dissolution of the Duchy of Jülich towards the end of the 18th century, Hengebach Castle was intermittently owned by the Counts and later Dukes of Jülich, only to fall to their heirs, the Palatine Counts of Palatinate-Neuburg, after the death of the last Duke Johann Wilhelm in 1609.

The castle fell into disrepair. A fire in 1687 completely ruined Heimbach Castle.

Modern Era

Through the annexation of the Left Bank of the Rhine to France, the castle became the property of the French state, which sold it in 1804 to the Fraikin family from Heimbach. They used the ruin as a quarry. Due to the risk of collapse, they abandoned the castle in 1904. It was decided to completely raze the complex to the ground.

At this critical moment, citizens of Düren founded the "Association for the Preservation of the Heimbach Castle Ruin" with its seat in Düren. The association acquired the castle and initiated extensive safeguarding measures. In 1935, the district of Schleiden, to which the town of Heimbach then belonged, bought the castle. The plan was to completely restore the complex and turn it into the site of a local history museum. When the essential planning work was already completed, the Second World War again thwarted everything.

Since the district of Schleiden lacked the funds for the reconstruction of the ruin after the war, the castle was leased long-term to a Düsseldorf brewery in 1952, but with the condition of restoring the complex. The brewery partially restored the castle by 1954 and operated a restaurant and a hotel there. In 1969, the district of Schleiden terminated the lease and began the complete reconstruction of the castle in 1970.

After the municipal reorganization in 1972, the district of Düren, as the new owner, continued the work. Today, the town of Heimbach owns the castle, which, after restoration and the extremely controversial combination of old building fabric with modern elements, again served as a restaurant and hotel. After renovation, the International Art Academy Heimbach opened its doors at the castle on August 23, 2009.