Herten Castle

Herten Castle is a moated castle on the western edge of Herten city center in the district of Recklinghausen. It is located in the middle of an old English landscape garden and was first mentioned in a document in 1376. Since 1962, the main building of the castle complex has been a listed building.

The current buildings were erected in the 16th and 17th centuries by the Coesfeld master builder Henrik de Suyr and his son Johann for the Stecke and Nesselrode families. After the main building was abandoned as a residence after the First World War, it fell into disrepair and was threatened with collapse due to mining damage. Only a thorough renovation by the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe from 1974 to 1989 saved the late Gothic complex from complete decay.

Residents and Owners

The family of Herten, vassals of Werden Abbey, is first mentioned in a document in 1286 with "Gerlach von Hertene". Their former residence is presumed to be in the present-day city center of Herten near the parish church of St. Antonius. In the 14th century, the knightly family built a fortified house on the site of the present castle, which was mentioned in a document in 1376 as a fief of the Imperial Abbey of Werden.

Through marriage, "Haus Herten" came into the possession of the Lords of Galen in the mid-14th century. Their heiress Elseke brought it in 1488 through her marriage in 1476 to her husband Dietrich von Stecke zur Leythe.

Anna von Stecke married Bertram I von Nesselrode, hereditary chamberlain of the Duchies of Jülich and Berg, in 1529. Like numerous members of the House of Nesselrode, he was governor of the Vest Recklinghausen for the Electorate of Cologne from 1539 to 1556 and continued an expansion and reconstruction of the house, which had already begun in 1520, from 1530 onwards.

For almost 300 years, the complex remained in the possession of the Nesselrode family. Baron Franz von Nesselrode-Reichenstein was elevated to the rank of Imperial Count by Emperor Leopold I in 1702. When the last male representative of the Herten branch of Nesselrode, Johann Franz Josef von Nesselrode, died in 1826, the castle passed through Johann's daughter Charlotte to the Droste zu Vischering family, who were also elevated to the rank of Imperial Count in the same year. The members of their Herten line subsequently called themselves "Droste zu Vischering von Nesselrode-Reichenstein".

The family inhabited the Herten complex until shortly after the First World War. However, after they resided at Merten Castle in Eitorf from 1920 onwards and thus abandoned Herten Castle as a residence, it was left to decay. During the occupation of the Ruhr area from 1923 to 1925, it served as accommodation for French troops, who left the castle in a state of devastation.

The Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe became the provisional last owner of the complex, acquiring the then dilapidated buildings and the castle park in 1974. The latter has been owned by the city of Herten since November 2008.

Building History

In the first half of the 14th century, the Lords of Herten erected a medieval stone residential tower, whose few relics are still visible today in the vaulted cellar of the north wing. The ribbed cross vault, however, probably rests on even older foundations. Further building components from that period could be proven by an emergency excavation carried out in 1974, but could not be reconstructed.

From 1520, for the widow of Heinrich von Stecke, Sophie von Morrien, the stone residential tower was converted and expanded into a closed castle in the late Gothic style. The responsible master builders were Henrik de Suyr from Coesfeld and his son Johann. For this reason, Herten Castle shows unmistakable similarities to the then Nordkirchen Castle, which was also built under Henric de Suer from 1516. The work was continued from 1529 with minor changes for Bertram I von Nesselrode. Contemporary reports speak after the completion of the construction work in 1560 of a "mighty building with fortifications and ramparts", which, by means of its rectangular rampart with corner bastions, was able to withstand a two-year siege by Gebhard I von Waldburg during the Truchsessian War from 1583. Remains of the former ramparts are still preserved in the area of the eastern chestnut avenue.

The expansion of the stone residential tower into a bastioned, irregular four-wing complex (excavations have shown that it was originally planned with a square floor plan) took place in several phases.

First, an extension wing was built on pile foundations in the north of the complex, which connected to the residential tower to the east. In later years, a two-story gallery was added to the building on the courtyard side. Its facade is the oldest show facade in Westphalia still preserved in parts. Its construction start cannot yet be precisely dated; it is only certain that it was completed before the mid-16th century.

Subsequently, presumably the east wing with its reception rooms was built. The ground floor at that time only housed a large hall and an adjoining hall chamber to the south.

The west wing of the complex was added in the third construction phase. Its central part was a house built earlier, whose gable is still preserved and visible in the present attic. This house was first extended to the north by the present northwest tower and then to the south by another tower building.

Finally, a two-story connecting tract was placed diagonally between the differently long east and west wings in the southern part of the complex. Its first floor, still preserved today, is supported by a late Gothic column gallery. When its second floor was demolished can no longer be precisely determined today; presumably between 1850 and 1870. Coinciding with the construction of the south wing, an octagonal stair tower, still preserved today, was erected in the southeast corner of the resulting inner courtyard. It was one of the first of its kind, as until that time only wall stairs on the outer walls or internal wooden stairs to the upper floors were common.

From about 1650, Bertram von Nesselrode and his wife Lucia von Hatzfeld had some modernization work carried out on the buildings, which also involved the defortification of the complex. From that period dates the perspectively painted ceiling of the large hall on the ground floor of the east wing, rediscovered during restoration work. It is unique in Westphalia.

In 1687, a severe fire during the Christmas season destroyed large parts of the north and west wings, largely destroying the valuable library. Baron Franz von Nesselrode-Reichenstein rebuilt the castle in its present Baroque form by 1702. In the course of the reconstruction, the elaborately designed portal on the west side of the complex was also erected. At the same time, the builder had commissioned the creation of a Baroque garden north of the buildings, modeled on French gardens, with numerous fountains and statues. 20 preserved pen-and-ink drawings by the Walloon painter Renier Roidkin from about 1730 provide a good insight into the appearance of the garden complex at that time. By 1725, following an English fashion, an orangery was built to the northeast at a distance of about 200 m.

After the already dilapidated castle buildings were no longer used after 1925, ground subsidence caused by mining did the rest and almost brought the four-wing complex to collapse. From 1967, for this reason, Sicherungsmaßnahmen (securing measures) were carried out on the foundations of the buildings. The decay of the existing building fabric continued unhindered, however, until the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe took over the ruinous buildings in 1974. Restoration measures began in the same year and lasted until 1989. To save the main building, a considerable loss of original building fabric had to be accepted: all foundations and all floor slabs were replaced by reinforced concrete constructions during the renovation, and all roofs - except for a small part of the west wing - were completely renewed.