Dudeldorf Castle (german: Burg Dudeldorf) is the most important monument in the parish of
Dudeldorf
Dudeldorf is a village municipality in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is located about 10 km (6 miles) east of Bitburg, 42 km (26 miles) north of Trier, and 32 km (20 miles) east of the Luxembourg ...
in the district of
Bitburg-Prüm
The Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm ( lb, Äifelkrees Béibreg-Prüm) is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) Luxembourg, Belgium and the districts of Euskirchen, Vulkaneifel, Bernkastel-Wittlich and ...
in the German state of
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
. The
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
is in the northwest corner of the former
village walls of Dudeldorf. It was built in 1345 and restored 1451–53.
History
The original Dudeldorf Castle was built in the 12th century, although the exact date is not known. A lord of Dudeldorf is recorded in 1052. In the 14th century this aristocratic family became extinct.
The castle occupies the northern part of the village walls which also form the
curtain walls of the castle. The overall site consists of the
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
tower house
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...
, which was converted into a school in the 19th century, the double-winged
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
, added in the 18th century, the courtyard with its archway and the garden and pavilion. The ''
bergfried
''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Spanish: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries and in countries under German ...
'', which rises above a
vaulted
In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...
basement, bears the date 1734 at the level of the uppermost of its three floors. This was the year when it was repaired and marks the start of construction of the mansion by Balthasar Seberger, commissioned by Wolf Heinrich Gottfried Braun of Schmidtburg. His father Heinrich Gottfried bought the castle in 1701. It was out of this that Dudelsdorf House (''Schloss Dudelsdorf'') was created by Heinrich Braun of Schmidtburg in 1734–35, then called Nassau House (''Nassauisches Haus''). The second house appears in the Austrian
cadastral map
A cadastre or cadaster is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref>
Often it is represented graphically in a cad ...
of 1766, used as a sheep barn because of its poor state of repair. The longer of the two
rusticated ashlar
Two different styles of rustication in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence; smooth-faced above and rough-faced below.">Florence.html" ;"title="Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence">Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence; smooth-faced above and r ...
wings is dated 1735 in an inscription over the middle one of its three
transom window
In architecture, a transom is a transverse horizontal structural beam or bar, or a crosspiece separating a door from a window above it. This contrasts with a mullion, a vertical structural member. Transom or transom window is also the customary U ...
s (''Oberlichtportale'') below a double
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
. The southern wing was converted into a primary school in the first half of the 19th century, with an apartment for the schoolteacher. Further repairs were made in 1847, 1853 and 1886. A fireplace by the sandstone arches indicates that the entrance hall was once a hall kitchen (''Flurküche''). In the area of the ground floor—the former courtroom—is a shallow, carved
rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
niche. On the second floor is a fireplace surround in 18th century style. On the capstone of the archway of the path leading from the village to the castle courtyard there is a ruined coat of arms dated 1715. By the garden wall an 18th garden house with a
hip roof
A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...
replaced in 1994–95 rises above the foundations of an outward-facing
defensive tower
A fortified tower (also defensive tower or castle tower or, in context, just tower) is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain wall (fortification), curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variet ...
. On its outer wall can still be areas of
baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
window painting. In the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
the castle was used as a munitions depot by the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
.
Literature
*
Georg Dehio
Georg Gottfried Julius Dehio (22 November 1850 in Reval (now Tallinn), Governorate of Estonia, Russian Empire – 21 March 1932 in Tübingen), was a Baltic German art historian.
In 1900, Dehio started the "''Handbuch der deutschen Kunstgesch ...
: ''
Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler. Rheinland-Pfalz''.
Deutscher Kunstverlag
The Deutscher Kunstverlag (DKV) is an educational publishing house with offices in Berlin and Munich. The publisher specializes in books about art, cultural history, architecture, and historic preservation.
History
Deutscher Kunstverlag was fo ...
, Munich, 1984.
External links
Dudeldorf Castle in the data bank of cultural estates in the region of TrierWebsite of the castle* {{Ebidat, 185
Buildings and structures completed in 1345
Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate
Buildings and structures in Bitburg-Prüm