The Wasserschloss Wilkinghege is a country estate in
Kinderhaus, part of the
Westphalia
Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants.
The territory of the regio ...
n city of
Münster
Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...
, Germany. It is built in
Renaissance style
Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...
. Since 1955 it has been used as a hotel with a golf course.
History
In the year 1311 a moated castle (German ''Wasserburg'') Wilkinghege appears for the first time in an official document. It was a castle that served defensive purposes and was held as a fief by the Rhemen zu Barenfeld family; in the 14th century it was transferred to the Lords von Kleihorst.
Beginning in 1550 the old castle was replaced by the country estate, now a ''Wasserschloss'' in German, indicating that although it still had a moat, this was now an element of style; the castle was no longer military in function. The owners were the Steveninck zu Broich family. In 1719 it was rebuilt by Gottfried Laurenz Pictorius in the Mannerist style for Herr von Harde and his wife Katharina von Keppel. In the following years the castle's ownership changed several times, but in 1779 it was again in the possession of the Rhemen zu Barenfeld family.
After that family died out, the new owners became the Winnecken family, who still own the estate, together with the surrounding lands.
In 1958 the building caught fire. It was rebuilt largely true to the original, so that it still has the spirit of a castle.
Famous guests
In the course of the centuries, many well known people have visited the fortress and the castle, including:
*
Prince-bishop Franz von Waldeck
*
Prince-bishop Christoph Bernhard Graf von Galen
*
General Jean-Baptiste Kléber
*
Franz von Fürstenberg Franz may refer to:
People
* Franz (given name)
* Franz (surname)
Places
* Franz (crater), a lunar crater
* Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada
* Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see ...
* Poet
Annette von Droste-Hülshoff
Baroness Anna Elisabeth Franziska Adolphine Wilhelmine Louise Maria von Droste zu Hülshoff, known as Annette von Droste-Hülshoff (; 10 January 179724 May 1848), was a 19th-century German poet, novelist, and composer of Classical music. She was ...
External links
Homepage of the castle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinghege, Wasserschloss
Palaces in North Rhine-Westphalia
Buildings and structures in Münster
Water castles in North Rhine-Westphalia