Waldegg Castle is a castle near

Solothurn Solothurn ( , ; french: Soleure ; it, Soletta ; rm, ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissens ...

, but in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Feldbrunnen-St. Niklaus Feldbrunnen-St.Niklaus is a municipality in the district of Lebern in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. History Feldbrunnen-St. Niklaus is first mentioned in 1319 as ''Velbrunnen''. Geography Feldbrunnen-St. Niklaus has an area, , of . ...

of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

History

The Baroque castle was built in 1682–86 as the summer home for Schultheiss Johann Viktor von Besenval (1638–1713) and his wife Maria Margaritha von Sury (1649–1713). His son, Johann Viktor II (1671–1736) was a diplomat and an officer in the French Swiss Guards. After he inherited the castle he had it renovated (1729–34), adding a theater and the chapel of St. Michael, and decorated in the current French style. He brought numerous works of art back with him from France. Johann Viktor II's son, Baron Peter Viktor von Besenval was born at the castle. However, he lived most of his life in France, where he bought in 1767 the Hôtel Chanac de Pompaodur and made it his residence in Paris. He did, however, add an

orangery An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very lar ...

to the castle in 1780. The

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

of 1789 was disastrous to the family's influence, business interests and wealth. While they were able to escape to Switzerland, their close ties to the old nobility made them unwelcome in France. When the Besenval family died out, the castle was abandoned until it was purchased by Joseph von Sury von Besenval in 1865. The new owner added two apartments and changed the Baroque garden into an

English garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...

. In 1963 the castle was transferred to the Waldegg Castle Foundation and in 1975 it became the headquarters of the Center for Intercultural Dialogue, an organization that fosters understanding between the different languages and cultures of Switzerland. Beginning in 1985 it was extensively renovated and repaired, a project that lasted twenty years. The castle museum opened in 1991.

Castle site

The castle was built in the local ''Turmlihaus'' style, but incorporating elements of the French and Italian Baroque. The central building features three large towers and is flanked by symmetric, two story tall galleries with corner turrets. Niches in the galleries house allegorical statues which were carved in 1683 by Johann Peter Frölicher. The eastern turret houses the castle chapel with a high-Baroque altar from 1720. The second chapel has reproductions of St. Michael by

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

and St Raphael by

Domenico Fetti Domenico Fetti (also spelled Feti) (c. 1589 – 1623) was an Italian Baroque painter who had been active mainly in Rome, Mantua and Venice. Biography Born in Rome to a little-known painter, Pietro Fetti, Domenico is said to have apprenticed ...

, the originals of which both hang in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. The main hall has ten allegorical paintings of the Arts and Sciences and is decorated with

supraporte An "overdoor" (or "Supraporte" as in German, or "sopraporte" as in Italian) is a painting, bas-relief or decorative panel, generally in a horizontal format, that is set, typically within ornamental mouldings, over a door, or was originally intend ...

and

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

illusions. The eastern salon has a

grisaille Grisaille ( or ; french: grisaille, lit=greyed , from ''gris'' 'grey') is a painting executed entirely in shades of grey or of another neutral greyish colour. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many g ...

style ceiling painting while the west salon and billiard rooms both have trompe-l'œil illusions painted on the ceiling.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waldegg Castle Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Solothurn Castles in the canton of Solothurn

History

Castle site

See also

References