Schloss Türnich is a

schloss ''Schloss'' (; pl. ''Schlösser''), formerly written ''Schloß'', is the German term for a building similar to a château, palace, or manor house. Related terms appear in several Germanic languages. In the Scandinavian languages, the cogn ...

located in , now part of

Kerpen Kerpen (; Ripuarian: ''Kerpe'') is the most populated town in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). It is located about 20 kilometres southwest from Cologne. As of 2023, Kerpen has a total population of 67,627. Division of ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, Germany. The present main building was built from 1757 to 1766 in

Baroque style The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (i ...

, with an adjacent

English landscape park The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

. It has belonged to the Hoensbroech family since 1850. A richly decorated chapel was added in 1895. The building was closed in 1979 because of structural damage caused by groundwater-related subsidence and has since then been restored. Its spacious park with a cafe is open to the public.

History

Türnich had a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

moated castle A water castle, sometimes water-castle, is a castle which incorporates a natural or artificial body of water into its defences.Forde-Johnston (1979), p. 163. It can be entirely surrounded by water-filled moats (moated castle) or natural waterbo ...

, mentioned in 898. It was one of a chain of castles in the border region between the

Duchy of Jülich The Duchy of Jülich (; ; ) comprised a state within the Holy Roman Empire from the 11th to the 18th centuries. The duchy lay west of the Rhine river and was bordered by the Electorate of Cologne to the east and the Duchy of Limburg to the wes ...

and the

Electorate of Cologne The Electorate of Cologne (), sometimes referred to as Electoral Cologne (), was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. It consisted of the Hochstift—the temporal posses ...

. It was first a possession of

Essen Abbey Essen Abbey () was a community of secular canonesses for women of high nobility that formed the nucleus of modern-day Essen, Germany. A chapter of male priests were also attached to the abbey, under a dean. In the medieval period, the abbess ...

but then became a possession of the Duke of Jülich, who lent it to House of Haas. Possession of the castle then passed into the joint custody of the Houses of and Rolshausen until the latter became the castle's sole owners in 1707. In 1757, Carl Ludwig Anton von Rolshausen began the construction of a new,

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

, probably designed by

Michael Leveilly Michael Leveilly (also Michel Leveilly, Michael Leveillé; 1694 – 23 January 1762) was a French architect who was active essentially in Germany. Life Leveilly was probably a pupil of François Blondel or of Robert de Cotte. In 1717, at the be ...

, then the French court architect of the

. It was completed in 1766. It was augmented in the 1790s by an

English landscape garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

. Georg-Karl von Rolshausen sold the manor house to Reichsgraf Karl Eugen von und zu Hoensbroech in 1850. The Hoensbroech family expanded schloss and garden by a gatehouse and a chapel. Open-cast brown-coal mining in the region was expanded around 1890, and the Hoensbroichs participated in the business, making the erection of a chapel possible. However, from the 1950s it has significantly lowered the levels of groundwater around the mansion which caused substantial damage to the buildings. In 1979, the family, then headed by Count Godehard von und zu Hoensbroech, had to leave the house for safety. With help of the government of North Rhine-Westphalia, the town of Kerpen and

Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz The ''Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz'' ("German Foundation for Monument Protection") is a German private initiative founded in 1985 that works for the preservation of cultural heritage in Germany and to promote the idea of cultural heritage ma ...

, restoration began in 2009. The Hoensbroech family is considering a move back. The farmland of the property is used for

organic farming Organic farming, also known as organic agriculture or ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2024 on organic production and labelling of ...

. The schloss features a cafe offering

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

products.

Architecture

The main building is a typical

maison de plaisance In Renaissance architecture, Renaissance and Early Modern German architecture, a ''Lustschloss'' (, both meaning "pleasure palace") is a country house, château, or palace which served the private pleasure of its owner, and was seasonally inh ...

(''Lustschloss''). The design is reminiscent of Schloss Jägerhof in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

as well as to Falkenlust Palace in Brühl, designed by

François de Cuvilliés François de Cuvilliés, sometimes referred to as ''the Elder'' (23 October 1695, Soignies, Hainaut14 April 1768, Munich), was a Bavarian decorative designer and architect born in the Spanish Netherlands. He was instrumental in bringing the Roco ...

Chapel

The

Neo-Romanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

chapel was constructed in 1895, replacing a simple older structure. It was built by Franz-Eugen von Hoensbroech as a memorial for his wife Hermenegilde, née Gräfin Wolff-Metternich zu Gracht, who had died young from tuberculosis. He commissioned Heinrich Krings to design the chapel. The chapel is dedicated to St. Elisabeth, who was a popular

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

for Christian nobility who felt obliged to perform charitable acts for the public good. The family also claims descendency of Elisabeth. The architect kept the facade neo-Baroque, matching the main building, but based the interior on Romanesque models, with rich decorations. Almost 90 different kinds of marble were used for floor and walls. The altar was built from

Carrara marble Carrara marble, or Luna marble (''marmor lunense'') to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara ...

, porphyr,

onyx Onyx is a typically black-and-white banded variety of agate, a silicate mineral. The bands can also be monochromatic with alternating light and dark bands. ''Sardonyx'' is a variety with red to brown bands alternated with black or white bands. ...

and

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral and a soft Rock (geology), rock used for carvings and as a source of plaster powder. Archaeologists, geologists, and the stone industry have different definitions for the word ''alabaster''. In archaeology, the term ''alab ...

. Paintings for walls and ceilings were created by Franz Guillery, mosaics by the Cologne workshop Peter Bayer, and furnishings were designed by the sculptor Wilhelm Albermann and the goldsmith Gabriel Hermeling. The ceiling of the apse shows

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

enthroned, with

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

and

Johannes Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as " John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, '' Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Y ...

. A rose window to the west represents Elisabeth's most famous miracle, the

Miracle of the roses Within Catholic Church, Catholicism, a miracle of the roses is a miracle in which roses manifest an activity of God in Christianity, God or a saint. Such a miracle is presented in various hagiography, hagiographies and legends in different forms, ...

Park

The mansion is surrounded by the Schlosspark Türnich, which is freely open to the public.

References

Bibliography

* Heinz Firmenich, Helmut Rossen: ''Schloss Türnich''. Gesellschaft für Buchdruckerei, Neuss 1975 (''Rheinische Kunststätten''. Nr. 175). * Gemeinde Türnich: ''Türnich im Wandel der Zeit''. Türnich 1974, pp. 175–179, 228. * Harald Herzog: ''Rheinische Schloßbauten im 19. Jahrhundert''. Bonn 1981, , pp. 29 ff, 164–172. * Sabine Heuser-Hauck: ''Der Architekt Heinrich Krings (1875–1925)''. Dissertation an der Philosophischen Fakultät Bonn, Bonn 2005, pp. 180–184. * Norbert Hierl-Deronco: ''Es ist eine Lust zu bauen. Von Bauherren, Bauleuten und vom Bauen im Barock in Kurbayern-Franken-Rheinland''. Eigenverlag, Krailling 2001, . * Hermann Hinz: ''Archäologische Funde und Denkmäler des Rheinlandes, Band 2''. Kreis Bergheim, Düsseldorf 1969, pp. 344–345. * Frank Kretzschmar (ed.): ''Kirchen Klöster und Kapellen im Erftkreis''. Rheinland-Verlag, Köln

984 Year 984 ( CMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – German boy-king Otto III (4 years old) is seized by the deposed Henry II, Duke of Bavaria ("the Wrangler"), wh ...

, pp. 134–137 (''Erftkreisveröffentlichung''. Nr. 94). * Henriette Meynen: ''Wasserburgen Schösser und Landsitze im Erftkreis''. Köln 1979, , pp. 104–109. * Annaliese Ohm: ''Die Denkmäler des Rheinlandes. Königshoven-Türnich''. Rheinland-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1971, , pp. 97–99, 103–104.

External links

*
Friends of Schloss Türnich
(in German) {{Authority control Houses completed in 1766 Rococo architecture in Germany Palaces in North Rhine-Westphalia Baroque architecture in North Rhine-Westphalia Baroque palaces in Germany Museums in North Rhine-Westphalia Historic house museums in Germany Gardens in North Rhine-Westphalia Buildings and structures in Rhein-Erft-Kreis