The castle at Bodenheim is the only preserved family seat of the former Brabant landowners of Lommersum, which was still a fiefdom in the late 18th century. On the estate there is clear evidence of the original medieval two-part castle with a moat. The picturesque manor house, with its many corners and angles, stands on an artificial mound and the moat has been dry for decades.
The oldest preserved part is the west wing, with its corner tower and stair-tower in the courtyard. The castle was first mentioned in records in 1194 when the first aristocratic lineage was named. The heirs of this lineage were at first the Brents von Vernich and finally von Tomberg, who also built the largest part of the castle as it is known today. 1625 the estate was transferred by marriage to the family von Hersel, who lived in the castle for almost 200 years. In 1845 Earl Edmund von Hatzfeld-Weisweiler sold the castle to the Duke of Aremberg, who leased it to the Kieselstein family. In 1934 the family acquired the castle and still live in it today.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.