Hohensyburg Castle

Dortmund, Germany

The Hohensyburg, a castle complex of the Lords of Sieberg, was constructed on the grounds of a former Saxon refuge, which was conquered in 775 by the Franks under Charlemagne. The castle, which was built around 1100 of Ruhr sandstone, was partially destroyed in 1287 by Count Eberhard I. von der Mark. The castle complex was an imperial fief of the von der Mark counts from 1300. This fiefdom was transferred to Brandenburg in 1609, and later to Prussia.

Two keeps, residential quarters (two-chamber system), the wall ring and the walls around the courtyard complex are still recognisable. In the inside of the castle is a war memorial by Fritz Bagdons.

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Dortmund, Germany
See all sites in Dortmund

Details

Founded: c. 1100
Category: Castles and fortifications in Germany
Historical period: Salian Dynasty (Germany)

More Information

www.dortmund-tourismus.de

Rating

4.5/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


St. Peter's Church (0,3 km)


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Nordkirchen Palace (34,8 km)
Vischering Castle (39,7 km)
Altenberg Abbey (47,5 km)
Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex (31,8 km)

User Reviews

Artur Alves (2 years ago)
Very beautiful and peaceful.
Richard Shift (2 years ago)
A good place for a walk, specially if there's snow.. Alot of people was playing there, also with the children.
Ambrose Mosha (2 years ago)
Was real good and its nice place for chilling and having fun
Mainak Das Gupta (3 years ago)
Very nice place to spend some time strolling through the woods and ruins. The view of the Rhur river from the top is quite nice. My only complain is that there are no informative plaques around the memorial. One needs to read about the details over the internet.
Carlos Gomez (3 years ago)
Excellent place to visit, great view, walking trails, benches to seat and rest. Great place to take photographs. Autumn must be beautiful there. After your visit make sure you go to a town near by to enjoy coffee and great hospitality.
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Glimmingehus is the best preserved medieval stronghold in Scandinavia. It was built 1499-1506, during an era when Scania formed a vital part of Denmark, and contains many defensive arrangements of the era, such as parapets, false doors and dead-end corridors, 'murder-holes' for pouring boiling pitch over the attackers, moats, drawbridges and various other forms of death traps to surprise trespassers and protect the nobles against peasant uprisings. The lower part of the castle's stone walls are 2.4 meters (94 inches) thick and the upper part 1.8 meters (71 inches).

Construction was started in 1499 by the Danish knight Jens Holgersen Ulfstand and stone-cutter-mason and architect Adam van Düren, a North German master who also worked on Lund Cathedral. Construction was completed in 1506.

Ulfstand was a councillor, nobleman and admiral serving under John I of Denmark and many objects have been uncovered during archeological excavations that demonstrate the extravagant lifestyle of the knight's family at Glimmingehus up until Ulfstand's death in 1523. Some of the most expensive objects for sale in Europe during this period, such as Venetian glass, painted glass from the Rhine district and Spanish ceramics have been found here. Evidence of the family's wealth can also be seen inside the stone fortress, where everyday comforts for the knight's family included hot air channels in the walls and bench seats in the window recesses. Although considered comfortable for its period, it has also been argued that Glimmingehus was an expression of "Knighthood nostalgia" and not considered opulent or progressive enough even to the knight's contemporaries and especially not to later generations of the Scanian nobility. Glimmingehus is thought to have served as a residential castle for only a few generations before being transformed into a storage facility for grain.

An order from Charles XI to the administrators of the Swedish dominion of Scania in 1676 to demolish the castle, in order to ensure that it would not fall into the hands of the Danish king during the Scanian War, could not be executed. A first attempt, in which 20 Scanian farmers were ordered to assist, proved unsuccessful. An additional force of 130 men were sent to Glimmingehus to execute the order in a second attempt. However, before they could carry out the order, a Danish-Dutch naval division arrived in Ystad, and the Swedes had to abandon the demolition attempts. Throughout the 18th century the castle was used as deposit for agricultural produce and in 1924 it was donated to the Swedish state. Today it is administered by the Swedish National Heritage Board.

On site there is a museum, medieval kitchen, shop and restaurant and coffee house. During summer time there are several guided tours daily. In local folklore, the castle is described as haunted by multiple ghosts and the tradition of storytelling inspired by the castle is continued in the summer events at the castle called "Strange stories and terrifying tales".

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