Heidelberg Castle

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Heidelberg Castle (German: Heidelberger Schloss) is the most famous ruin in Germany and is the symbol of the German city of Heidelberg.

The castle has only been partially restored since its destruction. It stands 80 m (262 feet) up on the slopes of the Königstuhl hill, from where it dominates the town. It is served by an intermediate station on the Heidelberger Bergbahn funicular railway that runs from Heidelberg's Kornmakt to the summit of the Königstuhl.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Until the Castle's destruction 1.1.1 Early History 1.1.2 Palace of Kings, Prison of Popes 1.1.3 Baden-Palatine War 1.1.4 The Reformation and the Thirty Years War 1.1.5 The War of the Grand Alliance 1.1.6 The Removal of the Court to Mannheim 1.2 Since the Castle's destruction 1.2.1 Slow Decay and Romantic Enthusiasm 1.2.2 Planning and Restoration 1.2.3 Castle ruins and tourism 1.3 Chronology 1.4 Famous residents 1.4.1 The "Winter King" Friedrich V 1.4.2 Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine 1.4.3 Charles de Graimberg 2 Forecourt 2.1 Main Gate 2.2 Goethegedenktafel 2.3 Sattelkammer 2.4 Oberer Fürstenbrunnen 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References

[edit] History

[edit] Until the Castle's destruction

[edit] Early History

The first mention of the town of Heidelberg dates back to 1147 under Conrad of Hohenstaufen, when Duke Friedrich von Schwaben divided his inheritance with his half-brother Friedrich Barbarossa and thus came into possession of the rheinfränkische territories. The claim that Konrad's main residence was on the Schlossberg (Castle Hill), known as the Jettenbühl, cannot be substantiated. The name Jettenbühl comes from the soothsayer Jetta, who was said to have lived there. She is also associated with the Wolfsbrunnen (Wolf's Spring) and the Heidenloch (Heathens' Well). The first mention of a castle in Heidleberg („castrum in Heidelberg cum burgo ipsius castri“) is in 1225, when Ludwig I received it from Bishop Heinrich von Worms. The last mention of a single castle is in 1294. In another document from 1303, two castles are mentioned for the first time:

1. The upper castle on the Kleiner Gaisberg, near today's Molkenkur
2. The lower castle on the Jettenbühl

All that is known about the founding of the lower castle is that it must have taken place between 1294 and 1303.

The oldest documents that mention Heidelberg Castle are:

1. The Thesaurus Pictuarum of the pfälzischen Kirchenrats Markus zum Lamb (1559 to 1606)
2. The „Annales Academici Heidelbergenses“ by the Heidelberg librarian and professor Pithopoeus (started in 1587)
3. The „Originum Palatinarum Commentarius“ by Marquard Freher (1599)
4. The „Teutsche Reyssebuch“ by Martin Zeiller (Strasbourg 1632, reprinted in 1674 as the „Itinerarium Germaniae“)

All of these works are for the most part superficial and do not contain anything of import. The case is different with Merian's Topographia Palatinatus Rheni from 1615, which describes Prince Elector Ludwig V as the person who „started building a new castle one hundred and more years hence“. Most of the descriptions of the castle up until the 18th century are based on Merian's information. Attempts to find an earlier year of the castle's foundation give rise later on to the observation that under Ruprecht I the famous court chapel had been erected on the Jettenbühl.

[edit] Palace of Kings, Prison of Popes

When Ruprecht III. became the king of Germany in 1401, the castle was so short of space that on return from his coronation, he had to camp out in the Augustinerkloster (Augustian monastery), the site of today's Universitätsplatz (University Square). What he wanted was space to impress guests and to house his household and court, while at the same time turning the castle into fortress.

After Ruprecht's death in 1410, his lands were divided between his four sons. The Palatine, the heart of his territories, were given to the eldest son, Ludwig III. Ludwig was the representative of the emperor and the supreme judge, and it was in this capacity that he, in 1415, after the Council of Constance, at the behest of Emperor Sigismund, placed the deposed Antipope John XXIII in custody before he was taken to Burg Eichelsheim (today Mannheim-Lindenhof).

On a visit to Heidelberg in 1838, the French poet Victor Hugo took particular pleasure in strolling among the ruins of the castle. He summarized its history in this letter:

But let me talk of its castle. (This is absolutely essential, and I should actually have begun with it.) What times it has been through! Five hundred years long it has been victim to everything that has shaken Europe, and now it has collapsed under its weight. That is because this Heidelberg Castle, the residence of the counts Palatine, who were answerable only to kings, emperors, and popes, and was of too much significance to bend to their whims, but couldn't raise his head without coming into conflict with them, and that is because, in my opinion, that the Heidelberg Castle has always taken up some position of opposition towards the powerful. Circa 1300, the time of its founding, it starts with a Thebes analogy; in Count Rudolf and Emperor Ludwig, these degenerate brothers, it has its Eteocles and its Polynices [warring sons of Oedipus]. Then the prince elector begins to grow in power. In 1400 the Palatine Ruprecht II, supported by three Rhenish prince electors, deposes Emperor Wenceslaus and usurps his position; 120 years later in 1519, Count Palatine Frederick II was to create the young King Charles I of Spain Emperor Charles V.^[1]

[edit] Baden-Palatine War

In the Baden-Palatine War (1462), Elector Palatine Frederick I („Pfälzer Fritz“) took prisoner Charles I, Margrave of Baden-Baden, George of Baden, Bishop of Metz, and Ulrich V, Count of Württemberg. Frederick had his prisoners clapped into irons with little to eat, until they were prepared to pay the ransom demanded.

Charles had to pay 25,000 guilders, relinquish Sponheim, and declare Pforzheim a fiefdom of the Palatinate. The bishop of Metz had to pay 45,000 guilders. But the most important thing was that Frederick I of the Palatinate had established his claim to the title of Elector Palatine.

The story goes that Frederick made it clear to his involuntary guests exactly why the bread was missing by having them look through the window down on to the wasted land below. This is recorded in a poem by Gustav Schwab with the title „Das Mahl zu Heidelberg“ (The Feast of Heidelberg). Here is the 13th verse of the 15 [in German, with translation]:

Sie sprangen von den Stühlen
Und blickten in das Land:
Da rauschten alle Mühlen
Rings von des Krieges Brand;
Kein Hof ist da zu schauen,
Wo nicht die Scheune dampft,
Von Rosses Huf und Klauen
Ist alles Feld zerstampft.

[translation, to rhyme]

They sprang up from their chairs
And looked across the land:
All the mills around there
Blazed with war's fire-brand;
No farm was there to be seen
Whose barns did not smoke there,
From many hooves and claws
Were trampled all fields bare.

[edit] The Reformation and the Thirty Years War

It was during the reign of Louis V that Martin Luther came to Heidelberg to defend one of his theses (Heidelberg Disputation) and paid a visit to the castle. He was shown around by Louis's brother, Wolfgang, Count Palatine, and in a letter to his friend George Spalatin, praises the castle's beauty and its defences.

It was in the Thirty Years War that arms were raised against the castle for the first time. This marks the end of the period of the castle's construction; the centuries to follow bring with them destruction and rebuilding.

Frederick V, Elector Palatine took on the title of King of Bohemia, despite many qualms, and in doing so triggered a disaster. After the Battle of White Mountain he was on the run as an outlaw and had to release his troops prematurely, leaving the Palatine undefended against General Tilly, the supreme commander of the imperial troops. On 26 August 1622, he commenced his attacks on Heidelberg, taking the town on 16 September, and the castle few days later. When the Swedes captured Heidelberg on 5 May 1633 and opened fire on the castle from the Königstuhl hill behind it, Tilly handed over the castle. The following year, the emperor's troops tried to recapture the castle, but it was not until July 1635 that they succeeded. It remained in their position until the peace declaration was signed. The new ruler and his family did not move into the ruined castle until 7 October 1649.

Victor Hugo summarizes these and the following events as follows:

“In 1619, Frederick V, then a young man, took the crown of the kings of Bohemia, against the will of the emperor, and in 1687, the Philip William, Count Palatine, by then an old man, assumes the title of prince-elector, against the will of the king of France. This was to cause Heidelberg battles and never-ending tribuluations, the Thirty Years War, Gustav Adolfs Ruhmesblatt and finally the War of the Grand Alliance, the Turennes mission. All of these terrible events have blighted the castle. Three emperors, Louis the Bavarian, Adolf of Nassau, and Leopold of Austria, have laid siege to it; Pio II condemned it; Louis XIV wreaked havoc on it.“

Quoted from Victor Hugo: „Heidelberg“.

[edit] The War of the Grand Alliance

After the death of Charles II, Elector Palatine without heir, last in the line of Palatinate-Simmern, Louis XIV of France demanded the surrender of the allodial title in the name of the Duchess of Orleans. On 29 September 1688, the French troops drew into the Palatinate and on 24 October moved into Heidelberg, deserted as it was by Philipp Wilhelm, the new elector palatine from the line of Palatinate-Neuburg.

Against the allied European powers, France's council of war decided to destroy all fortifications and to lay waste to the Palatinate, in order to prevent an enemy attack from this area. As the French withdrew from the castle on 2 March 1689, they set fire to it and to the town. Immediately upon his return to the town, Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine had the walls and towers rebuilt. When the French again reached the gates of Heidelberg in 1691 and 1692, the town's defenses were so good that they had to leave post-haste. On 18 May 1693 the French were yet again at the town's gates and took it on 22 May. However, they did not attain control of the castle and destroyed the town in attempt to weaken the castle's main operative base. The castle's occupants capitulated the next day. Now the French took the opportunity to finish off the work started in 1689 after their and left unfinished after their hurried exit from the town. The towers and walls that had survived the last wave of destruction were now blown up by mines.

[edit] The Removal of the Court to Mannheim

In 1697, the Treaty of Ryswick was signed, marking the end of the War of the Grand Alliance and finally bringing peace to the town. Plans were made to pull down the castle and to reuse parts of it in a new palace in the valley. When the difficulties involved in this plan became apparent, however, the castle was patched up. At the same time, Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine was playing with the idea of completely redesigning the castle, but had to shelve the project due to a lack of funds. In 1720, when he came into conflict with the town's Protestant population as a result of handing over the Church of the Holy Spirit (Heiliggeistkirche) to the catholics, which itself gave rise to the removal of the court to Mannheim, the prince-elector finally lost all interest in the castle. It was his intention to make the church the catholic court chapel, which the Heidelberg reformists attempted to stop by all means. When on 12 April 1720, he announced the removal of the court with all its admistrative bodies to Mannheim, he left the old capital to its fate and wished that "Grass may grow on her streets".

The religious conflict was however probably not the main reason for the removal. More likely was the difficulty that would have been faced in turning the old mountain castle into a Baroque palace. By moving down into the plain, the prince-elector was able to construct a new palace that met his every wish.

His successor Karl Theodor did make plans to move his court back to Heidelberg Castle. When, however, on 24 June 1764, lightning struck the Saalbau (court building) twice in a row, again setting the castle on fire, he regarded the event as a sign from heaven and changed his plans, which Victor Hugo - who had come to love the ruins of the castle - also regarded as a sign from heaven:

One could even say that the very heavens had intervened. On 23 June 1764, the day before Karl Theodor was to move into the castle and make it his seat (which, by the bye, would have been a great disaster, for if Karl Theoder had spent his thirty years there, these austere ruins which we today so admire would certainly have been decorated in the pompadour style); on this day, then, with the prince's furnishings already arrived and waiting in the Church of the Holy Spirit, fire from heaven hit the octagonal tower, set light to the roof, and destroyed this five hundred year old castle in very few hours.

--from Victor Hugo, Heidelberg

In the following decades, basic repairs were still made, but Heidelberg Castle remained essentially a ruin.

[edit] Since the Castle's destruction

[edit] Slow Decay and Romantic Enthusiasm

In 1777, Prince-Elector Charles Theodor removed his court from Mannheim to Munich. Heidelberg Castle thereby grew even further from his thoughts. The rooms which had roofs were taken over by craftsmen. Even as early as 1767, the south wall had already started to be quarried for the stone necessary to build Schwetzingen Castle. In 1784, even the vaults in the Ottheinrich wing were ... [eingelegt?], and the castle used as as a source of building material.

As a result of the German Mediatisation of 1803, Heidelberg and Mannheim became part of Baden. Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden greeted the growth in his territories, although he regarded Heidelberg Castle as an unwanted extra. The substance was decaying, and the townsfolk were helping themselves to stone, wood, and iron from the castle to build their own houses. The statuary and ornaments were also fair game. August von Kotzebue expressed his indignation in 1803 at the government of Baden's intentention to pull down the ruins. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the destroyed castle had become something of a symbol for the patriotic movement aimed again at the suppressions of Napoleon.

Even before 1800, painters and drawers had come to see the ruins of the castle, the river and the hills as an ideal ensemble. The high point is the work of England's William Turner, who stayed in Heidelberg several times between 1817 and 1844, and composed many paintings of Heidelberg and the castle. He and his fellow Romantic painters were less interested in a true-to-life portrayal of the building, but gave themselves free rein to artistic license. In his painting of the castle, for example, it is perched far higher up the hill than in real life.

The saviour of the castle came in the form of the French count, Charles de Graimberg. He fought against the government of Baden, which viewed the castle as an "old ruin with a multitude of tasteless, crumbling ornaments," for the preservation of the building. Until 1822 he served as a voluntary castle warden, and lived for a while in the Glass Wing [Gläserner Saalbau], from where he could keep an eye on the courtyard. Long before the origin of historic preservation in Germany, he was the first person to take an interest in the conservation and documentation of the castle, a thought that would never have occurred to any of the Romantics. Graimberg charged Thomas A. Leger with the task of preparing the first castle guide. With his pictures of the castle, of which many copies were produced, Graimberg promoted the castle ruins and thus drew many tourists to the town.

[edit] Planning and Restoration

The question of whether the castle should be completely restored was discussed for a long time. In 1868, the poet Wolfgang Müller von Königswinter took a strong position arguing for a complete renewal, leading to a strong backlash in public meetings, and in the press.

In 1883, the Grand Duchy of Baden established a „Castle field office“, with overall supervision from Building Director Josef Durm in Karlsruhe, District Building Supervisor Julius Koch and Architect Fritz Seitz. The office was tasked with making a detailed plan, suggesting measures for the preservation or repair of the main building. They completed their work in 1890, and their findings lead a commission of specialists, drawn from all of Germany, to unanimously decide that although a complete or partial re-building of the castle was not possible, it was possible to aspire to preserve the current condition. Only the Friedrichsbau, whose fire damaged interiors were never ruined, would be restored. This reconstruction was ultimately done from 1897 to 1900 by Karl Schäfer at the enormous cost of 520,000 Marks.

[edit] Castle ruins and tourism

The oldest description of Heidelberg from 1465 mentions that the city is "frequented by strangers," but it did not really become a tourist city until the beginning of the 19th century. Count Graimberg’s design made the castle a pervasive subject for pictures. They practically became forerunners of the postcard. At the same time, the castle was also found on souvenir cups. Tourism received a big boost when Heidelberg was connected to the railroad network in 1840.

Mark Twain described the Heidelberg Castle in his 1880 book "A Tramp Abroad" as follows:

"A ruin must be rightly situated, to be effective. This one could not have been better placed. It stands upon a commanding elevation, it is buried in green words, there is no level ground about it, but, on the contrary, there are wooded terraces upon terraces, and one looks down through shining leaves into profound chasms and abysses where twilight reigns and the sun cannot intrude. Nature knows how to garnish a ruin to get the best effect. One of these old towers is split down the middle, and one half has tumbled aside. It tumbled in such a way as to establish itself in a picturesque attitude. Then all it lacked was a fitting drapery, and Nature has furnished that; she has robed the rugged mass in flowers and verdure, and made it a charm to the eye. The standing half exposes its arched and cavernous rooms to you, like open, toothless mouths; there, too, the vines and flowers have done their work of grace. The rear portion of the tower has not been neglected, either, but is clothed with a clinging garment of polished ivy which hides the wounds and stains of time. Even the top is not left bare, but is crowned with a flourishing group of trees and shrubs. Misfortune has done for this old tower what it has done for the human character sometimes--improved it."[1]

In the 20th century, the US Americans experienced the Heidelberg mythos and carried it outside into the world. Thus it came, that Japanese also rank the Heidelberg Castle on their short journeys in Europe, among the few intermediate stops. Heidelberg has, at the beginning of the 21 century, more than one million visitors, annually, and about 900,000 in overnight accomodation. The majority of the foreign visitors come either from the USA or from Japan. The most important point, according to questioning by the geographical institute of the University of Heidelberg, is the castle with its observation deck terraces.

[ Original German: Im 20. Jahrhundert verfielen die US-Amerikaner noch mehr dem Heidelberg-Mythos und trugen ihn hinaus in die Welt. So kommt es, dass auch Japaner das Heidelberger Schloss auf ihren Kurzreisen durch Europa zu den wenigen Zwischenstopps zählen. Heidelberg hat zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts jährlich mehr als eine Million Besucherinnen und Besucher und etwa 900.000 Übernachtungen. Die Mehrzahl der ausländischen Besucher kommt entweder aus den USA oder aus Japan. Wichtigster Anlaufpunkt ist laut einer Befragung des geografischen Instituts der Universität Heidelberg das Schloss mit seinen Aussichtsterrassen. ]

The Heidelberg professor Ludwig Giesz wrote, in his 1960 essay titled "Phenomenology of the Kitsches", about the meaning of the ruins for tourism [German: Der Heidelberger Professor Ludwig Giesz beschreibt in seinem 1960 erschienenen Aufsatz „Phänomenologie des Kitsches“ die Bedeutung von Ruinen für den Tourismus]:

"To ruins applies extremely, which we said of the “historical” Exotismus. As a starting point, a story from experience may serve: from phenomenological courage, in 1945 shortly after the surrender of Germany, I answered an American crew soldier, who was eagerly "picture taking" at the Heidelberg Castle, to his question about the fate of this place of pilgrimage for all Kitschmen: "which was destroyed by American bombs." The reaction of the soldiers was very instructive. I want to pause however theoretically briefly: the consciousness shock - only an aesthetic, not ethical problem determines - was extraordinary: the "ruin" did not appear to them as more beautiful; on the contrary, they regretted (thus: with realistic jet-time consciousness) the short kürzliche destruction of a large building."

[German: „Für Ruinen gilt in höchstem Maße, was wir vom «historischen» Exotismus gesagt haben. Als Ausgangspunkt mag eine selbsterlebte Geschichte dienen: aus phänomenologischem Mutwillen habe ich 1945 kurz nach der Kapitulation Deutschlands amerikanischen Besatzungssoldaten, die eifrig mit «picture taking» am Heidelberger Schloß beschäftigt waren, auf ihre Frage nach dem Schicksal dieses Wallfahrtsortes aller Kitschmenschen geantwortet: «it was destroyed by American bombs». Die Reaktion der Soldaten war sehr lehrreich. Ich will mich aber theoretisch kurz fassen: der Bewußtseinsschock - bestimmt nur ein ästhetisches, nicht ethisches Problem - war außerordentlich: die «Ruine» erschien ihnen nicht mehr «schön», vielmehr bedauerten sie (also: mit realistischem Jetzt-Bewußtsein) die kürzliche Zerstörung eines großen Gebäudes.“ ]

Professor Ludwig Giesz goes further in his remarks about the ruins:

"The important culture and time-critic Günther Anders pointed out that - against widespread opinion - the romance did not wake only the view for the "beauty of the ruin." Rather the following inversion took place: the Renaissance (like the first generation) admired the ancient Torso, “not because, but although it was a Torso”. One found beauty, but "unfortunately" (!) only as ruin. The second generation inverted the "ruin of the beautiful one" for the "beauty of the ruin." And from here to industrial "production of ruins" the way was clear: like garden dwarves one now sets into the landscape, in order for the landscape to become beautiful."

[German: “Der bedeutende Kultur- und Zeitkritiker Günther Anders hat darauf hingewiesen, daß - entgegen weitverbreiteter Ansicht - nicht die Romantik erst den Blick für die «Schönheit der Ruine» geweckt habe. Vielmehr habe folgende «Inversion» stattgefunden: die Renaissance (u. zw. die erste Generation) habe den antiken Torso verehrt, «nicht weil, sondern obwohl er ein Torso» war. Man fand Schönheit, aber «leider» (!) nur als Ruine. Die zweite Generation «invertierte» die «Ruine des Schönen» zur «Schönheit der Ruine». Und von hier bis zur industriellen «Herstellung von Ruinen» war der Weg eindeutig: wie Gartenzwerge setzt man nun Ruinen in die Landschaft, um die Landschaft zu «verschönen»;“ ]

Quoted to Gillo Dorfles: Der Kitsch, Tübingen: Verlag Ernst Wasmuth, 1982, ISBN 3-8030-3012-9.

Also Günter Heinemann raises the question whether one could restore the Heidelberg Castle not completely. Near the view from the Stück-garden over the deer ditch (Hirschgraben) of well, the ruins held of the castle, he asks himself whether one should not develop the whole again [German: Auch Günter Heinemann wirft die Frage auf, ob man das Heidelberger Schloss nicht vollständig restaurieren könnte. Beim Blick vom Stückgarten über den Hirschgraben auf die gut instand gehaltenen Ruinen des Schlosses fragt er sich, ob man das Ganze nicht wieder aufbauen sollte]:

"Automatically one thinks, who dedicates oneself with so much devotion to the care of enormous walls, which it can actually construct again. From the expenditure that does not make for much difference, but which it would have then arranged! It would give the Sporen to its historical fantasy, as far as the delivered pictures of the sound condition of the castle permitted this. But it would take the unique phenomenon to Heidelberg that the castle in its ruinous condition has to register a considerable profit at aesthetic values. A rebuilt castle would equal a disenchantment, would be certification of an inadequate displacement process of history opposite, and granted to participating nature no more clearance. Which the understanding at realization clarity would win, would be lost to the mind at turn depth." (Günter Heinemann)

[German: „Unwillkürlich denkt man, wer sich mit so viel Hingabe der Pflege eines gewaltigen Gemäuers widme, der könne es eigentlich auch wieder aufbauen. Vom Aufwand her macht das nicht viel Unterschied. Aber was hätte er dann angerichtet! Er gäbe zwar seiner historischen Phantasie die Sporen, soweit dies die überlieferten Bilder vom heilen Zustand des Schlosses zuließen. Doch er nähme Heidelberg das einmalige Phänomen, dass das Schloss in seinem ruinösen Zustand einen beträchtlichen Gewinn an ästhetischen Werten zu verzeichnen hat. Ein wiederaufgebautes Schloss käme einer Entzauberung gleich, wäre Zeugnis eines unangemessenen Verdrängungsprozesses der Geschichte gegenüber und gewährte der mitwirkenden Natur keinen Spielraum mehr. Was der Verstand an Erkenntnisklarheit gewönne, ginge dem Gemüt an Hinwendungstiefe verloren.“ ]

Quoted from Günter Heinemann: Heidelberg, Regionalkultur Publishing, 1996, ISBN 3-924973-01-6.

[edit] Chronology

Timeline of events for Heidelberg Castle:

• 1225: first documented mention as "Castrum"
• 1303: mention of two castles.
• 1537: destruction of the upper castle by lightning-bolt.

• 1610: creation of the palace garden (Hortus Palatinus).
• 1622: Tilly conquers city and castle in the Thirty Years War.
• 1649: renewal of the Castle plants.
• 1688/1689: destruction by French troops.
• 1693: renewed destruction in the Pfälzi succession war.
• 1697: (start) reconstruction.

• 1720: transfer of the residence to Mannheim.
• 1742: (start) reconstruction.
• 1764: destruction by lightning-bolt.
• 1810: Charles de Graimberg dedicates himself to the preservation of the Castle ruins.
• 1860: first Castle lighting.
• 1883: establishment of the "office of building of castles of Baden."
• 1809: stocktaking by Julius Koch and Fritz Seitz.
• 1900: (circa) restorations and historical development.

[edit] Famous residents

[edit] The "Winter King" Friedrich V

Frederick V, Elector Palatine married the English king's daughter Elizabeth Stuart. This marriage was not a loving marriage, and involved great expenditure. Expensive festivities were organized and for them, he let the Elizabeth gate at the piece garden be build.

From October 1612 until April 1613, Frederick V spent nearly a half year in England, and that only 17-years-old took up thereby contact with important architects, who later converted to changes and new building plans in the Heidelberg Castle. Inigo Jones and Salomon de Caus, who knew each other well, stood in the service of the English king house. Caus accompanied the recent pair on the return journey to Heidelberg. Jones came in June 1613 likewise to Heidelberg. Very soon, the building of an enormous garden was tackled. However, the plants were intended for level ground, and the slope of the mountain had to be converted. In addition only once earth movements had to be achieved, which contemporaries regarded as the eighth wonder of the world.

Under the rule of Frederick V, the Kurpfalz tried to become the Protestant Vormacht in the Holy Roman Empire, which ended however in a debacle. After 1619, Frederick V - about the express advice of many councellors - who had accepted choice to the böhmischen king, he could not maintain the crown, because he lost the Battle at Weißen Berg ("white mountain" or Bílá hora: height 379m/1243ft) against the troops of the Emperor and the Catholic league. He received the mockery name "Winter King" since his kingdom had lasted only somewhat more than one winter. With the Thirty Years War, Frederick V entered another phase and became a political refugee.

As Frederick V pulled away from Heidelberg, it is said that his mother, Juliane of Oranien proclaimed: "Oh, there the Pfalz pulls after Bohemia." After his escape to Rhenen in Holland, Emperor Ferdinand II in 1621, about Friedrich, expressed the eight and but eight [Acht und Aberacht]. His pfälzische was transferred in 1623 to Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria, which bought also the Upper Palatinate from the emperor.

In Rhenen, to the west of Arnheim, the family lived on saved public funds and the generous support of the English king, initially also of the Netherlands, united by the support of the government. In 1632, Friedrich died in exile, and for the remainder of his life, he hoped to win back his position in the Pfalz.

[edit] Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine

Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine was the duchess of Orleans and the sister-in-law of Louis XIV of France. When the Palatinate-Simmern branch of the Wittelbachs died out, Louis XIV laid claim to the Palatinate and started the War of the Grand Alliance, which laid waste to the Palatine. Liselotte, as she is affectionately known, was forced to look on helplessly as her country was revaged in her name.

Liselotte, graddaughter of Frederick V, was born in Heidelberg Castle and grew up with at her aunt Sophia of Hanover's court in Hanover. She often returned to Heidelberg with her father. At the age of 19, she was wedded for political reasons to the brother of the king of France. It was not a happy marriage. When her brother Charles died without issue, Louis XIV claimed the Palatinate for himself and declared war on her.

Liselotte wrote in a letter to her aunt Sophia in Hanover:

"So I judge that papa must not have understood the magnitude of the matter of signing me over; but I was a burden to him and he was worried that I would become an old maid, so got rid of me as quickly as he was able. That was to be my fate."

Even after thirty-six years in France, she still thought of Heidelberg as her home, and wrote in a letter to Marie Luise von Degenfeld:

"Why does the prince elector not have the castle rebuilt? It would certainly be worth it."

The House of Orleans is descended from the children of Liselotte and Philipp, which came to the French throne in 1830 in the person of Louis-Philippe of France.

Liselotte is estimated to have written 60,000 letters, around one-tenth of which, survive to this day. The letters are penned in French and German and describe very vividly life at the French court. Most of them she wrote to her aunt Sophia and her half-sister Marie-Luise, but she also corresponded with Gottfried Leibniz.

Liselotte's upbringing was rather bourgeois. Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine loved to play with his children in the town of Heidelberg and to go for walks along the slopes of the hills of the Odenwald. Liselotte, who later described herself as a "lunatic bee" (German: "dolle Hummel"), rode her horse at a gallop over the hills round Heidelberg and enjoyed her freedom. She often slipped out of the castle early in the morning to climb a cherry tree and gorge herself with cherries. In 1717, looking back on her childhood in Heidelberg, she wrote:

My God, how often at five in the morning I stuffed myself with cherries and a good piece of bread on the hill! In those days I was lustier than now I am.

From Dirk Van der Cruysse, Madame sein ist ein eilendes Handwerck, Munich, Piper, 1990. ISBN 3-492-03373-3

[edit] Charles de Graimberg

The French Kupferstecher Charles de Graimberg fled before the French revolution and emigrated with his family to England. He applied in 1810 to Karlsruhe, in order to begin training with the Hofkupferstecher of Baden Christian Haldenwang. This was a friend and a neighbour of Graimberg's brother, Louis. When Graimberg went to Heidelberg, in order to outline the Castle for a landscape, he stayed there for the remaining 54 years of his life. With his copper passes of the Castle ruins, he documented its condition and put the foundation-stone for the Roman Castle, which should protect the ruin against final decay.

In his house (today: Palace Graimberg, at the beginning of the footpath to the Castle) he developed a curiosity cabinet with pieces of find from the Castle, which later became the basic pieces of the Kurpfälzi museum. He, by the way, financed his collection "of the Altertümer" for the history of the city and the Castle, from his own fortune. It is due to him that the Castle still stands. He accomplished also the first historical excavations in the Castle and lived a time long in the Castle yard, in order to prevent that the citizens of Heidelberg take building material for their houses from the Castle out-fallow.

In order Graimberg's wrote Thomas's A. Leger the first sources written on the basis written Castle leader. A copy of this leader from that 1836 „Le guide voyageurs dans la ruin de Heidelberg “(German: „Leader for foreigner by the ruins of the Heidelberger of lock “), was acquired by Victor Hugo during his stay in Heidelberg. This copy provided with notes is issued today in "the Maison de Victor Hugo" in Paris.

Of Charles de Graimberg reminds an honour board, which was attached 1868 at the passage to the Altan: "The memory of Karl count von Graimberg, born to Castle pair in France 1774, died to Heidelberg 1864. Heidelberg castle is home to the senond larest beer keg in the world!"

[edit] Forecourt

The forecourt is the area enclosed between the main gate, the upper prince's well, Elisabeth's gate, the castle gate and the entrance to the garden. Around 1800 it was used by the vogt for drying laundry. Later on it was used for grazing cattle, and chickens and geese were kept here.

[edit] Main Gate

The approach to the forcourt takes you across a stone bridge, over a partially filled-in ditch. The main gate was built in 1528. The original watchhouse was destroyed in the War of the Grand Alliance and replaced in 1718 by a round-arched entrance gate. The gate to the left of the main entrance was closed by means of a drawbridge.

[edit] Goethegedenktafel

An einem Mauerrest des Vogelhauses wurde 1961 eine Steintafel angebracht, die eine ältere Tafel ersetzte. Die Inschrift mit Versen Marianne von Willemers soll an ihr letztes Treffen mit Johann Wolfgang Goethe erinnern. Von den neun Strophen, die sie am 28. August 1824, dem 75. Geburtstag Goethes, hier auf dem Schloss niederschrieb, sind drei wiedergegeben:

Auf der Terrasse hoch gewölbten Bogen

War eine Zeit sein Kommen und sein Gehn

Die Chiffre von der lieben Hand gezogen

Ich fand sie nicht sie ist nicht mehr zu sehn

...

Diese Verse schrieb Marianne von Willemer

In Erinnerung an ihre letzte Begegnung mit

Goethe in den Herbsttagen des Jahres 1815

Unmittelbar gegenüber der Goethegedenktafel steht der Ginkgo, dessen Blatt Goethe als Symbol der Freundschaft an Marianne von Willemer sandte. Das Gedicht wurde später in das Buch „Suleika“ im Westöstlichen Divan aufgenommen.

Es ist überliefert, dass sich Goethe mit Freunden die Blätter des Ginkgo betrachtete und über deren Form fachsimpelte. Eines der Blätter sandte er als Ausdruck seiner Zuneigung an Marianne von Willemer, der dritten Ehefrau seines Frankfurter Freundes, des Bankiers Johann Jakob von Willemer, die mehr als zwanzig Jahre jünger war als er selbst. Der mit Goethe befreundete Kunstsammler und Schriftsteller Sulpiz Boisserée erwähnt in einer Tagebucheintragung die Entstehungsgeschichte des Gedichtes „Gin(k)go biloba“:

„Heitrer Abend. G. hatte der Wilemer ein Blatt der Ginkho (sic) biloba als Sinnbild der Freundschaft geschikt aus der Stadt. Man weiß nicht ob es eins das sich in 2 theilt, oder zwey die sich in eins verbinden. So war der Inhalt des Verses.“

Der Text des Gedichts lautet:

Ginkgo Biloba

Dieses Baums Blatt, der von Osten

Meinem Garten anvertraut,

Giebt geheimen Sinn zu kosten,

Wie's den Wissenden erbaut,

...

Der Brief mit dem Gedicht, dem Goethe zwei Ginkgo-Blätter beilegte, ist heute im Goethe-Museum Düsseldorf zu sehen. Der 1795 gepflanzte Ginkgo, zu dem Goethe im September 1815 Marianne von Willemer führte, steht heute allerdings nicht mehr. Noch 1928 hieß es, dass der Ginkgobaum im Schlossgarten wohl „noch derselbe ist, dem Goethe die Anregung zu seinem schönen Gedicht verdankte“. Wahrscheinlich stand der Baum sogar noch im Jahr 1936.

[edit] Sattelkammer

Die ehemalige Sattelkammer, ursprünglich eine Remise, war wohl anfänglich ein Befestigungswerk. Sie wurde nach dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg für Stallungen sowie als Geräte-, Wagen- und Kutschenhaus benutzt. Im 18. Jahrhundert stürzte das Gewölbe ein und wurde erst in den Jahren 1977 bis 1979 wieder aufgerichtet. Sie wird seither als Cafeteria für die Schlossbesucher genutzt.

[edit] Oberer Fürstenbrunnen

thumb|Treppe zum Oberen Fürstenbrunnen Der Obere Fürstenbrunnen wurde unter Kurfürst Karl Philipp neu gefasst und überbaut. Über der Tür des Brunnenhauses ist sein Monogramm mit der Jahreszahl 1738 eingemeißelt. An der rechten Seite des Treppenabgangs steht die folgende Inschrift:

[DlreCtione] ALeXanDro Blblena CVra et opera HenrICl Neeb Fons hIC PrInCIpaLIs reparat(Vs) PVrIor sCatVrlt

(Übersetzung: Die Arbeiten wurden unter der Oberaufsicht von Alessandro Galli da Bibiena und Heinrich Neeb ausgeführt.)

Die Inschrift ist ein Chronogramm, aus dem sich die Jahreszahl 1741 ergibt. Durch diesen und den Unteren Fürstenbrunnen wurde der Wasserbedarf des kurfürstlichen Hofs in Mannheim bis ins 19. Jahrhundert hinein gedeckt.

Johann Andreas von Traitteur erinnert 1798 an diese Wassertransporte:

„Wegen Mangel eines gesunden, guten Brunnenwassers wurde, so lang die Hofhaltung in Mannheim war, täglich das nöthige Wasser für dieselbe aus dem Gebirg beigeführt. Bekanntlich mußte die Hofkammer einen besonderen dazu eingerichteten Wasserwagen halten, welcher täglich nach Heidelberg fuhr, und das Wasser aus dem Fürstenbrunnen oben im Schloßhof ablangte.“

Zitiert nach Hans Weckesser: „Geliebter Wasserturm. Die Geschichte des Mannheimer Wahrzeichens“

Die Wasserqualität in Mannheim war so schlecht, dass sich die vornehmen Familien der Hofgesellschaft, die es sich leisten konnten, diesem Verfahren anschlossen und ebenfalls Wassertransporte von Heidelberg nach Mannheim finanzierten. In der kurfürstlichen Residenz gab es noch im Jahr 1777 unter den Hofbediensteten einen „Heidelberger Wasserfüller“.

[edit] See also

• Heidelberg Tun

[edit] Notes

1. ^ from Victor Hugo: Heidelberg of Frankfurt am Main. Societäts-Verlag, 2003. ISBN 3-7973-0825-6.

[edit] References

• Hortus Palatinus by Salomon de Caus 1620 - plans for the gardens (some of which survive today)
• reprinted text of the "Bericht" of Praetorius 1613.
• [http://www.heidelberg-schloss.de/ Audio Tour in Castle of Heidelberg
• Praetorius as pastor in Dittelsheim (in German, with pictures).

• Illustrated description of Heidelberg Castle by Mark Twain in the Appendix of his 1880 European travelogue "The Tramp Abroad", available at Project Gutenberg.

• Victor Hugo: "Heidelberg" of Frankfurt am Main: Societäts-Verlag, 2003, ISBN 3-7973-0825-6.

Coordinates: 49°24′38″N, 8°42′57″E