Tag: Wachenburg

Old, but not ancient

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2008 100 e

It’s difficult to see the building that is only about 100 years old in this photo.  The ruin of castle Windeck in the middle is approximately 1000 years old, the tower on the far left, part of the old town wall, is several 100 years old.  But the castle, called Wachenburg, right on top of the Wachenberg is pretty exactly 100 years old.  The building was started in 1907 and completed in 1928.

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It was meant to look like a medieval castle.

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And althought the overall effect is just that, close up it looks just a bit too well preserved.

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It was commissioned by a convocation of fraternities of students and they still have meetings up there.

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If there are not there, it is used as an event location with a restaurant, and in summer beer garden.

Linked to A Photo A Week: 100 years or older.

 

Two-castle-city

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My hometown Weinheim is known by the epithet Zwei-Burgen-Stadt.  The appearance of the two castles in the distance, one ancient and one fairly modern, with the adjoining and quarry was always a sign to me that I would be home soon.

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Wachenburg to the left and Windeck to the right seen from the banks of the channelled arms of the Weschnitz, a small river flowing into the River Rhine about 30km to the east.

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The Windeck is around 1000-years-old. It was built as a fortress to safeguard the assets of the Imperial Abbey of Lorsch.

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The Wachenburg is only around a 100-years-old and was built and is still owned by a student corps.

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The expansion of the quarry was finally stopped when a citizens’ group went to court and forced the closure of the enterprise.  The twist in the tale is that around 1900 the whole hill (consisting of a relatively valuable form of porphyry) was sold to a community about 10km to the south in exchange of agricultural fields and hence, our town was more interested in preserving the hill with the Wachenburg on it than the quarry company who had plans to erase the whole hill.  But sanity prevailed and since the operations have shut down nature is reclaiming the quarry with several species of animals rediscovered that had disappeared from the area (a large species of owl amongst them).

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We are so proud of our two castles that we even sell a cookie cutter in the shape of the silhouette.

For One Word Sunday: home.  Have a look what other bloggers consider their home.

 

The now in the past and the future

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15 past future 2

A vision of tomorrow, through the eyes of yesterday

A boy – the promise of the future –  in a building which his great great grandfather helped to build in the past.

My grandfather was a young tradesman, a tinsmith, some 100 years ago when this castle was built and carried out some work on the construction.  Now my grandson was playing amongst its walls and columns.

Linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge: A vision of tomorrow, through the eyes of yesterday.

One whole century

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Living in Germany it would have been indeed easy to find a building that is not only 100 years old but several hundreds.  Close to my hometown, they found the foundations of a Roman estate dating back to the second century AD.  But I decided to show the Wachenburg, one of the two castles overlooking Weinheim an der Bergstraße, in Germany.  It looks like a Romanesque castle (the roof received new tiles a few years ago) but it is little over 100 years old. The main buildings were constructed between 1907 and 1913 by a Corps of former students (more information on these student fraternities can be found here) to serve as a memorial for members who had died during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870/71 and a location for their yearly meetings.  Family lore has it that my grandfather worked on the roof gutters as a young tinsmith.

For the A Photo a Week Challenge: over 100 years old. For more old photos click here.

Three castles in one town

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Weinheim, in southwestern German, is known as the “two castle town” although “two fortress town” would be more accurate.   The lower one, called Windeck, is a ruin, more than a thousand years old.  The Wachenburg is a relatively new building, only about 100 years old, constructed as a venue for student fraternities of technical universities.  I like this shot because it shows the two castles from a different perspective than the usual photos of them.

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Technically, the town should even be called “three castle town” – as there is also a proper castle, the small palace of the local count.  My parents’ house is close, actually their garden borders the wall surrounding the castle grounds.  This photo is quite unusual and does the whole structure a bit of a disservice but I like it because it is how I used to look up to the tower as a child, through the branches of the large cedar (said to be the oldest in Germany).   My dad used to work in this building (it houses the town council nowadays) and one can just see the window of his office in the bottom right corner.

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Another wonderful feature and tourist attraction is the botanical garden “Hermannshof” which features many trees planted 200 years ago. It is a pleasure to visit any time of year.  This photograph was taken in early summer.

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This is for The Daily Post, sharing photos of the place I live – again, after being away for many years.  Other people showing off their world can be found here.

 

Home is where the heart is

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Blauer Hut

Believe it or not – this was my playground when I grew up.  No, I’m not of noble descent – our house was on the other side of the wall in the old part of town.  One of the weirder influences this had on me is that I associate peacocks with a fuzzy, snug, and warm feeling.  I remember that visitors staying overnight with my parents usually came to breakfast with a harrowed look on their faces and “What was THAT noise last night??!” on their lips.  But to this day the shrill sound of a peacock’s call says “home” to me.

for Jennifer Nichole Wells’ One Word Photo Challenge: HOME

https://jennifernicholewells.com/2017/07/30/this-weeks-challenges-july-30-august-5-owpc-ww/

Castle on the edge

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Wachenberg in Weinheim, Germany

We’ve been living with this edge since 1894 in our hometown, and it has been growing.  It is now threatening to encroach on the castle which is one of the landmarks of the area. In a peculiar twist, the site of this quarry belongs to a town which lies 10km to the south – whereas we are worried about an enlargement of the quarry, the other town is keen on the revenue generated by it.  Luckily, the conflict was resolved last year, and works will be stopped soon. They are talking about recultivation but the stone wall is about 230 metres from the bottom to the edge of the forest.

A Photo a Week Challenge: At the Edge