Waldegg Castle
| Waldegg Castle | |
|---|---|
| Native name Schloss Waldegg | |
 Waldegg Castle, with the restored baroque garden, including the reconstructed obelisks | |
| Location | Feldbrunnen-St. Niklaus |
| Coordinates | 47°13′24″N 7°32′54″E / 47.223378°N 7.54842°E |
| Built | 1682–86 |
| Built for | Johann Viktor Besenval |
  Location of Waldegg Castle in Switzerland  Waldegg Castle (Canton of Solothurn) | |
Waldegg Castle is a castle near Solothurn, in the municipality of Feldbrunnen-St. Niklaus of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.[1]
History
[edit]The Baroque castle was built between 1682 and 1686 as a summer house for the Schultheiss Johann Viktor von Besenval, the elder (1638–1713), and his wife Maria Margaritha von Sury (1649–1713).[2][3]
The family Besenval was originally from Torgnon in the Aosta Valley. They had risen socially in the service of King Louis XIV and had received a title of baron of the Holy Roman Empire from Emperor Leopold I in 1695. Furthermore, on 11 August 1726, King Louis XV erected the de Besenval's possession of Brunstatt in the Alsace into a French barony.[4][5]
Johann Viktor von Besenval
[edit]Johann Viktor, the elder's, son, Johann Viktor, Baron von Besenval von Brunstatt, the younger (1671–1736), was a diplomat and colonel in the regiment of the Swiss Guards of France. After he inherited the castle he had it renovated (1729–1734), adding a theater and the chapel of St. Michael, and decorated in the current French style. He brought numerous works of art back with him from France.[2][3]
A wedding with royal congratulations
[edit]On 18 September 1716, Johann Viktor married Katarzyna Bielińska (1684–1761), daughter of Kazimierz Ludwik Bieliński, a Polish noble, politician, and diplomat, and sister of Maria Magdalena Bielińska, div. Gräfin von Dönhoff, who was the Maîtresse-en-titre of King Augustus II the Strong. A marriage, that was warmly welcomed by Philippe II de Bourbon, Duc d'Orléans, Régent de France (1715–1723), since Johann Viktor was the French ambassador to Poland at the time.[6][7]
Peter Viktor von Besenval
[edit]Johann Viktor, the younger's, son, Peter Viktor, Baron von Besenval von Brunstatt, a Swiss military officer in French service, was born at the castle in 1721. However, he lived most of his life in France, where he was known as Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, and where, in 1767, he bought the Hôtel Chanac de Pompaodur and made it his residence in Paris. Today, the hôtel particulier is knwon as Hôtel de Besenval. It has housed the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation and the residence of the Swiss ambassador to France since 1938.[8]
Although, he wasn't often in Switzerland, the baron did, however, add an orangery to the castle in 1780.
The French Revolution of 1789 was disastrous to the family's influence, business interests, and wealth. Although, all the family members survived the terror of the French Revolution, their close ties to the French Royal Family and other high-ranking members of the Ancien Régime made life more and more difficult for them in France.[3]
Josef von Sury von Bussy
[edit]Josef von Sury von Bussy (1817–1887), who had been married to Charlotte de Besenval (1826–1885) since 26 June 1848, had bought the castle on 6 February 1865 from the last members of the family de Besenval who were entitled to inherit the Fidéicommis de Waldegg. With Amédée de Besenval (1862–1927), the main line of the family died out in 1927.[9][10][11]
The new owner added two apartments and changed the Baroque garden into an English garden, which was reversed during subsequent renovations in the 1990s[3]
Later years
[edit]In 1963 the castle was transferred to the Waldegg Castle Foundation and in 1975 it became the headquarters of the Center for Intercultural Dialogue, an organization that fosters understanding between the different languages and cultures of Switzerland. In 1985, a comprehensive renovation programme was started that lasted 20 years. The castle museum opened in 1991.[2][3]
Architecture
[edit]
The castle was built in the local Türmlihaus style – meaning a house with many towers, compared to its size – but incorporating elements of the French and Italian Baroque.
Façade castle
[edit]The castle is also known as a façade castle because the two expanded wings of the building to the left and to the right of the corps de logis, only consist of galleries with balusters that lead to the small pavilions on their ends. Behind the galleries with their large windows with usually closed shutters, however, there are no parts of the building. The windows provide a clear view of the rear courtyard of the building. These connecting corridors were previously used as loggias. An architecture that is not unusual for a summer house. In winter, the family lived in their townhouse in Solothurn, the Palais Besenval.
Corps de logis
[edit]The central building, the corps de logis, features three large towers and is flanked by symmetric, two story tall galleries with corner turrets, small pavilions. Niches in the galleries house allegorical statues which were carved in 1683 by Johann Peter Frölicher (1662–1723). The main hall has ten allegorical paintings of the Arts and Sciences and is decorated with supraporte and trompe-l'œil illusions. The eastern salon has a grisaille style ceiling painting while the west salon and billiard rooms both have trompe-l'œil illusions painted on the ceiling.[2][3]
The chapels
[edit]The eastern turret houses the castle chapel with a high-Baroque altar from 1720. The second chapel has reproductions of St. Michael by Raphael and St Raphael by Domenico Fetti, the originals of which both hang in the Louvre.[3][12]
Gallery
[edit]-
Waldegg Castle in the 18th century, by Emanuel Büchel -
Waldegg Castle, lithography, around 1850 -
Waldegg Castle, panoramic view -
Waldegg Castle in winter
See also
[edit]References
[edit]
- ^ "Kantonsliste A-Objekte:GR". KGS Inventar (in German). Federal Office of Civil Protection. 2009. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
- ^ a b c d Waldegg in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Soleure Solothurn : Le château Waldegg Schloss Waldegg". www.swisscastles.ch. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
- ^ Gabrielle Claerr Stamm: De Soleure à Paris : La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim, Société d'Histoire du Sundgau, 2015, p. 49
- ^ Gabrielle Claerr Stamm: De Soleure à Paris : La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim, Société d'Histoire du Sundgau, 2015, pp. 102–103
- ^ Gabrielle Claerr Stamm: De Soleure à Paris : La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim, Marriage de Jean Victor de Besenval et Katarzyna Bielińska et informations sur Kazimierz Ludwik Bieliński, Société d'Histoire du Sundgau, 2015, p. 98
- ^ Genealogisch-historische Nachrichten von den allerneusten Begebenheiten, welche sich an den europäischen Höfen zutragen, Bogislaus Ernestus, Graf von Dönhoff. Der 97. Theil, des Verlegers Johann Samuel Heinsius, Leipzig, 1746, S. 796 (Ergänzungen).
- ^ Jean-Jacques Fiechter / Benno Schubiger: L'Ambassade de Suisse à Paris, Ambassade de Suisse, 2ème édition, août 1994, p. 11
- ^ Gabrielle Claerr Stamm: De Soleure à Paris : La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim, Société d'Histoire du Sundgau, 2015, p. 196
- ^ Gabrielle Claerr Stamm: De Soleure à Paris : La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim, Société d'Histoire du Sundgau, 2015, p. 198
- ^ Kanton Solothurn: Familienarchiv Besenval neu im Staatsarchiv Solothurn, Medienmitteilung der Staatskanzlei, 27. Oktober 2022
- ^ "Schloss Waldegg". Federal Office of Civil Protection. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
