Valkenburg Castle

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Valkenburg Castle (2005)

The ruins of Valkenburg eleven kilometers east of Maastricht, Valkenburg aan de Geul located, is the only hill castle in the Netherlands. Valkenburg was declared a Rijksmonument. The castle also has an entrance to an underground system of escape transitions.

History

The earliest plant built about 1115 Goswin I of Heinberg, Lord of Valkenburg. It was destroyed in 1122 by the Count of lions after a successful siege.

In the 13th century the castle was rebuilt, but by Johann III. Duke of Brabant in 1329 stormed and destroyed. From 1370 the castle had passed into the possession of the Dukes of Brabant.

The Valkenburg was in 1465, 1568 and 1632 besieged and finally busted in 1672 for the French they could not use. From the coming of the 14th century rather triangular plant remains of two round corner towers, a residential tract on the side of a deeper inner courtyard and a watchtower are preserved today. In the Felsengänge were beaten, which were used in times of siege by the garrison.

The castle was in 1944 once again the scene of hostilities. German soldiers took advantage of the massive rock passages as slip angle against Allied attacks.

Plant

One can divide the structure of the system roughly divided into four phases.

In the first phase a rectangular donjon was built on the Heunsberg, the so represented a natural moth. Yet this was not a real dungeon, although fortified, but rather a residential tower, whose outline was 18 × 12 meters. Surrounded he was of a palisade. The farm buildings were built of wood. Even at this stage first escape tunnels were dug into the rock of the Heunsberges.

The second phase began with the emergence of a new tower. This was sixteen square and had a diameter of 15 meters. He was even more robust than its predecessor. The building material was marl, a sedimentary rock, which was won when they beat other passages in the Heunsberg. The walls were up to two meters thick. On a wooden palisade and wooden farm buildings was recorded. At this time the town of Valkenburg was born.

In the third phase of the sixteen square tower was replaced by a ten square. Why this happened is not known, especially since the tower with a diameter of 9.50 meters was also smaller. At the same time the wooden palisade was replaced by a stone wall. Also, most of the buildings have now been built of stone. From this castle of the robber barons of the estrous Walram terrorized the area around Schiphol Airport.

The final phase of the expansion is the best documented. Emperor Charles V gave the painter Jacob van Deventer in 1550 to draw the job, town and castle of Valkenburg. This drawing has been preserved. It can be clearly seen that there was no longer an actual Donjon at that time. At the south end of the installation there was a high tower with a conical roof. The buildings were built palatial. This may be the emergence in the 16th century desire for more livability documented in the castles. Access to the area enclosed by a stone curtain wall Castle provided a bridge that was backed by a large round tower. In the ramparts smaller round towers were built. In the eastern part of the wall a massive bastion was built, which was used to house artillery.