Waldegg Castle

The estate Waldegg is a castle in the municipality field fountain -St. Niklaus near Solothurn.

History

The building was built in 1682-1690 as the summer residence of the mayor Johann Viktor von Besenval. Besenval was in 1628 immigrated as a " silver Chandler " from the Aosta valley and rose within a short time in the Solothurn upper class. Since Solothurn from 1530 to 1792 housed the French Embassy in the Old Confederacy, the Sons of Solothurn patricians were careers open in the French Kingdom. On Waldegg born 1721 Peter Viktor followed by Besenval, which, under the command of the War Minister Victor- François de Broglie holds the post of commander of the beorderten to quell the riots in Paris armed forces during the French Revolution. His memoirs draw an atmospheric picture of the events.

1865 came the manor through marriage and purchase at the Solothurn patrician family of Sury- Büssy. The palace building has changed in the late 19th century a spatial redesign, as two separate apartments were furnished. From the early 20th century the castle was inhabited throughout the year. Lack descendants, the castle in 1963 as a foundation to the Canton of Solothurn. Today, the castle serves as a living museum and a venue for exhibitions, concerts and private functions.

Architecture

Waldegg Castle is an exaggeration of the Türmlihauses, a typical Solothurn building type, as in the 17th century big in fashion was mainly ( see, eg, summer house Wylihof ). " The Waldegg " has a baroque parterre garden, an orangery and a " Potager " (french kitchen garden). At the end of East Avenue is also home to a now more accessible icehouse. The property includes the Chapel of St. Michael, a private chapel and some Oekonomiegebäude on the farm. With over 70 meters wide garden facade, the castle is a scale effect on scenery -like representational; the depth of the building is about twelve meters.

After the death of the last owner of the canton of Solothurn made ​​in 1989 the reconstruction of the baroque ensemble. In order to make the building as a community center available, the theater was reconstructed on the upper floor and to improve the infrastructure. Also historic wall and ceiling paintings have been found and exposed again. The rooms are now widely equipped with the original furniture from the 17th to the 19th century. The original baroque garden was edited archaeological and reconstructed.

This practice of reconstruction today is not without controversy, as it the building history of the 19th century, was sacrificed along with the garden from this era. The south avenue leading to the property is a new planting in the comprehensive reconstruction work, its historical existence is unclear.

Appreciation

Waldegg Castle is now the most prominently located country seat of the Ancien Régime in the area of Solothurn. Most estates of the former Solothurn summer houses lost the surrounding urban open spaces already in the 20th century by the settlement development. Although called the Swiss Heritage Society on the occasion of the award of Wakkerpreises to the city of Solothurn in 1981 to to to protect the remaining open areas as a witness of the Solothurn parkland, but the rezoning and liquidation cantonal land reserves led to the beginning of the 21st century still almost complete loss of the last urban open spaces.

That could lock Waldegg retain its historic urban appearance is thanks to its former owners. The elderly siblings placed firmly in the gift agreement from 1963 that the associated lands should not be built so that the overall effect of the estate can also serve future generations as historical evidence. Waldegg Castle testifies to the aristocratic and diplomatic history of the canton (then city-state ) as about ten noble families dominated the political and economic life in the style of absolutism. On a small scale it along the lines of the French " Sun King " Louis XIV was emulated, both politically and architecturally. The Solothurn aristocracy was not until 1798 definitely overthrown by Napoleon's troops, after the Restoration by a popular uprising in 1830.