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32-542: The castle was erected by the early Counts of Berg in the early 12th century. Eventually, the House of Berg abandoned Altena and moved their residence to Hamm . Supposedly, the castle was built by the brothers Adolf and Everhard von Berg around the year 1108 after Henry V granted them land in Sauerland for their loyal services. On Wulfseck Mountain they built their castle, which they named Wulfeshagen, later Altena. This

64-489: A workhouse was established there. This existed until 1840. From 1766 to 1811 there existed a criminal court and prison in the castle. By 1834 the castle was greatly deteriorated and was to be reconstructed. Due to lack of funds, however, this was not carried out. The Johanniter Orde set up a hospital in the buildings. Due to the 300th anniversary of the membership of the County of Mark to Brandenburg-Prussia in 1909 plans for

96-410: A reconstruction of the castle began. In 1914 this was completed, apart from the outer bailey and lower gatehouse. There was a controversial debate about the modes of reconstruction, where the preference of historic designs over the medieval and early modern architecture was criticised. In 1918 the last works were completed. In 1914, Richard Schirrmann established the world's first youth hostel within

128-865: A red lion with a double tail and blue crown, tongue, and claws – blazoned as: Argent a lion rampant gules, queue fourchée crossed in saltire, armed, langued, and crowned azure. This lion originates from the arms of the Duke of Limburg as the Berg title in the 13th century fell to the Limburg line. Circles est. 1500: Bavarian , Swabian , Upper Rhenish , Lower Rhenish–Westphalian , Franconian , (Lower) Saxon 51°12′26″N 6°48′45″E  /  51.20722°N 6.81250°E  / 51.20722; 6.81250 Schloss Burg (Solingen) Burg Castle ( German : Schloss Burg ), located in Burg an der Wupper ( Solingen ),

160-452: A residence for the county bailiff ( Amtmann ). Count Engelbert III of the Mark gave the small settlement at the base of the mountain the rights of liberty (such as self-governance). In 1455 the castle burned down and was only re-erected partially. In Brandenburg - Prussian times the castle became a garrison and was sold to the town of Altena in 1771. In the following years an almshouse and

192-583: A strategic marriage to Maria von Geldern , daughter of William IV, Duke of Jülich-Berg , who became heiress to her father's estates: Jülich , Berg and the County of Ravensberg , which under the Salic laws of the Holy Roman Empire caused the properties to pass to the husband of the female heir (women could not hold property except through a husband or a guardian). With the death of her father in 1511

224-466: A yearly Medieval Festival takes place in the castle and town. Part of the castle is used as a restaurant. 51°17′56″N 07°40′31″E  /  51.29889°N 7.67528°E  / 51.29889; 7.67528 Counts of Berg Berg was a state—originally a county, later a duchy —in the Rhineland of Germany . Its capital was Düsseldorf . It existed as a distinct political entity from

256-455: Is one of the several legends of the establishment of the county of Altena and the building of the castle. After the acquisition of the parish land of Mark near the city of Hamm in 1198, the counts of Altena took Mark Castle as their primary residence and called themselves the Counts of the Mark. They continued to only occasionally inhabit Altena Castle and from 1392 onward it was only used as

288-613: Is the largest reconstructed castle in North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany and a popular tourist attraction. Its early history is closely connected to the rise of the Duchy of Berg . At the beginning of the 12th century (after 1133), Count Adolf III of Berg built Schloss Burg on a mountain overlooking the river Wupper. The old castle of the counts, Castle Berge in Odenthal near Altenberg , was abandoned. The original name of

320-966: The Archbishop of Cologne and of the Bishop of Münster . William the Rich was the second duke of the united Julich-Cleves-Berg. He introduced the Gregorian Calendar into the duchies. However, the new ducal dynasty also became extinct in 1609, when the last duke died insane. This led to a lengthy dispute over succession to the various territories before the partition of 1614 : the Count Palatine of Neuburg , who had converted to Catholicism, annexed Jülich and Berg; while Cleves and Mark fell to John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg , who subsequently also became Duke of Prussia . Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg , became duke. He

352-657: The French revolutionary wars separated the two duchies of Jülich and Berg, and in 1803 Berg separated from the other Bavarian territories and came under the rule of a junior branch of the Wittelsbachs . In 1806, in the reorganization of the German lands occasioned by the end of the Holy Roman Empire , Berg became the Grand Duchy of Berg , under the rule of Napoleon's brother-in-law, Joachim Murat . Murat's arms combined

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384-552: The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II , and guardian and tutor of the later king Henry (VII) of Germany . But he also made enemies and on 7 November 1225, he was murdered by his nephew Friedrich von Isenberg . The War of succession for the Duchy of Limburg influenced the history of the castle. Count Adolf VIII of Berg participated successfully in the decisive battle of Worringen on 5 June 1288. After

416-624: The Wupper river to the town of Düsseldorf . Count Adolf VIII of Berg fought on the winning side in the Battle of Worringen against Guelders in 1288. The power of Berg grew further in the 14th century. The County of Jülich united with the County of Berg in 1348, and in 1380 the Emperor Wenceslaus elevated the counts of Berg to the rank of dukes, thus originating the Duchy of Jülich-Berg. In 1509, John III, Duke of Cleves , made

448-528: The Dukes of Jülich-Berg became extinct, and the estate thus came under the rule of John III, Duke of Cleves — along with his personal territories, the County of the Mark and the Duchy of Cleves ( Kleve ) in a personal union. As a result of this union the dukes of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg controlled much of present-day North Rhine-Westphalia , with the exception of the clerical states of

480-637: The Grand Duke of Berg; French bureaucrats administered the territory in the name of the child. The Grand Duchy's short existence came to an end with Napoleon's defeat in 1813 and the peace settlements that followed. In 1815, after the Congress of Vienna , Berg became part of a province of the Kingdom of Prussia : the Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg . In 1822 this province united with the Grand Duchy of

512-678: The Lower Rhine to form the Rhine Province . – in union with Ravensberg – – in union with Ravensberg (except 1404–1437) and after 1423 in union with the duchy of Jülich – – from 1521 a part of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg – – in union with Jülich und Palatinate-Neuburg , from 1690 also with the Electorate of the Palatinate , from 1777 also with Bavaria – The historic coat of arms of Berg shows

544-597: The Neuburg line inherited the Electorate and generally made Düsseldorf its capital. Elector Charles III Philipp disliked Düsseldorf, because the estates there did not want to grant the funds he demanded. As such, he moved his capital from Düsseldorf to Mannheim , where it remained until the Elector Palatine, Charles Theodore , inherited the Electorate of Bavaria in 1777. The French occupation (1794–1801) and annexation (1801) of Jülich (French: Juliers) during

576-451: The battle, the opposing archbishop of Cologne , Siegfried II of Westerburg , was kept prisoner in the castle. Adolf VIII now was able to proceed to elevate his town, Düsseldorf , to a city and was able to control traffic on the Rhine river. In the 13th and 14th centuries Schloss Burg remained the main residence of the counts of Berg. Five years after King Wenzel elevated Count William to

608-520: The castle was sold to be scrapped, decayed, and became a ruin. The architect Gerhard August Fischer from Barmen proposed in 1882 the reconstruction and submitted drawings and plans based on old documents, primarily using the castle's appearance in the 16th century. Since 1890 the castle reconstruction committee has led the restoration of the castle over the next 24 years. Painters from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf participated. With

640-412: The castle, which is still in use today ( Jugendherberge Burg Altena ). The original rooms are a museum today. The youth hostel continues to run at a location on the lower castle court yard, opened in 1934. Today the castle is symbol of the town of Altena and a tourist attraction. The entry ticket is also valid for the nearby Deutsche Drahtmuseum (German Wire Museum). During the first weekend of August

672-694: The condition documented by Erich Philipp Ploennies in about 1715. The reconstructed castle of today is a major public attraction. It also contains the Museum of the Bergisches Land . The castle church is popular for weddings. The castle is also home to the Memorial for Deportation and the Memorial of the German Eastern Provinces with church bells from Königsberg and Breslau . In addition, commercial shops for souvenirs are located on

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704-480: The duchies. The Elector of Brandenburg , Frederick Wilhelm , still claimed the Duchy of Berg, and declared war, claiming to be the defender of protestants in Berg. This led to the Düsseldorf Cow War . In the following years however, tension over Berg between Neuburg and Brandenburg greatly decreased. Upon the extinction of the senior Wittelsbach dynasty ruling the Electorate of the Palatinate in 1685,

736-473: The early 12th to the 19th centuries. It was a member state of the Holy Roman Empire . The name of the county lives on in the modern geographic term Bergisches Land , often misunderstood as bergiges Land (hilly country). The Counts of Berg emerged in 1101 as a junior line of the dynasty of the Ezzonen , which traced its roots back to the 9th-century Kingdom of Lotharingia , and in the 11th century became

768-572: The erection of the Battery Tower in 1914 the work seemed complete. On the night of 26 November 1920 a large fire destroyed much of the castle. Subsequently, visitors had to pay entry fees and the money was used to restore and rebuild the castle again. Reconstruction lasted from 1922 to 1925. In 1929 the Engelbert monument by the sculptor Paul Wynand was dedicated to honor the builder and archbishop. Today's appearance does not exactly match

800-542: The grounds. The surroundings offer hiking trails to the forests and to Unterburg, that is where the village is located, at the foot of the mountain. There you can buy the Burger Brezel , a local pretzel specialty; the pretzel bakers even have a monument. A chairlift (Seilbahn) connects Unterburg and the castle. Burg used to be an independent township until it became part of Solingen in 1975. Linguistically, "Schloss Burg" would be translated as "palace castle" -

832-404: The late count had no male descendants his younger brother, Archbishop Engelbert I of Cologne , took over the reign of the county needing two feuds to win the inheritance dispute with Duke Waleran III of Limburg . As count Engelbert II of Berg he built the palas of Burg castle 1218–1225. Engelbert was a very powerful man, not only archbishop and count, but also advisor and chief administrator to

864-414: The most powerful dynasty in the region of the lower Rhine. In 1160, the territory split into two portions, one of them later becoming the County of the Mark , which returned to the possession of the family line in the 16th century. The most powerful of the early rulers of Berg, Engelbert II of Berg died in an assassination on November 7, 1225. In 1280 the counts moved their court from Schloss Burg on

896-575: The new castle was Castle Neuenberge (Newmountain), or in Latin, novus mons, novum castrum, or novi montis castrum. Not until the 15th century, after significant reconstruction as a hunting castle, did it receive its current name reflecting its palatial extension. His great-grandson, Count Adolf VI of Berg took part in the Fifth Crusade and died during the siege of Damietta in Egypt in 1218. Since

928-406: The position of a duke in 1380, Düsseldorf became the capital of the Duchy of Berg . Schloss Burg continued to serve as a hunting castle and was used for ceremonial events, hence it became a " Schloss " (representative castle). Thus in 1496, Maria of Jülich-Berg was engaged as a child to John of Cleves -Mark (later John III, Duke of Cleves ). Their wedding took place 14 years later at Burg and led to

960-576: The red lion of Berg with the arms of the duchy of Cleves . The anchor and the batons came to the party due to Murat's positions as Grand Admiral and as Marshal of the Empire . As the husband of Napoleon's sister Caroline Bonaparte , Murat also had the right to use the imperial eagle. In 1809, one year after Murat's promotion from Grand Duke of Berg to King of Naples , Napoleon's young nephew, Prince Napoleon Louis Bonaparte (1804–1831, elder son of Napoleon's brother Louis Bonaparte , King of Holland) became

992-509: The unification of the duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. The second daughter of this couple was Anne of Cleves , briefly married to Henry VIII of England . In 1632 Swedish soldiers laid siege to the castle. After the Thirty years war , in 1648, Imperial troops destroyed the fortifications of the castle including the keep, walls, and gates. In 1700, the main building was partially reconstructed and subsequently used for administrative purposes. 1849,

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1024-478: Was a member of the powerful House of Wittelsbach , which ruled Bavaria and the Electoral Palatinate . During his reign, Düsseldorf served as his center of court on occasion. During the 30 Years' War, even though there were no significant battles around Berg, the territories still had to deal with the stresses of war. At the end of the 30 Years' War, Wolfgang Wilhelm tried to spread Catholicism in

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