Ringsheim Castle, Euskirchen, Germany

Ringsheim castle is a very extensive castle which, unusually, stands alone in open fields. Situated between the boundary forest of Flamersheim and the crown road, it was fiercely fought over due to its strategic position. The village originally belonging to the castle was destroyed in the 17th century. Today Ringsheim is an extensive castle with a manor house, an inner fore-castle with working quarters and the area of the large outer fore-castle with a well preserved ditch around it, in which the church ruins stand. Merely ruins of the outer fore-castle have been preserved. Most of the main building remains as an impressive 17th century castle.

In the 13th century Ringsheim was enfeoffed by Cologne to the eminent landowners of Ringsheim, who possessed large tracts of land in the locality. Because of excessive debts the entire estate was sold in 1455 to Johann Hurth von Schoeneck. When the von Schoeneck family died out in 1615, the castle reverted to the Archbishop until 1635, when it was enfeoffed to the Chief Constable Johann, Baron von Beck. In 1656 his son sold the entire estate to Philipp von der Vorst-Lombeck. In 1713, after a long legal process, the castle was returned to the heirs of the original owner Hurth von Schoeneck, the Barons von Harff zu Dreiborn and Ringsheim. After these frequent changes of owner, Ringsheim remained the family property of the Barons von Dalwigk for about 200 years and was inherited in 1900 by Wennemar von Schaffhausen.

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Kreis Euskirchen

Church of St Donatus

The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.

The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.

The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.

Thorsten Bauer (11 months ago)
Beautiful inhabited castle, hiking trails nearby

Helmut Scheller (2 years ago)
private estate. No general access authorization.

Katharina Daniels (6 years ago)
very nice

Thomas Löhr (6 years ago)
Lost in charm by cutting down the Kastanienallee

Nick Trick (6 years ago)
Nice owner and helpful staff. Very suitable for shooting as well as the forest of the owner.

Ringsheim Castle

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Church of St Donatus