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Founded: 1346Category: Castles and fortifications in Germany
Historical period: Habsburg Dynasty (Germany)
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Güssenburg Castle was built around 1346 to the site of earlier castle. It was the ancestral seat of the House of Güssenberg. The family was quite large and eventually ruled over many castles and communities in the region.
The count's vogt or bailiff was located at the Güssenburg until 1448. The central location of the castle made it an ideal location to administer the grafschaft or fief of the Count. In 1448 the fief fell to the House of Württemberg. However, the castle was destroyed in 1449 during the Städtekreig by troops from Ulm, Giengen and Lauingen, and never rebuilt.
In 1709 the community of Hermaringen inherited the ruins and the associated farms below the hill. In 1970/71 the ruins were repaired and cleaned. A further renovation occurred from 1981 until 1998 through the local Castle Society.
The keep and curtain wall form an irregular rectangle of about 45m x 70m. On the south side, a wide dry moat separates the castle area from the flat hill top. Near the moat a massive curtain wall rises up, the Ashlar wall is up to 3.4m thick. A post, found in the wall, has been dendrochronology dated to 1350. About 25m behind the curtain wall, currently nearly flat, runs the old inner ditch. Behind the inner ditch, portions of the inner castle still remain. These include debris, barriers and the ruins of the keep.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.