Status: 04/22/2023 08:38 a.m
Many questions about the history of the Mindelburg in Mindelheim have not yet been answered. Researchers are now on the trail of the builder. A piece of pig’s jaw could provide an important clue.
Using a sieve and a spatula, Markus Fischer separates organic remains from the earth heaped up in a false floor on the first floor of the Mindelburg: Bone fragments, a hazelnut, a piece of coal and part of a pig’s jaw are revealed. The beams here date back to when the castle was built, says the head of the Mindelheim City Museum. Therefore, these finds are particularly valuable: They help to determine the exact age of the stately building.
Pig jaws as a key to the past?
The dating of the pig’s jaw and other finds using the C14 method makes it possible to pinpoint the year of construction more and more precisely: it is now assumed that the Mindelburg was definitely built in the first half of the 12th century. “This piece of pig’s jaw is dated 1109, plus or minus 15 years,” says Fischer. But, Fischer continues, “in archaeology, it’s like this: a date is not a date, and we need a bit more.” Dating of other finds will follow.
Organic finds can be dated using the C14 method – conclusions about the year the castle was built are also possible.
Image: Florian Regensburger
Castle with an eventful history
The castle still holds so many secrets because it was sealed off for a long time: During and after the Second World War it served as a military hospital. The National Socialists had previously housed a Hitler Youth Center there, among other things. Since 1949, the castle has been rented by the Sachon publishing house as a business and production facility. In July 2021, the publishing house moved out of the main castle and the property was returned to the city of Mindelheim. Since then, research into Mindelburg has been in full swing.
Previously unknown passages were discovered in the two meter thick outer walls. This week, Fischer, together with Christian Schedler, head of the cultural department in Mindelheim, took a very first look at a newly created opening in the wall, using a small camera with a flashlight on a telescopic rod. A passage with steps leading down from the second floor of the castle was revealed under the hole, about 20 centimeters wide.
Already a few weeks ago, a similar passage in the outer wall was revealed during static investigations in the course of the renovation of the castle. Like the newly discovered passage, it is on the east flank. The corridor that was discovered first and was located further below was bricked up after a length of about six meters in the course of the numerous conversions in almost 900 years of castle history. According to Schedler, the corridor, which is now accessible again and is about 75 centimeters wide and 2.30 meters high, has most likely not been entered by anyone for centuries. Whether the two corridors were once connected has yet to be researched.
View of a newly created wall opening. A passage with steps leading down from the second floor of the castle was revealed under the hole, about 20 centimeters wide.
Image: Florian Regensburger
Researchers are still puzzling over the function of the corridors
Presumably, the wall passages were once used by the servants of a former lord of the castle to run errands, says Fischer, “or as an escape route so that they can secretly escape in the event of danger”. It is assumed that there are other such corridors in the masonry of the castle.
The remains of a kilometer-long escape tunnel down into the valley were also discovered a long time ago in the ground around Mindelburg, but access to them has not yet been found. These were probably bricked up or filled in at some point over the centuries, says Schedler.
On the trail of history
In October 2021, the Mindelburg was elevated to the status of a monument of national importance, putting it on a par with Neuschwanstein Castle. Now a castle museum is to be created, which according to Schedler could open in about five years. Until then, he and Fischer want to answer the biggest unanswered question: Who built the castle – and why and when? Since it is a monumental building and almost certainly the first profane brick building – the most modern building technology at the time – north of the Alps, the castle was definitely “not a defensive structure,” says Schedler.
This would mean that there were two possible builders who would have had enough power and money at the time to have such a representative mansion built: Duke Welf VI. and Emperor Friedrich I, called Barbarossa. The exact year of construction of the Mindelburg could provide the crucial clue. Markus Fischer will continue to research it.