Burg Bucherbach
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| Burg Bucherbach | |
|---|---|
| Püttlingen, Köllerbach in Germany | |
 | |
| Site information | |
| Condition | Restored perimeter walls |
| Location | |
 | |
| Coordinates | 49°18′01″N 6°53′50″E / 49.30018°N 6.897118°E |
| Site history | |
| Built | 13th to 14th Century |
Burg Bucherbach, or Bucherbach Castle in English, is the ruin of a moated castle in Köllerbach, a district of Püttlingen in the Saarbrücken Region in Germany. Along with Kerpen Castle near Illingen, it is the most important lowland castle in Saarland.[citation needed]
Burg Bucherbach was built by the Counts of Saarbrücken to secure their rule in the region.[1] The castle was first mentioned in a document in 1326 in an inheritance agreement as "maison dou val de cologne" (German: House in the Köller Valley), when Count John I pledged the County of Saarbrücken, with the exception of Saarbrücken and Bucherbach castles, to Archbishop Baldwin of Trier.[2]
In 1412, Philip I of Nassau-Saarbrücken designated Burgelebach Castle as the widow's residence of his wife, Elisabeth of Lorraine-Vaudémont.[3]
In a dispute with Duke Ludwig the Black of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, John II of Nassau-Saarbrücken placed the complex under the protection of Count Palatine Frederick the Victorious in 1460.[4]
Under Philip II, the castle underwent extensive renovations around the mid-16th century, before being devastated in 1627 during the Thirty Years' War by Imperial troops under the command of Count Kratz von Scharfenstein.[4][2] Although it was rebuilt in 1645, after being burned down again, it was subsequently only leased out as a manorial estate.
In 1740, the castle was described as derelict; all the walls and towers were still standing, but without a roof.[2][1] Prince Wilhelm Heinrich of Nassau-Saarbrücken gave it to the inhabitants of the surrounding villages to use as a quarry. During the French Revolution, the remaining buildings and lands were confiscated as national property and leased out.
After an initial renovation of the castle ruins took place in 1930, a major restoration followed most recently in 1983/84.[2] Excavations in 1983 unearthed the foundations as well as old weapons and medieval everyday objects.[5][6][7]
In 2011, the castle ruins were renovated again under the direction of the interest group Burg Bucherbach eV.[5]
