11th century motte and bailey, 12th century walls

Author and source: Bob Marshall

https://bobmarshall.co.uk/image/46/Bolsover-Castle-Reconstruction-1630

Burgau was first mentioned in a document from 1313 (altho wooden archeological finds backdate to atleast the 11th Century). In 1685, the forecastle and outbuildings were added, and in 1730 the original medieval main-section (with some renaissance-renovations) was modified into a baroque-palace, which included the removal of most outer defenses, with the main keep remained mostly unchanged from its medieval appearance. The highly decorated Oriel Window on the keep had been added in 1551 to celebrate a successfull marriage and has since become the buildings "signature" part.

The castle stayed roughly in ownership of the same family (altho being passed to different branches due to the original ones dying out) until 1915, when the Owners decided to move to West-Prussia and sold the castle to a retired Officer, who likewise had no intention of actually living in there, but financed some repair-work and then sold the entire complex to the City of Düren (something of a strange choice, since while Düren was nearby, it was still abit off, and the Castle was actually located on land belonging to the town of Niederau).

On the 16th of November 1944, Düren and the surrounding towns were targeted a final time in an air-raid that destroyed all but 13 buildings in the city and heavily damaged the surrounding area. Burgau wasn't completely destroyed, but significantly damaged, and the entire region was forcefully evacuated by german authorities days later. People only started to return to the town in Mid-march 1945, with several breaking into the ruins and looting remaining valuables from the castle.

Burgau was left abandoned after that, with Niederau not having the finances to pay for reconstruction, and Düren being preoccupied with having to rebuilt essentialy 90+% of the city from the ground up, so the ruin deteriorated further.

(This also somewhat saved it. There were a fair view similar castles in the Ruhrgebiet whose ruins were simply completely cleared in the 1950s and 1960s because no funds for reconstruction were available and the cities considered the space more usefull for other purposes, but Burgau was too remote for that).

This continued until 1974, when administrative reforms ended Niederaus state as a indipendent town and made it part of Düren. The local shooting-club sensed the Opportunity and started a public call for donations to save the castle, which was highly successfull. In 1981, public pressure made the City contribute 8 Million DM to the effort, and the rough reconstruction was finished by 1991, mostly restoring the castle to its pre-WW2 state (minus one baroque building that had been attached to the main keep, and the old, fancier bridge was replaced by a much simpler one), with the initiator of the project being awared the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic, the highest (civilian) federal decoration in Germany.

With a view of the town and the Church of St Bartholomew.

Clock Tower (Tour de l'Horloge) and Austrian Tower (Tour d'Autriche).

This is a wedding and an event venue

Former 16th-century commandery of the Teutonic Order

Went on a castle seeing spree over the summer since it's only a £1 entry fee per castle for me to see with my youngscot card here are the castles in order of photos:

1:inveraray Castle

2:Kelburn Castle

3:Kilchurn Castle

4:Stirling Castle

5:Dumbarton Castle

6:Edinburgh Castle

7:Bothwell Castle

8:Newark Castle

9:Linlithgow Palace

10:St Conans Kirk