Waldegg Castle

Waldegg Castle
Waldegg Castle, with the restored baroque garden, including the reconstructed obelisks
Location	Feldbrunnen-St. Niklaus
Coordinates	47°13′24″N 7°32′54″E / 47.223378°N 7.54842°E / 47.223378; 7.54842
Built	1682–1686
Built for	Johann Viktor P. Joseph von Besenval
Swiss Cultural Property of National Significance
Location of Waldegg Castle in Switzerland Show map of Switzerland Waldegg Castle (Canton of Solothurn) Show map of Canton of Solothurn

Waldegg Castle, or Schloss Waldegg, is a castle near Solothurn, in the municipality of Feldbrunnen-St. Niklaus of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.^[1]

The Baroque castle was built between 1682 and 1686 as a summer house for the Schultheiss Johann Viktor P. Joseph von Besenval (1638–1713) and his wife Maria Margaritha, née von Sury (1649–1713). Over time, the Waldegg Castle, together with the Palais Besenval, developed into one of the main residences of the family von Besenval.^[2][3]

The family Besenval was originally from Torgnon in the Aosta Valley. They had risen socially in the service of King Louis XIV and had received a title of baron (Reichsfreiherren) of the Holy Roman Empire from Emperor Leopold I in 1695. Furthermore, already in February 1655, Martin von Besenval (1600–1660), Johann Viktor P. Joseph's father, was ennobled by King Louis XIV and raised to the knighthood in 1658 in gratitude for his merit for the French crown. And on 11 August 1726, King Louis XV erected the von Besenval's possession of Brunstatt in the Alsace into a French barony. The climax of the family's ennoblement was the elevation of Martin Louis de Besenval (1780–1853) to the rank of comte by King Charles X on 18 March 1830. The letters of nobility also applied to the descendants. Some members of the family also adopted the French spelling of the family name, de Besenval.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

However, the Besenvals' loyalty to the French crown was also financially rewarded. The quote from the French ambassador in Solothurn from 1709 is legendary:

"If the king could buy a man like Besenval in every canton, France could count on the [Swiss] Confederation as on its own kingdom."

— Ambassador Roger Brûlart, Comte de Sillery et Marquis de Puysieulx (1640–1719), the French ambassador in Solothurn, praising the loyalty of Schultheiss Johann Viktor P. Joseph von Besenval to the French crown^[9]

The French money was a welcome financial boost for the construction of the Waldegg Castle.

The Besenvals became rich through the salt trade and the mercenary business with France. A mechanism that was common among mercenary patricians soon set in: Because the Besenvals had influence in their own town, they became important for foreign powers – and because they were valued abroad, their power in turn grew in their own town.

Johann Viktor P. Joseph's son Johann Viktor, Baron von Besenval von Brunstatt, was a diplomat and colonel in the regiment of the Swiss Guards of France. After he inherited the Waldegg Castle in 1713, he had it renovated. Furthermore, he added a theater, commissioned in 1722 and completed in 1736, and a chapel, the Chapel of Saint Michael, commissioned in 1729 and decorated in the current French style, to the castle. He brought numerous works of art back with him from France.^{[2][3][11][12]}

Johann Viktor von Besenval and his brother Peter Joseph (1675–1736) commissioned the construction of the Palais Besenval in Solothurn in 1703.^[13]

On 18 September 1716, Johann Viktor married Katarzyna Bielińska (1684–1761), daughter of Kazimierz Ludwik Bieliński, a Polish noble, politician and diplomat. She was also the sister of Maria Magdalena Bielińska, div. Gräfin von Dönhoff, who was the Maîtresse-en-titre of King Augustus II the Strong. A marriage warmly welcomed by Philippe II de Bourbon, Duc d'Orléans, who was Régent de France between 1715 and 1723, since Johann Viktor was the French ambassador to Poland at that time.^[14][15]

Johann Viktor von Besenval died on 11 March 1736 in his hôtel particulier on the Rue de Varenne in Paris. His funeral took place in the church of Saint-Sulpice, where his grave was also located. His funerary monument in the church showed a bust relief of him made by Jacques Caffieri in 1737. In the course of the French Revolution, the funerary monument of Johann Viktor, as well as those of other representatives of the Ancien Régime, were destroyed. However, an engraving of the funerary monument survives in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.^[16]

Johann Viktor's son Peter Viktor, Baron von Besenval von Brunstatt, a Swiss military officer in French service, was born at the Waldegg Castle in 1721. When his father died in 1736, he inherited the Waldegg Castle. However, he lived most of his life in France, where he was known as Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, and where, in 1767, he bought the Hôtel Chanac de Pompaodur and made it his residence in Paris. Today the hôtel particulier is known as Hôtel de Besenval. It has housed the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation and the residence of the Swiss ambassador to France since 1938.^[18]

Peter Viktor rarely stayed in Switzerland anymore. The center of his life was in Paris. Due to his absence, he left the use of the Waldegg Castle to his cousin Johann Viktor Peter Joseph von Besenval (1742–1786) and his wife Maria Anna Margrit, née von Roll (1741–1814). Although he wasn't often in Switzerland, Peter Viktor did add an orangery, a so-called Pomeranzen-Hause, to the castle in 1780.^[19]

The French Revolution of 1789 was disastrous to the family's influence, business interests and wealth. Although all the family members survived the terror of the French Revolution, their close ties to the French royal family and other high-ranking members of the Ancien Régime made life more and more difficult for them in France.^[3]

Peter Viktor von Besenval, who was part of the highest circle of power in France, saw the dark clouds looming over the Ancien Régime in the course of 1789. After the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, he wanted to escape to Switzerland, to his country estate, the Waldegg Castle, but he was no longer able to do so. On 26 July 1789, he was recognised while fleeing revolutionary troops in Villegruis. He was immediately arrested and sent to prison. In October 1789 he was charged with the crime of lèse-nation. The baron was never to see the Waldegg Castle again. Only with good luck and good friends did he survive the terror of the revolution. He was acquitted on 1 March 1790. Peter Viktor von Besenval died on 2 June 1791 at his residence in Paris, the Hôtel de Besenval.^[20]

After the death of Peter Viktor von Besenval in 1791, who was in fact not childless but had no legitimate heir, the Waldegg Castle, which was a Fidéicommis and could therefore only be passed on in the immediate family, went to the firstborn son of his cousin Johann Viktor Peter Joseph, the minor Ours Joseph Augustin von Besenval (1777–1831).^[21]

It would later fall to Ours Joseph Augustin von Besenval to handle the increasingly precarious financial circumstances of the family von Besenval after the French Revolution, which led to the loss of their once considerable French income. Years later, on 18 October 1830, the precarious financial situation led to Ours Joseph von Besenval marrying his only daughter and universal heir Marie Louise Emélie (1804–1838) to her first cousin Amédée de Besenval (1809–1899). Amédée was the eldest son of Ours Joseph von Besenval's brother Martin Louis de Besenval, first Comte de Besenval (1780–1853), and Anne Caroline, née von Roll (1786–1829).^[22]

In order to avoid dispersal of the family heritage, marriages between cousins often occurred within the family von Besenval, but these led to a weakening of the line of descent due to excessive consanguinity. The result was increasing signs of degeneration.^[23][4]

Peter Viktor von Besenval's only child was his biological son Joseph-Alexandre Pierre, Vicomte de Ségur. After his fathers death in 1791, he inherited the Hôtel de Besenval in Paris.^[24][25][26]

On 19 May 1938, the Swiss Confederation purchased the Hôtel de Besenval in Paris as the country's new legation building. In the same year, the Swiss Government bought from the patrician family von Sury, the then owners of the Waldegg Castle, a sofa and six chairs, covered in beige fabric and embroidered with scenes from the fables of Jean de La Fontaine, except for the sofa, which is covered with a pattern of flowers and birds.

According to oral tradition, the sofa and the six chairs once belonged to Peter Viktor von Besenval and were part of the furnishings of the Hôtel de Besenval. It is said that the baron sent these pieces of furniture, along with other pieces of furniture and works of art, to Switzerland shortly before the French Revolution. In a photo from the 1920s, the sofa and the six chairs are placed in the Salon de Besenval at the Waldegg Castle. Today the furniture ensemble is on display at the Hôtel de Besenval in the Salon de la tapisserie.^[27][28][29]

The entire furnishings that remained at the Hôtel de Besenval after the baron's death in 1791 were auctioned in Paris on 10 August 1795. Therefore only the pieces that the baron had sent to Switzerland, to the Waldegg Castle, before the French Revolution, or pieces that he left to his family in Solothurn in his will, such as family portraits, remained in the family's possession. However, these were only a few pieces, mostly with a family connection.^[30][31]

In the 1850s, the Swiss Federal Council, especially Federal Councillor Ulrich Ochsenbein, was seriously concerned about the defense capability of the Solothurn region, because the city set about demolishing its old 18th-century fortifications. This prompted Ulrich Ochsenbein to reprimand the city authorities, which, however, did not impress them at all. The demolition of the old fortifications continued.^[32]

This in turn prompted Federal Councillor Ulrich Ochsenbein, after consulting General Guillaume Henri Dufour, to demand the restoration of the old fortifications or to build new field fortifications, including in the area of the Waldegg Castle. Accordingly, the corresponding plans were drawn up on behalf of the Federal Council.^[32]

Regarding the Waldegg Castle, the castle was no longer inhabited at this time. The last main owner of the estate of the family von Besenval, Amédée, Comte de Besenval (1809–1899), tried desperately to get rid of it. On 27 July 1854, Amédée de Besenval tried unsuccessfully to sell the Waldegg Castle Estate at auction. He even considered renting it out and turning it into a manufacturing facility.^[33][32]

If the fortification plans from the 1850s had been realised, the castle would not have been demolished. But an entrenchment was planned in the cour d'honneur on the south side of the castle and firearms openings in the barn in the rear courtyard. In addition, the castle and its park would have been largely walled in. Furthermore, the baroque parterre would have been replaced by a glacis and platforms for snipers would have been placed in the galleries.^[32]

These already well-developed plans were only not implemented because the threat from the Prussians had disappeared after the settlement of the Neuchâtel Crisis in 1857. Furthermore, there was no longer any threat until the start of World War I in 1914.^[32]

Finally, a solution for the future of the Waldegg Castle was found within the family. Josef von Sury von Bussy (1817–1887), who had been married to Charlotte de Besenval (1826–1885) since 26 June 1848, bought the Waldegg Castle, including the furniture and the paintings, on 6 February 1865 from the last members of the family von Besenval who were entitled to inherit the assets of the former Fidéicommis de Waldegg, which existed from 1684 to 1811. On the one hand, this was Amédée, Comte de Besenval (1809–1899), the brother-in-law of Josef von Sury von Bussy. He was the main heir to the Waldegg Castle Estate. On the other hand, these were Amédée de Besenval's two daughters Marie Joséphine (1833–1869) and Marie Laurette (1837–1912), who had inherited their shares from their late mother Marie Louise Emélie de Besenval, née von Besenval (1804-1838). Marie Louise Emélie de Besenval, née von Besenval, was a first cousin of her husband Amédée, Comte de Besenval. With Amédée Victor Louis, Comte de Besenval (1862–1927), who lived in Naples, the main line of the family died out in 1927. Amédée Victor Louis' father Victor (1819–?) and his uncle Jules (1820–1894) were both in military service in Naples for the then ruling dynasty, the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Both served with the rank of captain. In 1840, they were joined by their brother Amédée (1809–1899). After the death of his wife Marie Louise Emélie (1804–1838), he also settled in Naples for some time with his two daughters.^{[33][34][35][36]}

The new owner of the Waldegg Castle had it renovated and added two apartments. Furthermore, he changed the Baroque garden into an English landscape garden. However, the alterations to the garden were reversed during subsequent renovations in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The historic Baroque garden with its obelisks and figures was reconstructed.^[3]

From the early 20th century, the Waldegg Castle was no longer just a summer house, but was inhabited all year round. In 1963, the last private owners of the Waldegg Castle, the three children of Gaston von Sury von Bussy (1852–1931) and his wife Anne, née de Reinach Hirtzbach, Charles (1884–1973), Victor (1892–1978) and Marguerite (1883–1969) donated the Waldegg Castle to the Canton of Solothurn, also because there were no direct descendants left of the three siblings. Only Charles and his wife Gertrude, née Frölicher (1884–1968), had children, two sons. However, Jean (1920–1923) died at the age of three and his brother Gaston (1918–1948) died in an accident in the Jungfrau massif in 1948.^[37]

The three siblings Charles, Victor and Marguerite von Sury received a modest financial compensation from the Canton of Solothurn of CHF600,000 for the 200,000 square meter complex consisting of the Waldegg Castle and its formal garden and park, several outbuildings, two chapels, an allée, agricultural land and a farm. In addition, the descendants of the family von Sury continue to have the right to live in the apartment on the first floor of the east wing of the castle at a modest rent of CHF1,000 per year (the rent was indexed to the level of 1963 and has since been adjusted according to inflation. The annual rent in 2022 was CHF3,923). The prerequisite is that the tenants bear the family name von Sury. In the same year that the purchase and donation agreement came into force, in 1963, the castle estate was transferred to the Waldegg Castle Foundation. In 1975, the Waldegg Castle became the headquarters of the Center for Intercultural Dialogue, an organisation that fosters understanding between the different languages and cultures of Switzerland. In 1963, a comprehensive renovation programme was started that lasted over 20 years. The castle museum opened in 1991.^{[37][2][3][38][39][40]}

The Waldegg Castle was built in the local Türmlihaus style, meaning a house with many towers, compared to its size. The architectural influences of the French and Italian Baroque are clearly visible.

In the first construction phase in the 17th century, the rectangular wing, the corps de logis, designed by an unknown architect, was built with three tower-like pavilions facing the garden. Between the three towers there are two three-axis building parts with a crowning gable.

From 1689, after Johann Viktor P. Joseph von Besenval (1638–1713) was appointed Schultheiss of the Republic of Solothurn in 1688, long, single-floor galleries were added on both sides of the corps de logis, at the ends of which are corner turrets, a kind of small pavilions. At the beginning of the 18th century, these single-floor galleries were heightened by one floor. These first floor galleries were formerly used as loggias. Niches in the galleries house allegorical statues which were carved in 1683 by Johann Peter Frölicher (1662–1723). These statues originally adorned as free-standing figures the roof cornice of the two once single-floor galleries.

The coat of arms symbols of the family von Besenval can be seen in and around the castle. In the central axis of the corps de logis on the south façade, there is the coat of arms of the family von Besenval in stucco. And horseshoes, the symbols of the coat of arms of the Besenvals' Barony of Brunstatt, adorn the red and white shutters of the corps de logis.^[41][42]

The Waldegg Castle is also known as a façade castle or a coulisse castle because the two expanded wings of the building to the left and to the right of the corps de logis only consist of galleries with balusters, which serve as connecting corridors, leading to the corner turrets, the small pavilions. Originally these corner turrets had so-called imperial roofs (bulbous roofs). Behind the galleries with their large windows with usually closed shutters, however, there are no parts of the building. Especially from a distance, these galleries make the castle appear much larger than it actually is. The façade clearly reflects the representative claim to power of its builder. All in all, the façade measures 78 meters. This makes it the longest baroque castle façade in Switzerland. In contrast, the corps de logis is only 13.5 meters deep.^[43]

The windows of the galleries provide a clear view of the rear courtyard of the building, the north side, with the less glamorous courtyard façade, where the farm buildings are also located, as well as one of the two chapels. This chapel was dedicated to Saint Michael in honour of Katarzyna Bielińska (1684–1761), the Polish wife of Johann Viktor von Besenval.^[44]

The Grand hall, also called Salon de jardin, of the Waldegg Castle has ten allegorical paintings of the Arts and Sciences painted in 1734 by the Parisian painter Sébastien Le Clerc (1676–1764) and his workshop. In addition, there are paintings with landscape scenes and hunting still lifes painted in the trompe-l'œil style. The Salon de jardin also served as the dining room from the 19th century. The eastern salon, the Salon de Besenval, has a grisaille style ceiling fresco. The fresco shows the various coats of arms of the different estates of the family von Besenval as well as a noble crown, which together form the coat of arms of the family von Besenval. The western salon, the Salon des Ambassadeurs, has a trompe-l'œil style ceiling fresco. The fresco from around 1690, attributed to the local painter Michael Vogelsang (circa 1663–1719) and his workshop, shows a wide sky with an ornate balustrade framing the sky.^{[2][3][45][46]}

The first floor, with a room height of almost four meters, is the main floor of the castle, the so-called Bel étage. The two main rooms on the first floor, the master bedroom and the reception room, are located in the middle wing, the so-called Avant-corps. Both rooms have ceiling paintings from around 1685. The ceiling painting in the master bedroom is dedicated to love. The central medallion shows Venus and Mercury. Cupid can be seen in the four corner medallions. The family von Sury later set up the billiard room here. The second room was the main reception room of the family von Besenval. This room shows the highest quality ceiling painting in the entire castle. It shows a trompe-l'œil style dome architecture. In contrast to the other ceiling frescoes, which are painted using the lime casein technique, this ceiling fresco is the only one in the castle that is painted in oil. This reception room was originally decorated with leather wallpaper. The library of the family von Besenval was also on the first floor. In 1763, however, the library was converted into a salon. Today this room is called the Salon bleu.^[47][48]

The Waldegg Castle has two Catholic chapels. The eastern turret houses the Castle chapel. It has a high-Baroque altar from 1720, a trompe-l'œil ceiling fresco and wall frescoes attributed to either Wolfgang Aeby (1638–1694) or Michael Vogelsang (around 1663–1719). Both artists were locals from the Solothurn region. The apostolic nuncio in 1686 and the bishop in 1690 gave the authorisation for the celebration of the Holy Mass in the Castle chapel, which is dedicated to Saint Maurice.

The second chapel, the Chapel of Saint Michael, commissioned by Johann Viktor von Besenval in 1729 and completed in 1734, features reproduction paintings – made in Paris, including the large gilded frames –, showing Saint Michael by Raphael and Saint Raphael by Domenico Fetti, the originals of which both hang in the Louvre.^{[3][49][11][42][50][51]}

The completion of the Chapel of Saint Michael took forever. This is also because they were unlucky with the craftsmen. Johann Viktor von Besenval's brother, who supervised the construction work in his absence, reported to him:

"I am unlucky with the completion of the chapel and the chaplain's house. Because at that moment I found out that the bricklayer, with whom I signed the contracts to complete the work, had just thrown himself into the river and drowned."

— Excerpt from a letter from Pierre Joseph von Besenval (1675–1736) to his brother Johann Viktor, dated November 1732^[50]

At around 1700, Johann Viktor P. Joseph von Besenval still carried out major transformations on the south side of the castle by replacing the panoramic platform of the parterre with a staircase and a fountain. The south portal also dates from this period. He also planted the 600 meter long allée leading to the road to Basel. The allée, partially lost over time, was reconstructed in 1988 with Tilia platyphyllos trees. In 1705, Johann Viktor P. Joseph acquired a plot of forest from the authorities in order to expand his estate. He developed it into a baroque park and a formal garden.^[52][53]

• 
  Waldegg Castle, surrounded by its estate land. The 78 meters long façade unfolds its effect of a coulisse
• 
  Waldegg Castle, panoramic view
• 
  Waldegg Castle in winter

in alphabetical order

• Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt: Mémoires de M. Le Baron de Besenval, écrits par lui-même, imprimés sur son manuscrit original et publiés par son exécuteur testamentaire M. A. J. de Ségur, imprimerie de Jeunehomme, rue de Sorbonne no. 4, Paris, 1805 – chez F. Buisson, libraire, rue Hautefeuille no. 31, Paris
• Georg Carlen, André Schluchter: Schloss Waldegg (Schweizerische Kunstführer, Serie 98, Nr. 977). Bern, 2015
• Georg Carlen: Schloss Waldegg bei Solothurn : Brücke zwischen Zeiten und Kulturen. Aare Verlag, Solothurn, 1991
• Gabrielle Claerr-Stamm: De Soleure à Paris. La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt. Riedisheim et Didenheim, Sundgau, 2015
• Jean-Jacques Fiechter: Le Baron Pierre-Victor de Besenval, Delachaux et Niestlé, Lausanne – Paris, 1993
• Jean-Jacques Fiechter: Baron Peter Victor von Besenval (1721–1791) – Ein Solothurner am Hofe von Versailles. Rothus Verlag, Solothurn, 1994
• Jean-Jacques Fiechter / Benno Schubiger: L'Ambassade de Suisse à Paris, Ambassade de Suisse, 2ème édition, août 1994
• Christian Renfer / Eduard Widmer: Schlösser und Landsitze der Schweiz, Ex Libris Verlag AG, Zürich, 1985
• Fabian Scherrer: Leuchtende Tage – vergessener Alltag auf Schloss Waldegg 1890–1990. Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zürich, 2010
• Schweizerischer Ingenieur- und Architektenverband (Hrsg.): Das Bürgerhaus in der Schweiz – Kanton Solothurn. Band XXI. Orell Füssli Verlag, Zürich, 1929
• Hanspeter Spycher: Gartenarchäologische Untersuchungen bei Schloss Waldegg. In: Die Gartenkunst, 7, (1/1995), pp. 120–133

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Waldegg Castle.

• Official website
• List of castles in Switzerland
• Schloss Waldegg bei Solothurn, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, Dokumentation, 31. Oktober 2023
• Schenkungs- und Kaufvertrag Domäne Schloss Waldegg, Kanton Solothurn, 19. April 1963