Beesen Manor

The Beesen Estate is situated on a hill above the Elster river, offering a wide view over a uniquely beautiful floodplain landscape (today a protected landscape area). It belongs to a place of the same name on the southern edge of the city of Halle/Saale. The town seal shows a fisherman in a boat, indicating a former Sorbian fishing settlement. Neolithic dwelling pits, cremation graves, and flint tools bear witness to the ancient settlement of this area. The first mention and verifiable construction of the estate is dated to 1298 and is attributed to the Bezeme brothers, who gave the present-day village of Beesen its name.

The history of the village and the Beesen Estate is marked by centuries of struggles and feuds over the old land, trade, and military road towards Merseburg. The Beesen manor frequently changed owners. Thus, with the owners, the von Bose brothers, intensive building activity was associated with the estate grounds. It can be read in the archives of the city of Halle that Christoph von Bose built Beesen Castle as an equivalent to the then Ammendorf Castle (today's manor house) with outbuildings and a pleasure house (most likely today's granary). However, he became so heavily indebted that he had to sell the manor.

In 1593, the city of Halle, which for strategic reasons was very interested in owning the estate to monitor the old trade and military road, acquired the estate from the Bose family for 17,000 Thalers. The year numbers on some buildings of our school as well as on the imposing estate gate prove intensive building activity here. After the destructive Thirty Years' War, the Magdeburg Cathedral Chapter acquired the estate; from 1726, the Theological Faculty was the owner and was responsible for the extension to the manor house (built as school rooms). It was not until 1788 that the estate returned to the possession of the city of Halle for 50,100 Thalers, where it has remained to this day. After the Second World War, the old estate was used by VEG Tierzucht (state-owned farm) and severely run down. In 1994, in search of a suitable area for our school, the Association of the Freie Waldorfschule Halle concluded a hereditary building right contract with the city of Halle and has since been the owner of these old walls. In two major construction phases, the first extending from 1996 to 2000 and the second from 2005 to the end of 2009, we were able to utilize the existing building substance and convert it into a school, taking into account monument protection requirements and local conditions.