Dürffenthal Castle

Haus Dürffenthal is located west of Ülpenich, a district of Zülpich in the Euskirchen district of North Rhine-Westphalia, north of today's federal highway 56 on the Rotbach in the formerly swampy floodplain.

Haus Dürffenthal is a listed late medieval three-story rubble stone building with an outer bailey, a garden, and a chapel.

In 1307, the knightly noble family of Dürffenthal was first mentioned. Their ancestors, however, had already endowed a tithe right to the Abbey of St. Martin in Cologne. In the 14th century, the von Dürffenthals were in a feudal relationship with the Counts of Jülich. In this century, a chapel was first mentioned, and the noble family died out. At the beginning of the 15th century, Daniel von und zu Berg was Lord of Dürffenthal; the family also owned the properties of Burg Blens, Burg Hausen, and Burg Irnich. In the middle of the 16th century, the Berg zu Blens line died out, making Dürffenthal the center of life for the noble Berg family. In 1809, Haus Dürffenthal was sold to Aegidius Thoelen, who in turn transferred it in 1818 for 16,000 Reichstaler to Andreas Heuser, who had previously lived at Burg Zievel. In 1834, the castle was entered into the matricula of the Jülich knightly seats eligible for the Landtag. The castle remains in private ownership in 2012 and is used, among other things, for residential purposes with an attached horse boarding facility.

The two-part moated castle has an extensive moat system, fed by the Rotbach. The moats must remain filled, otherwise the pile foundations under the manor house would be endangered. The outer bailey consists predominantly of half-timbered buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as a huge solid cowshed. The Neo-Gothic gatehouse dates from 1879. In the Codex Welser, the predecessor buildings can be seen in a drawing from 1723.

The manor house, on its own island, consists of an L-shaped building with a two-story east wing with a corner tower and a short three-story west wing. The west wing largely dates back to the 13th century. In the 15th century, the manor house was expanded to its current form. On the south side of the moat square stands the Neo-Gothic chapel built in 1905.

In 1904, a Roman tomb was found at Haus Dürffenthal with an enamel-painted glass bottle from the second half of the 3rd century AD. The depiction shows a chariot race and bears the inscription PROVINCIA BELGIC(A).

Haus Dürffenthal was entered into the monument list of the city of Zülpich on September 24, 1981, under number 15.