New Castle (Gerzensee)

The New Castle, in French Baroque style, originally dates from 1690, was later rebuilt several times and has an extensive park with old trees.

Around 1700, Samuel Morlot built the so-called New Castle in his third of the lordship (several construction phases until the 20th century). Only in 1755 did Franz Emanuel Anton von Graffenried reunite the lordship with the lake (fishing rights) and hunting rights in one hand, now with its seat in the New Castle. In 1798, the von Graffenrieds lost their judicial rights; in 1813, they sold the New Castle with the lake and domain to the von Erlach family, who were followed as owners from 1918 by the Lindemann and Losinger families.

In 1980, the Swiss National Bank acquired the "New Castle", built around 1700, in the municipality of Gerzensee, located on the southern slope of the Belpberg. In 1984, this property was assigned to the newly founded Gerzensee Study Centre Foundation.

The Gerzensee Study Centre is a foundation of the Swiss National Bank. The centre conducts courses and seminars for employees of central and commercial banks from Switzerland and abroad, as well as for doctoral students. The Study Centre regularly hosts international scientific conferences. Furthermore, it makes its infrastructure available to third parties for conferences, courses and meetings.

The village and court of Gerzensee, along with the neighbouring villages of Mühledorf and Kirchdorf, belonged to the former extensive lordship of the Barons of Kramburg, who probably also had a castle seat directly near the village. Traces of walls of the old castle, called Festi, could still be seen a few years ago on a Nagelfluh cone on the hillside above the village. The Kramburg lordship was divided early, and Gerzensee was already around 1300 owned in one-third each by Heinrich von Kramburg, Ulrich von Gysenstein, and Niklaus Neunhaupt, all three citizens of Bern. In 1327, Johann the Younger von Bubenberg was also a co-lord here. The Kramburg share, after 1350, came to Knight Werner von Resti, son-in-law and heir of the last Kramburger, along with Uttigen, and through his second wife Margaretha von Scharnachthal to her second husband, the Schultheiss Ulrich von Bubenberg. At the beginning of the 15th century, Gilian vom Holz, also known as von Schwarzenburg, acquired the lordship of Gerzensee, from whose son it presumably passed by purchase to the rich Schultheiss Jakob von Wattenwyl (1466-1526, Schultheiss 1512-1525). His great-grandson Bernhard von Wattenwyl (+ 1620) sold Gerzensee in 1606 to Caspar von Graffenried, whose descendants owned the lordship until 1652. Afterwards, it changed owners many times and was again divided at the beginning of the 18th century. One third of it had been acquired in the 1690s by Samuel Morlot (1670-1763). He had the so-called new castle with its beautiful gardens built. Two thirds had passed to Beat Ludwig Tribolet (+ 1719), who bequeathed his share to his brother-in-law, the later Schultheiss Isaak Steiger, who in turn sold it to Franz Emanuel von Graffenried. His son, Franz von Graffenried (1728-1778), finally reunited the entire lordship in his hand by purchasing the so-called "new castle" and subsequently moved the seat of the lordship to this new castle. From his namesake son, Colonel Karl Emanuel von Erlach (1776-1862) acquired the new castle in 1813, after the lordship rights had already been ceded to the government in 1810 against redemption of the tithe obligation. The descendants of Karl Emanuel von Erlach only sold the castle in 1919. The "old" castle, probably built in the 18th century on the site or directly at the foot of the former Kramburg lordship seat, in the style of an elegant country estate, had meanwhile passed to Joh. Rudolf Wyss (1721-1805) around 1750.