Toffen Castle, Medieval castle in Toffen, Switzerland
Toffen Castle is a Baroque country house in Toffen, canton Bern, built around 1671 by Hans Georg von Werdt on the site of a medieval castle. It has a main building, a western wing with a large dining hall, and interiors including a carved room with 1633 Renaissance panelling, a Pokuliersaal with pressed leather wallpaper from the late 17th century, and a summer hall with Rococo paintings.
The castle was first mentioned on 19 May 1306, when Johann von Bremgarten gave up his estates, including Toffen and Bremgarten castles, to his uncles Heinrich and Ulrich. In 1323 Peter von Gysenstein, a Bernese patrician, acquired the castle and the Zwing und Bann rights over Toffen's villagers. Around 1671 Hans Georg von Werdt had the medieval castle rebuilt as a Baroque country house.
The interior rooms display Renaissance decorations created by artisans from the Alsace region in the early 17th century. These works were commissioned as part of major renovations ordered by the castle's owner at that time.
The castle stands in the municipality of Toffen in the canton of Bern, roughly 10 km south of the city of Bern. It is privately owned and not regularly open to visitors, so the grounds and rooms cannot be toured; the building is best viewed from the surrounding village streets. Since 1798 the estate has stayed in private hands while its seigneurial rights passed to the canton.
Around 1671 Hans Georg von Werdt had the medieval castle rebuilt as a Baroque country house and commissioned Bernese landscape painter Albrecht Kauw to make four paintings of "the castle and lands of Toffen" for the four main corners of a room. Kauw's views record the estate as it looked before later changes.
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