Haus Knippenburg, Medieval water castle in Bottrop, Germany.
Haus Knippenburg was a water castle built with two intersecting wings and a clock tower as its centerpiece. The structure featured thick brick walls reinforced with decorative sandstone frames around its openings.
The castle first appeared in records in 1385 as a property of the von Knippenburg family. It passed through their hands across generations until it changed ownership in the 1800s.
The interior walls displayed numerous decorative paintings, while a 1923 poem from the Luyken family chronicles described the castle's surroundings and daily life.
The estate sprawled across extensive grounds with water features, farm buildings, gardens, woodlands, and open fields. Today visitors find only open space where the structure once stood following its demolition after World War II damage.
The walls of this fortress were built so solidly that demolishing them proved to be a lengthy and difficult operation. Destroying these thick brick barriers required specialized equipment and many hours of intensive work in 1962.
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