Taking a Walk Around the Castle Path…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Another post from my retro weekend tour of Kleve in Germany a few years ago.

We want to explore the Castle so walk the smaller side streets, making our way up the hill and come out on a small open area near the top.

The Castle stands imposingly to our right, and there is a path that leads all around it.

There is a real mixture of building styles here… that is definiatly in the “top town” also, so this doesn’t have a real historical feel… but since I read on Wikipedia that some 90% of buildings suffered damage in World War Two, it at least accounts for the multiple  styles of the local architecture.

It might not be too clear from my photograph, but one of the windows at the bottom of the tower was at eye level, so I took this photo to show just how thick the walls are… the wall continues on the outside, beyond the window sill that I am leaning on, and also continues deep into the room as well (the white bit of the photo on the right)

The Schwanenburg (Swan Castle), where the dukes of Cleves resided, was founded on a steep hill. It is located at the northern terminus of the Kermisdahl where it joins with the Spoykanal, which was previously an important transportation link to the Rhine.

The old castle has a massive tower, the Schwanenturm 55 m (180 feet) high, that is associated in legend with the Knight of the Swan, immortalized in Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

We weren’t sure if this was a fire escape or a short-cut, but this is one very steep staircase that clings to the hills cliff face.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Swanning Around in the Main Shopping Street…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Here are more photographs from my archive files, this time taking you on a retro weekend tour that Himself and I made to the town of Kleve in Germany.

The Castle that dominates the town of Kleve is called  ”The Schwanenburg” (Swan Castle) so it comes as little surprise that the emblum of the town is a Swan.

Ingeniously someone made a series of these Swan seats that are in the gently sloping main street, dotted all around, and in arcades etc…

…all have been decorated by local clubs, schools and businesses.

I could have photographed a heap more of them but didn’t want to disturb the people sitting on them…

Here are some that were not occupied when we passed by…

The Swan emblum extended to some windows too, this is the Tourist Information office… (which unfortunately had already closed for the day when we got there).

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Kleve from Top to Bottom…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The town of Kleve is divided into what is called the ” top town” and the “bottom town” We  jokingly wondered if you were to meant to start life at the bottom and work your way up during life ?

(No, I read on the Wiki website that the city grew in medieval times from four seperate  parts, stating with the castle, and that  is why there  are “top”and “bottom” town labels now.)

The name Kleve probably derives from the German word “Kliff” (Cliff), referring to the promontory upon which the Schwanenburg was constructed. However, the city’s coat of arms displays three  ”Klee” (clovers) which is comparable to the pronunciation of Kleve in the Low Rhenish dialect and in Dutch, “Kleef“.

This part of Germany has been throughout various centuries, part of the Netherlands, and consequently the local dialect is derived more from Dutch than German.

Interestingly, Kleve was spelled with a “C” throughout its history until spelling reforms introduced in the 1930s required that the name be spelled with a “K”.

As of 2008, the CDU announced ambitions to return the name to its original spelling.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Kleve’s most famous native is Anne of Cleves (1515-1557), daughter of John III, Duke of Cleves and (briefly) wife of Henry VIII of England.

The local line of the Dukedom became extinct in the male line in 1609, leading to a succession crisis in the duchies. After the Thirty Years War, in 1648, the succession dispute was finally resolved with Cleves passing to the elector of Brandenburg, thus becoming an exclave of the territory of Prussia.

During the Thirty Years War Kleve was under the control of the Dutch Republic, which in 1647 had given Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen administrative control over the city. He approved a renovation of the Schwanenburg in the baroque style and commissioned the construction of extensive gardens that greatly influenced European landscape design of the 17th century.

Significant amounts of his original plan for Kleve were put into effect and have been maintained to the present, a particularly well-loved example of which is the Forstgarten.

The mineral waters of Kleve and the wooded parkland surrounding it made it a fashionable spa in the 19th century. At this time, Kleve was named “Bad Cleve” (Baths of Cleves).

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)