Ludgerusburg

The Ludgerusburg was a star-shaped citadel north of Coesfeld in Münsterland, built in the 17th century as the residence of Prince-Bishop Christoph Bernhard von Galen. Named after Saint Ludger, the first bishop of Münster, it stood on land taken from local citizens who were compensated. The fortress was linked to the city’s defences and surrounded by wide water-filled ditches. Von Galen made Coesfeld his capital and commissioned the stronghold to secure his rule after the Thirty Years War. Six hundred soldiers began work in 1655, and the gatehouse’s grand design came from Peter Pictorius the Elder under master-builder Bernhard Spoede. Plans for a grand palace inside were never finished; von Galen instead lived in a side wing from 1659. After his death in 1678, the next bishops abandoned the site and the Domkapitel demolished most of it, leaving only scattered ruins. Today the old fortress grounds form Coesfeld’s cultural quarter. The gatehouse ruin in the city park marks the entrance, while behind the town hall one of three arched casemates survives as a former wine cellar. North of the railway, the remains of St John’s ravelin are protected as an archaeological monument, its name given to a nearby street and a small wetland that was once part of the moat. The Berkel’s old ramparts are still visible where it enters the town, and the Fürstenwiesen meadows can flood to shield the centre from floodwater. A 14-panel walking trail, the Citadellenweg, now guides visitors around the vanished stronghold.