Family history

Argovian squirearchy on the road to European success
The earliest mention in a document of a member of the von Hallwyl family dates from 1167: Waltherus de Allewilare moved in the same social circles as the Barons of Eschenbach and was a member of the retinue of the Counts of Lenzburg.
Throughout its eight hundred-year history, the von Hallwyl dynasty distinguished itself on Confederate battlegrounds, at European courts, in science and politics, in trade and in the world of finance.
Out of more than 500 members of the family, only one person chosen to represent each theme of the exhibition is portrayed here. The Acoustiguide audio tour, which is available free of charge at the reception of the castle museum, contains information on 20 other members of the family, which you will also encounter throughout the exhibition.

Johans I (1305–1348)
was a marshal, keeper of the Sundgau and later bailiff in Swabia and the Alsace. He carried out important duties on behalf of the Habsburg lordship and held the post of Educator of Duke Frederick. He used his post to extend his own power within Argovia.
Johans I is considered to be the most powerful and successful member of the Hallwyl family. It was he who extended the Hallwyl tower castle into a prestigious castle complex.

Exhibition: Governing and ruling

Hans (1434–1504)
had fought both for the Habsburgs and for the Kings of Bohemia and Hungary.
On 22nd June 1476, he led the victorious Bernese troops at Murten against the Burgundians under Charles the Bold and made history as the hero of Murten.

Exhibition: Feasting and celebrating

Dietrich (1462–1509)
founded a farmstead and personally farmed the agricultural land belonging to Hallwyl Castle. He had a fish pond dug in the Schlatt area, and the sale of carp gave him a decent source of income.

Exhibition: Sawing and harvesting

Hartmann III (1503–1573)
studied theology under Wolfgang Capito in Basle and later attended the Universities of Mainz and Leipzig. He welcomed Luther’s revolutionary ideas, discarded his own plans to become a priest and entered the services of the city of Berne as an envoy and mediator. During the Schmalkaldic War of 1546/7 he served as envoy to Berne.

Exhibition: Travelling and transporting

Burkhard III (1533–1598)
collected medicinal recipes, studied his family history and carried out several extensions and alterations to the castle. He owned an experimental laboratory with distillation instruments and a store of medicinal potions which would have rivalled any pharmacy. Around 1580, he compiled more than 2,500 recipes in the “Hallweil Book of Medicine”, among them the “Real Hallwyl Healing Potion”.

Exhibition: Studying and healing

Johann Georg, Bishop of Constance (1555–1604)
Instigated by his father Dietrich, Johann Georg was given a benefice by the Basle cathedral chapter in 1579. His education, and later also his administration as a bishop, was influenced by Jesuit thinking: he is said to have been devoutly religious, open to reform and altruistic. In 1601, the Constance chapter unanimously elected him Bishop of the largest diocese in the German speaking region.

Exhibition: Hoping and praying

Bernhardine, née von Diesbach (1728–1779)
came from a genteel Bernese family and married the 55 year-old Johannes von Hallwyl at the age of 16. After his death, she was consumed with grief for her deceased daughter, her anxiety for her sick sons and her constant struggle with her own frailty.

Exhibition: Coming and going

Franziska Romana, née von Hallwyl (1758–1836)
married her cousin Abraham Johannes and after his death became overlady of the castle for more than 50 years. Born during a time of enormous upheaval and change, she witnessed the demise of the ancien régime, the French Revolution and the creation of Canton Argovia. She followed all these changes with a keen interest.

Exhibition: Becoming and being

Karl Franz Rudolf (1777-1852)
served under the Russian Tsar and became a Captain in the artillery battalion of the Tsar’s Life Guard. After his return to Hallwyl Castle, he was lord of the castle for over 40 years, became an Argovian citizen, then an Argovian Colonel and was later elected into the Argovian Parliament. As a result of the Helvetic Revolution, the family had lost many of its privileges. He carried innumerable lawsuits for the rights of the dynasty, causing him to amass considerable debt. In 1833, he was forced to sell the castle mill.

Exhibition: Clattering and striving

Wilhelmina, née Kempe (1844–1930)
The wife of Walter von Hallwyl (1839–1921) was the daughter of a Swedish industrialist. Throughout her life, she amassed a comprehensive collection of paintings, porcelain, silverware, weapons and everyday items. This collection is today accessible to the public in the Stockholm Hallwyl Museum.
Wilhelmina also invested a large portion of her considerable inheritance into the restoration and documentation of Hallwyl Castle (1910-1916). In 1925, a few years after her husband’s death, Wilhelmina von Hallwyl (1844–1930) set up the Hallwil Foundation. Among other tasks, the Foundation was charged with making the castle complex accessible to the public.

Exhibition: Collecting and preserving