Sleep, work, celebrate. A glimpse of rural life in the past, exemplified by the Vasbach family. Full lives, from cradle to grave, from engagement to childbirth, from the library on the pig market.
Vasbach
The Vasbach is an ancient milling estate in the Hundem Valley, whose name derives from the Vasbeke creek. Its first documentary evidence dates back to 1270 and it served as the seat of the Governors (Judges) of Hundem.
Around 1490, a man called Hans Schmidt, known as Vasbach, operated a steel hammer on the Vasbeke. He is considered the oldest known ancestor of the Vasbach family. His descendants, as he himself, exercised the office of judge in Bilstein, or they were administrative officials since the nineteenth century. The family lived on the estate for centuries, whose existence was threatened repeatedly through wars, billeting and calamities.
The coat of arms of the Vasbach family
Georg Vasbach (1635–1695) acquired particular eminence among the estate owners. After completing his studies of law in Cologne, he not only inherited the office of Electoral Clerk at the court of Bilstein, but also the indebted milling estate.
However, after he succeeded in mitigating the situation, he was able to extend the residential and service buildings.
He commissioned the construction of an estate chapel in honour of St George with precious interior furnishings. Some of them were crafted by Johann Sasse, a sculptor from Attendorn, and some by Johann Georg Rudolphi, a painter from the Paderborn region.