Das Schloss, unsere Geschichte und das Team

E

rst mentioned in 1180, the castle was originally built in the eastern part of the town and integrated into the town fortifications in order to protect the difficult-to-defend side of the surrounding mountain.

The present form of the baroque castle dates from 1694, when it was rebuilt after a fire caused by a lightning strike. The Romanesque-Gothic core of the building in the Renaissance style was enlarged in the process. The former tower was demolished in 1710.

The castle consists of four three-storey wings forming a quadrangular courtyard. In the courtyard there is a carved stone fountain with the Lamberg coat of arms, a stone coat of arms (created in 1548) with the Mrakesh coat of arms and a sundial.

The painted coat of arms on the south wing of the castle is the coat of arms of the Hoyos family. Since 1822, the castle has been owned by the Hoyos-Sprinzenstein family.

In 1681, the Gothic castle chapel was built within the castle moat, which was much deeper at the time; later, it was baroqueised. Inside the chapel, to the right of the altar, there is a painting of Saint Donatus, the protector against storms, and a crucifixion group. The altarpiece shows the Coronation of the Mother Mary.

After the Second World War, the building was badly damaged, then in the 1960s it was extended, renovated and converted into a guest house. The exterior renovation took place between 1972 and 1980. During this renovation, the inner courtyard was given a cobblestone floor and the coat of arms of Count Kurz was placed above the portal.

Between 1978 and 2020, the castle housed an educational institution of the Lower Austrian Chamber of Agriculture.
In 2013 - 2015, the entire roof was renewed and the chimneys renovated.

In 2021, a new team around the Belgian Baudouin de Troostembergh decided to gently renovate and revitalise the castle, making it palatable in the future for tourists, summer visitors, cycling excursionists and families on the one hand, but also for seminars and workshops, artists, digital nomads and extraordinary celebrations.

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