Weißenstein Castle (Matrei in Osttirol)
| Weissenstein | ||
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 Weißenstein Castle from the south |
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| Alternative name (s): | Matrei Castle | |
| Creation time : | First mentioned in 1160 | |
| Castle type : | Spurburg | |
| Conservation status: | receive | |
| Place: | Matrei in East Tyrol | |
| Geographical location | 47 ° 0 '30.2 " N , 12 ° 32' 17.1" E | |
| Height: | 1040 m above sea level A. | |
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Weißenstein Castle is a castle in the municipality of Matrei in East Tyrol . The castle, which dates back to the 12th century, owes its current appearance to historicist renovations in the 19th century.
location
The castle is located north of Matrei on a throwback knoll on the eastern slope of the Tauern valley and dominates the Matrei basin.
history
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The castle Matrei called since the 14th century white stone, was in 1160 first mentioned. Together with the Kienburg south of Matrei and Lengberg Castle near Nikolsdorf, it was owned by the Counts of Lechsgemünd . Count Heinrich, the last representative of the family, sold his possessions in what is now East Tyrol in 1207 to the Archbishop of Salzburg, with which the courts of Windisch-Matrei and Lengberg came to the prince-archbishopric of Salzburg , to which they belonged until the secularization of 1803. The sale happened against the will of his wife Wilburgis, sister of the Patriarch of Aquileia , who had brought the property into the marriage, which led to a number of lawsuits by 1293.
Weißenstein now became the seat of Salzburg judges and nurses in the Windisch-Matrei nursing court . Around 1470 Leonhard von Keutschach had the castle expanded and the fortifications reinforced. In the 18th century, the keeper and judge moved their official residence down to Matrei, and the castle fell into disrepair. After the secularization in 1803 it was partly used as a poor house by the Matrei community. The Viennese architect Franz Poduschka bought it in 1864 and had the buildings and towers renewed based on the architecture of English castles of historicism . Baron Adalbert von Mengershausen had the palace rebuilt again in the sense of a "romantic castle" based on Rhineland models and the gardens redesigned. The interior was redesigned with the help of Virgil Rainer . Weißenstein served as a luxury hotel for a few years until it was acquired by Carl and Else von Thieme in 1921 .
description
The original fortifications included a bergfried-like tower and a polygonal broken circular wall with chapel, Palas and kitchen area. The Burggrafenturm stood a little lower in front of the castle and was included in the castle area in the High Middle Ages and connected to the main castle by a shield wall around 1400 . The inner gate kennel also dates from the Middle Ages, the outer castle gate and the north-east kennel with two inwardly open corner rondelles were added at the beginning of the 16th century.
In the southern tower there was the Laurentius Chapel on the ground floor, whose valuable inventory was stolen by burglars in 1640. On the outer wall there are remains of frescoes by Simon von Taisten .
literature
- Beatrix and Egon Pinzer: Castles Palaces Ruins in North and East Tyrol . Edition Löwenzahn, Innsbruck 1996, ISBN 3-7066-2122-3 , p. 192-193 .
- Fingernail-Grüll, Wiesauer: Weissenstein Castle, Weissenstein Castle. In: Tyrolean art register . Retrieved September 9, 2015 .