Brandhof (municipality of Mariazell)
The Brandhof (also "Brandhof Castle") is a very old farm at the foot of the Seebergsattel on Mariazeller Strasse in the municipality of Mariazell in the Bruck-Mürzzuschlag district in Styria . It is a listed building .
history
The Brandhof owned by the St. Lambrecht Abbey was an ancient, single-layer farm. He stood exactly on the border between the dominions of Mariazell and Aflenz . The farm itself was still in the Mariazeller area, but most of the agricultural land was in the area of the Aflenz lordship. Around 1390 a certain Prantner was the tenant of the property, whose name passed to the farm. At the end of the 15th century, the owner of the Brandhof was obliged to perform post- tensioning services over the 1254 m high Seebergsattel.
Archduke Johann , the younger brother of Emperor Franz I of Austria, bought the farm in 1818 at an auction where he sent Johann Hippmann as a straw man. The Archduke intended to build a model estate for alpine cattle breeding here. For this he had a barn for 37 cows built, but for financial reasons he made little changes to the modest house for the time being. When he inherited 200,000 guilders from Albert von Sachsen-Teschen , he was able to carry out further plans. In the following six years, he had the estate expanded into a handsome hunting lodge, largely according to his own plans. The property was considerably enlarged through acquisitions. Shortly after the acquisition, he had the farm entered in the country table as "Freilut Brandhofen" . Archduke Johann Anna Plochl , daughter of the postmaster von Aussee , married in the newly built chapel in the castle , after having had to wait six years for his brother's permission. In 1834 Anna Plochl received the nobility title “Baroness von Brandhofen”. Archduke Johann enjoyed spending time at the Brandhof, especially during the hunting season. It served him and his hunting guests as a base for chamois hunting in the Hochschwab region . His alpine garden with rare mountain plants from Europe and Asia was widely famous.
In 1962 some farm buildings caught fire, but the hunting lodge was saved. Today it is still owned by his descendants, the Meran family .
Architecture and equipment
The complex consists of the actual manor house (the hunting lodge) and some farm buildings in a rural style. The house is an elongated rectangular building, which is provided with a high and steep hipped roof to protect against the heavy snowfalls that are common in this area. The top floor has been expanded. Above the center of the building is a neo-Gothic roof turret with a clock and bell. Below that, the octagonal neo-Gothic chapel protrudes clearly from the facade. Above it is a small church tower. In this there is a Gothic wooden statue of the Madonna with the baby Jesus, which was created around 1450 and repainted in the Baroque era . It originally comes from Thernberg Castle , which was also owned by Archduke Johann until 1822, but was transferred from him to the Brandhof. The rest of the furnishings in the chapel are neo-Gothic. When designing the interiors, not so much attention was paid to representation as to a Biedermeier living atmosphere. The windows in the large dining room were designed by Ludwig Ferdinand Schnorr von Carolsfeld and Matthäus Loder and executed as glass paintings by Anton Kothgasser after 1828. They depict various possessions of the Archduke and historical events from his life. Schnorr von Carolsfeld was also responsible for the entire interior of the building. The console figures and coats of arms on the beamed ceiling were created by Daniel Böhm - they refer to the history of the Habsburgs . The “hunter's room” is paneled with stone pine. Archduke Johann later set up a private hunting museum here. Jakob Gauermann's designs for the glass windows there were implemented by Gottlob Samuel Mohn in 1820/21 .
literature
- Herwig Ebner : Castles and Palaces in Mürz Valley and Leoben , 1965
- Dehio Steiermark (excluding Graz) 1982 , Gußwerk, Brandhof Castle, p. 156.
Web links
- Entry on Brandhof in the Austria Forum (in the photo album)
- Entry via Brandhof on Burgen-Austria
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 47 ° 38 ′ 0.3 ″ N , 15 ° 18 ′ 3.9 ″ E