Walchen Castle (Piesendorf)
The remains of the abandoned Walchen Castle (formerly known as Wachtlehenthurn or Walhen Castle ) are located in the municipality of Piesendorf in the Zell am See district of Salzburg (east of the Guthund farm or Walchen No. 24, so-called Wachtlehen).
history
The time of the construction of the first Walcher castle is to be set before 1254. This older Walcherburg was probably destroyed because of a mudslide. Today this area is largely affected by gravel mining; of this, only individual wall sections can be seen in the area. The later Walchenburg was then rebuilt very close by. In Salzburg Urbar 1300 entry is Guthunden prope castrum Walhen to find. In addition, a second Walchen castle is suspected to be at the Hochbürgl farm east of Piesendorf; the Walchen still referred to themselves as bailiffs of Piesendorf in 1281 ( in Puesendorf, ubi sumus advocati communes, captivavit homines plebani ).
The noble lords of Walchen , who are part of the Duchy of Bavaria under feudal law , had their headquarters here. After the change of feudal sovereignty over the Unterpinzgau to the Archdiocese of Salzburg in 1228, the Walchers also had to reorient themselves. Albero I. von Walchen († after 1247) is attested throughout his life as a nobleman. In 1240 Wilhelm von Walchen is the master of the Walcherturm. With Albero, Otto and Friedrich he has three sons. In a document dated August 1, 1254, they made peace with the Salzburg Elect Philipp von Spanheim , which meant that from now on they had become ministerials to the archbishop (this is how Otto de Walihen is called ministerialis on August 27, 1270 ). With Jans von Walchen this family died out in the male line in 1410; he only had the headquarters in Walchen and the rulership connected with it.
As early as 1383, a Hainrich of the Plümawer is named as archbishop Purgkraf zu Walhen . So the tower has become a nursing home . In the Salzburg Peasants' War of 1526, the castle was destroyed and since the nursing court located there was subsequently relocated to Kaprun , it was no longer rebuilt.
Walchen castle ruins today
The fortification of the Walcher was originally a defense tower typical of the Pinzgau (such as the Felberturm or the Weyerturm ). The Burgplatz is protected on three sides by a steep drop. The foundations of a mighty tower were excavated on the south side of the complex. One level lower is a flat plain that was surrounded by a wall. The access also took place from the south and is recognizable through a strong threshold that is still recognizable today and accessed through an old path. From the tower there was a line of sight to Kaprun Castle and Fischhorn Castle . Stones from the castle were probably used for the construction of nearby farms and the Walcher church, so not much is left of the Walchenburg.
There is a legend of the Walcherturngeist from the castle, who is supposed to keep a treasure here.
literature
- Friederike Zaisberger & Walter Schlegel : Castles and palaces in Salzburg. Pongau, Pinzgau, Lungau . Birch series, Vienna 1978, ISBN 3-85030-037-4 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Friederike Zaisberger & Walter Schlegel, 1978, p. 130.
Web links
Coordinates: 47 ° 17 ′ 51.5 ″ N , 12 ° 41 ′ 9 ″ E