Ennsegg Castle
The Castle Ennsegg is located in the city of Enns (Schlossgasse 4) in the district Linz-Land in Upper Austria .
history
The prehistory of Schloss Ennsegg has to do with the former sovereign Ennsburg . This first princely castle on Georgenberg had become so dilapidated at the end of the 15th century that Emperor Friedrich III. In 1483 the judge and council of the city of Enns ordered a new building to be built. For this purpose, four town houses on the Ennsberg were demolished, and a princely castle, the Neue Ennsburg , was built in their place . Just a hundred years later, this new imperial residence was in such a desolate condition that a new building was considered again.
The site of the dilapidated old castle on the Georgenberg was used. This was the weakest point in the city's defensive ring, so rebuilding the castle and city wall had to be considered. The city council of Enns therefore asked in three letters to the emperor (1565) that the old castle be handed over. It was argued that - if a nobleman were to get the old castle - the owner and his people would be withdrawn from the city's jurisdiction, that the cost of the new building would be very high and that the city needed an armory to accommodate military equipment. Nevertheless, Emperor Maximilian II decided in favor of his well-deserved Imperial Councilor Georg Gienger. In 1565 the old castle came from the sovereign property to the court vice chancellor Dr. Georg Gienger (* 1500, † 1577). Gienger came from a patrician family from Ulm and held numerous functions (court vice chancellor, imperial council, governor in Swabia and governor of Enns). The Emperor allowed his Imperial Council to expand the old castle into the current Ennsegg Castle on the condition that the "dilapidated and partly collapsed castle" be restored to a good structural condition. The new castle was built between 1565 and 1570. On the other hand, Gienger received the right for the reconstruction of the castle not to be “hindered” by the Enns bailiffs. From this aristocratic open space, the associated free rule of Enns developed. The construction initiated by Gienger was much smaller than it is today, however, the "Old Castle" was located at the northeast end of the high terrace and consisted of a two-story arcade courtyard, the stair tower and a connecting wing to the city wall.
After Gienger's death († 1577), ownership passed to his daughter Ursula, who was married to Ferdinand Helfried von Meggau. Their successor was David Ungnad von Weissenwolff . His son Andreas Ungnad describes himself in 1601 as Lord von Ennsegg. Since this disgrace was a Protestant and had participated in the uprising of the Protestant estates against the sovereign, he lost his property in 1623. The castle was confiscated and passed to the Bavarian councilor Ott Josef von Kirchberg in 1623. After his death, his son of the same name took over the property and bequeathed it to his widow Regina, née Freiin von Hoyos . The re-Catholic and by Emperor Ferdinand III. David Ungnad, who was raised to the rank of Count, was able to buy back Ennsegg in 1656. The expansion of the palace to include the two wing structures that border the large courtyard goes back to him.
In 1722 Ennsegg came together with Castle Roith and Castle Köppach as the marriage property of Maria Anna Josepha von Weissenwolff to her husband, Prince Johann Wilhelm Trautson . In 1744, Prince Karl Josef von Auersperg received the castle as a marriage property from her daughter Maria Josepha . In 1794, Prince Vinzenz succeeded him, and in 1838 Ennsegg passed to his son of the same name, Vinzenz.
Ennsegg Castle often accommodated illustrious guests due to its convenient location in terms of transport: Emperor Franz Stephan von Lothringen , consort of Maria Theresa, used Ennsegg as an overnight stop with two archdukes on their trip to Frankfurt am Main in the spring of 1764. In order to be able to accommodate the imperial guest appropriately, the Upper Austrian provincial governance commissioned the city of Enns to move various pieces of furniture and furnishings from Vienna and from the provost to St. Florian to Ennsegg. Marie Antoinette , daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, stayed in the border town of Enns in 1770. She had been married to the Dauphin of France with the Augustinians in Vienna and now began the journey with a large retinue (57 wagons) and a carriage drawn by six horses to her new French homeland. After the Battle of Ebelsberg (May 3, 1809) Napoleon moved into his quarters in Ennsegg Castle. In 1810 the Archduchess Maria Luise lived with her father Emperor Franz I on Ennsegg; she was then on her way to see her husband Napoleon. On November 7, 1816, Karoline Auguste von Bayern , wife of Emperor Franz of Austria, arrived in Ennsegg . The Austrian heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was a frequent guest at the castle as a young dragoon officer from 1884 to 1888. The Emperor's daughter, Archduchess Marie Valerie, spent the summer months on Ennsegg with her family from 1900 to 1902.
In 1841, Prince Vincent Auersperg had the palace gardens laid out as an English garden and the interior spaces were newly adapted. Even then, the park was intended as a public recreational area. In 1888 Mathilde Fürstin von Auersperg and her sister Caroline, widowed Landgrave Fürstenberg , were the owners. Two years later, Caroline Fürstenberg and Eduard Egon Landgraf Fürstenberg appear as the owners, in 1904 Landgrave Eduard Egon von Fürstenberg succeeded in sole ownership. In 1928 Ennsegg was donated to Marie Caroline Johanna Countess Walderdorff- Fürstenberg. From 1940, their daughters Marie Julie Countess Colloredo-Mannsfeld and Therese Countess von Walderdorff were the owners. They were followed by Franz Eugen Graf von Walderdorff.
In 2000 the real estate company Dr. Georg Spiegelfeld-Schneeburg & Co KG Schloss Ennsegg and began renovating the facility. The city of Enns bought the castle park.
Ennsegg today
Ennsegg Castle was part of the Enns city fortifications. The northeast wing is built on a high wall and seals off the city to the north and east. At the northeast corner a square tower jumps out of the wall and makes its function as a flank protection of the city fortifications clear. Instead of a roof, it is covered by a crenellated defense platform .
The castle has two inner courtyards, the larger of which is an arbor and the smaller an arcade courtyard. These courtyards are separated from each other by a longitudinal wing. The larger courtyard is open to the southwest, the smaller to the southeast. The so-called chapel tower with a baroque onion helmet is attached to the arcade tract on the west side. Roman finds from Lauriacum (Lorch) are placed in the arcade . The coat of arms of the Auersperger are located above the east and west entrances.
The palace chapel with an octagonal central room and a dome dates from the second half of the 17th century. It was built into a fortified tower from the city fortifications. It is richly decorated with stucco decorations. The frescoes in the wall panels are likely to come from Carpoforo Tencalla ; it is a life cycle of the Virgin Mary, a commitment by David Ungnad von Weissenwolff to the Counter Reformation. The four fully plastic stucco figures represent the evangelists. The altar was erected around 1800. The altarpiece was stolen by the American occupation forces in 1945.
The interior of Ennsegg Castle suffered a lot from the Second World War and the post-war period. Until 1955 the demarcation line, behind which the Soviet occupation zone in Austria began, ran directly below the castle.
Today the castle has been restored. Noteworthy in the eastern part is the rococo picture room, which is now used as a wedding hall. The pictures located there are sunk into the wall. In another room there is a magnificent ceramic stove in the Renaissance style with the Jörger coat of arms, which comes from Köppach Castle.
The Enns State Music School has been housed in the wing wing since 2001. The castle also serves as a cultural center and registry office. Parts of the building are divided into apartments and offices. Attempts are made to revitalize the castle through a variety of events, such as Advent events or weddings in the picture hall or the castle chapel; the castle can also be rented for private events through the municipality of Enns. Guided tours through Ennsegg Castle are possible by prior arrangement by telephone.
literature
- Eva Berger : Historic gardens of Austria: Upper Austria, Salzburg, Vorarlberg, Carinthia, Styria, Tyrol Gardens and parks from the Renaissance to around 1930 (Volume 2) . Böhlau, Vienna 2003, ISBN 978-3-205-99352-0 , p. 125 ff .
- Norbert Grabherr : Castles and palaces in Upper Austria. A guide for castle hikers and friends of home . 3. Edition. Oberösterreichischer Landesverlag, Linz 1976, ISBN 3-85214-157-5 .
- Georg Grüll : Castles and palaces in Upper Austria, Volume 2: Innviertel and Alpine foothills . Birken-Verlag, Vienna 1964.
- Oskar Hille: Castles and palaces in Upper Austria then and now . Verlag Ferdinand Berger & Sons, Horn 1975, ISBN 3-85028-023-3 .
- Eduard Straßmayr: Ennsegg Castle. In: Yearbook of the Upper Austrian Museum Association. 102 (1957), pp. 137-144, PDF on ZOBODAT
Web links
- Ennsegg . DORIS: architectural monuments .
- Entry via Ennsegg Castle to Burgen-Austria
Individual evidence
- ↑ Homepage of the Landesmusikschule Enns
- ↑ Advent in Ennsegg Castle
- ^ Ennsegg Castle ( Memento from December 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Ennsegg Castle Terms of Use (PDF; 12 kB)
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 56 " N , 14 ° 28 ′ 51.4" E