Mürzsteg hunting lodge

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Mürzsteg Castle

The Jagdschloss Mürzsteg is a small castle near Mürzsteg in Styria and has served as the summer residence of the current Austrian Federal President since 1947 .

history

In 1869, Emperor Franz Josef, who often stayed here, had a small hunting lodge built from his private fortune in the imperial hunting area near Neuberg an der Mürz . The plans for the country house, built in the Swiss style - in Austria also known as the Heimatstil - came from August Schwendenwein and his partner, the court architect Johann Romano . However, the country house soon proved to be too small and was therefore significantly expanded in two stages, first in 1879 and then in 1903.

In 1883 , a bridle from the Kuhhörndl to the Hocheck was laid out for Empress Elisabeth , who was an enthusiastic and good rider but did not take part in the hunts. Three years later, in 1886, the park was built around the hunting lodge and a water pipe was introduced into the house.

The hunting lodge was not set up for representation, but only for hunting parties rather modestly. Only after the last expansion were politically important invitations issued in the castle. Among the high-ranking guests was the Russian Tsar Nicholas II , who was a guest of the Emperor from September 30th to October 3rd, 1903. On October 2nd, early in the morning, the two monarchs, the heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand and the two foreign ministers met with their ambassadors to hold the "final discussion of the Mürzsteg program that was prepared so much in Europe" (quote from the approx meticulous visit program, quoted from the Universalmuseum Joanneum .) The signed agreement contained the principles of the Balkan policy of Austria-Hungary and Russia.

As a Habsburg private asset, the hunting lodge was expropriated after the First World War and became the property of the Republic of Austria. With some memorabilia of the emperor as a hunter, a small museum was set up in the official rooms. The other rooms were rented to summer guests.

During the Second World War , the hunting lodge was empty most of the time. Towards the end of the war, the Hungarian Arrow Cross member Ferenc Szálasi , fleeing from the advancing Red Army, hid the Hungarian crown treasure, i.e. the crown of St. Stephen , as well as the coronation regalia, scepter, orb and sword, but also the arm relics of Saint Stephen in the basement of the hunting lodge. Szálasi continued to withdraw to the west.

Today the hunting lodge is also owned by the Republic of Austria. Since 1947 it has been used as a summer retreat for the incumbent Federal President. The castle was continuously renovated, but the official rooms remained largely unchanged. The castle administration of Austria has the administration of the castle . According to Federal President Fischer's election promise from 2004, it should also be sold, but this has not yet happened. Numerous foreign guests, such as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon , have already been received here.

construction

The castle has an upper floor that is clad with wooden shingles. It has three three-story towers with steep roofs. The interior is simple and modest with the exception of a few pictures by Rudolf von Alt and Franz von Pausinger .

literature

  • Herwig Ebner: Castles and Palaces Mürz Valley and Leoben , 1965
  • Gerhard Stenzel: From Castle to Castle in Austria , 1976
  • Georg Clam Martinic: Austrian Burgenlexikon , 1992
  • Anna Maria Sigmund : The House of Habsburg / Habsburg Houses , 1995
  • Gabriele Praschl-Bichler: This is how the Habsburgs lived , 2000
  • Franz Preitler: Along the Mürz , 2013
  • Erwin A. Schmidl: The Mürzsteg resolutions of 1903: World politics in the Mürzer Oberland. A historical case study on international crisis management. In: ISS aktuell, issue 06/2015, Federal Ministry for National Defense and Sport (ed.). Institute for Strategy and Security Policy of the National Defense Academy Vienna, Vienna 2015.
  • Ilsebill Barta, Markus Langer, Marlene Ott-Wodni: The imperial hunting lodge Mürzsteg. History, equipment and politics. Austrian Presidential Chancellery (Ed.), Böhlau, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-205-20425-1 .

Web links

Commons : Jagdschloss Mürzsteg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Karlheinz Wirnsberger: Hunting Culture - From the Hunting Museum Schloss Stainz: Visit of the Tsar in Mürzsteg. In: The sight. Journal for Hunting, Fishing, Hunting Dogs and Nature Conservation, issue 11/2015, p. 63. ( Full text article (PDF; 313 kB), accessed on June 27, 2018.)
  2. ↑ Those Mazdeonische question 'since the 19th century. (PDF) In: vol.at , April 2008, accessed on June 27, 2018 (see History of Macedonia .)
  3. ^ Thomas Prior, Hans Werner Scheidl: Between official villa and official residence. In: Die Presse , print edition December 13, 2015, accessed on June 27, 2018.
  4. ^ Erwin A. Schmidl: The Mürzsteg resolutions of 1903: World politics in the Mürzer Oberland. In: ISS aktuell, edition 06/2015, Federal Ministry for National Defense, LV-ISS, December 2015. Full text online (PDF) on the website of the Salzburg Officers Association, accessed on June 27, 2018.
  5. ↑ The imperial hunting lodge tells. In: Styria . ORF .at, July 3, 2016, accessed on June 27, 2018: “The former hunting lodge of Emperor Franz Josef in Mürzsteg has been the second official residence of the Federal President since the Second World War - a house with history and many stories that can now be read. "

Coordinates: 47 ° 40 ′ 37.4 ″  N , 15 ° 29 ′ 31.5 ″  E