Marchfeld castles

Marchfeldschlösser revitalization and operating company - MRBG -
State level	Federal level
position	State company
legal form	Ges.mbH
At sight	Ministry of Economic Affairs (currently BMWFJ)
founding	2002
Headquarters	Marchegg , Schloßhof 1
management	Barbara Göss
Employee	65
Branch	Revitalization and touristic operation of two castles
sales	approx. € 1.80 million
Website	www.schlosshof.at

Basic data
Title:	Marchfeldschlösser law
Long title:	Federal law for the establishment of a Marchfeldschlösser Revitalisierungs- und Betriebsgesellschaft mbH
Type:	Federal law
Scope:	Republic of Austria
Reference:	BGBl. I No. 83/2002 (StF)
Legal text:	ris.bka
Please note the note on the applicable legal version !

Several castles located in Marchfeld in Lower Austria are summarized under the term Marchfeldschlösser . The castles are Hof , Niederweiden , Orth / National Park Center , Marchegg , Eckartsau and Obersiebenbrunn . They are networked with tourism under the Marchfelder Schlösserstraße brand .

Basics

There are several important residences in Marchfeld, which the aristocrats (including Eugene of Savoy ) had built in the past centuries as cultural and summer residences. Located in the “granary” of Vienna, these castles were primarily large farms, which were the economic basis of their owners. They are highlights of the manorial construction and life in the country and of importance for Austria's cultural heritage. The castles and associated gardens , built predominantly in the Baroque era of the 18th century, represent a decisive era in Central European history that emerged from the economic boom in Central Europe after the end of the Turkish Wars: some of the castles are former castles that were destroyed in the wars and after the second Turkish siege were revitalized.

The Marchfeldschlösser law

Schloss Hof and Niederweiden are owned by the Republic of Austria, who by the Habsburg Law from the Hofärar took over the monarchy. In 2002, under the Schüssel government , it was decided to develop a usage concept for these two objects and to transfer the tried and tested modern administrative structures, for example of the Viennese palaces around Schönbrunn or the federal museums .

“The federally owned castles of Marchfeld Castle Hof and Niederweiden are an important part of Austria's cultural heritage. Their restoration, preservation, opening and revitalization, taking into account their historical conception and on the basis of art-historical and monument preservation findings, are therefore among the cultural tasks of the state. Through the establishment of cooperation with culturally and touristically significant neighboring castles, a “historic castles street” is to be developed.

- § 1 Cultural policy mandate of the Marchfeldschlösser-Gesetz

For this purpose, the Marchfeldschlösser Law was passed in the National Council in 2002. It regulates the management, the supervisory board and an advisory board as an “advisory body with regard to the cultural-political mandate” and “to safeguard economic, cultural, social and regional interests” (Section 3).

Marchfeldschlösser revitalization and operating company

The Marchfeldschlösser Revitalisierungs- und Betriebsgesellschaft  mbH (MRBG) was established by law as 100% federal property. She is responsible for the revitalization and touristic operation of the castles Hof and Niederweiden. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and is co-financed by the Province of Lower Austria .

In total, the revitalization cost around 70 million euros up to 2011. As early as 2009, the audit office found deficiencies in the concepts, the “reliability of the planning calculation” and the “internal control systems”, and “that self-financing of the company will not be possible.” Festschloss Hof, primarily positioned to the disadvantage of Niederweiden, was able to meet expectations in terms of visitor numbers by far not met (2012 only 100,000 compared to 400,000 necessary to cover costs).

As of December 31, 2012, responsibility for the properties was completely transferred to the GmbH, which was also assigned as a subsidiary of Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsgesellschaft  (SKB), through which the further financing is also handled. Their management was not very enthusiastic, as the expenses for Schloss Hof would not be recognized by the tax office as a business expense, but would be assessed as a private hobby of the company, which would have to be financed from the taxed operating income.

ARGE Marchfeldschlösser

In 2013, a Marchfeldschlösser working group was set up. It includes Hof and Niederweiden Castle, Orth Castle / National Park Center, Eckartsau Castle (both also federally owned, but under different supervision) and Marchegg Castle (owned by the city). Even that was Danube Lower Austria Tourism  GmbH participates as a partner. There is now cooperation in particular with the Marchfeld LEADER region , which is developing tourism at community level.

The new cooperation is intended to strengthen the properties "in their joint appearance." Within the ARGE, more focus is to be placed again on the original concept of Schlösserstraße, for example with a joint online platform and "contemporary ticket rail".

Obersiebenbrunn Castle, which has been privately owned by the Coptic Orthodox Church and Monastery since 2001, is not involved in the ARGE for the time being.

Marchfelder Schlösserstrasse

As early as the 1980s, the Forum Marchfeld (Gänserndorf) association, a local cultural initiative, developed the term Marchfeld Schlösserstraße in order to network important castles in Marchfeld into a themed street, and thus anchored it as a mandate in the Marchfeldschlösser-Gesetz 2002. In 1985 there was also a signposting with over 120 street signs.

At that time it was also considered to continue this route across the border to South Moravia or Hungary. A good development by public transport was also expressly planned.

However, after the revitalization of the federal castles had been a long time coming and the tourism concept stagnated, a cooperation agreement between the operators and local authorities involved was only concluded in 2012, within the framework of which the project is to be promoted. The framework conditions appear more favorable today thanks to successful supraregional cooperation such as the Centrope European Region , the Eastern Region Transport Association , or the parallel Danube Cycle Path and Marchfeld Canal Cycle Path ( Marchfelder-Schlösser Cycle Path variant ).

The Marchfeld castles

penultimate column: ∗… member of the ARGE Marchfeldschlösser

Image (date)	lock	place	historical meaning	possession		use
	Eckartsau	Eckartsau , outskirts, in the Donauauen National Park	old castle, hunting lodge in the Habsburg private and family fund; the last emperor, Karl I, resided here after his declaration of renunciation on November 11, 1918 until he left for Switzerland on March 23, 1919	Republic of Austria ( Federal Forests )	*	Lock
	court	Engelhartstetten - Schloßhof , on the March	old fortified courtyard, country palace of Prince Eugene , then Habsburg private and family fund, kk training camp, state-owned since 1919	Republic of Austria (MRBG / SKB)	*	Castle, museum (changing exhibitions), event center
	Marchegg	Marchegg , outskirts	Former town castle, hunting lodge and summer residence of the Pálffy	City of Marchegg	*	Pálffy Museum
	Niederweiden	Engelhartstetten , a little out of town	Starhemberg's hunting lodge , then Prince Eugene's , then Habsburg private and family fund, 1919 state-owned	Republic of Austria (MRBG / SKB)	*	Restaurant, event center
	Obersiebenbrunn	Obersiebenbrunn , place	old castle, country palace of Prince Eugene	Coptic Orthodox Church in Austria		Monastery (since 2001)
	Orth	Orth on the Danube , outskirts	old castle, Habsburg private and family fund	Republic of Austria	*	Donau-Auen national park administration , museum (changing exhibitions), event center

In some cases, the Neugebauten Castle on the outskirts of Vienna is also included, other castles were or are being discussed, such as Sachsengang Castle near Groß-Enzersdorf.

Web links

• Marchfeldschlösser , website of the Marchfeld region

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Company Marchfeldschlösser Revitalisierungs- und Betriebsgesellschaft mbH in Marchegg ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Commercial register data Creditreform / firmenabc.at
2. ↑ ^{a b} see, for example, the report of the building committee on motion 628 / A by MPs Mag. Walter Tancsits, Mag. Reinhard Firlinger, colleagues regarding a federal law for the establishment of a Marchfeldschlösser Revitalisierungs- und Betriebsgesellschaft mbH - Marchfeldschlösser-Gesetz , 1076 of the enclosures to the stenographic minutes of the National Council XXI. GP, printed on April 15, 2002 (online, parlament.gv.at, parliamentary files ).
3. ↑ ^{a b} The Marchfeldschlösser Revitalisierungs- und Betriebsgesellschaft ( Memento of the original from April 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Imprint ( Memento of the original from April 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , both schlosshof.at
4. ^ Court of Auditors: Marchfeldschlösser Revitalisierungs- und Betriebsgesellschaft mbH report. In: Bund 2009/1, Volume 6, pp. 225–249 ( reports , pdf , both rechnungshof.gv.at).
5. ↑ ^{a b Report of the} Court of Auditors, section abstract , p. 225 ff. (Pdf p. 1 ff.)
6. ↑ Schloss Hof does not have enough visitors , noe.orf.at, published on March 23, 2013.
7. ↑ Thomas Trenkler: Schloss Hof, an expensive hobby . In: Der Standard , Vienna, August 24, 2012, p. 8, and website, August 23, 2012.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Marchfeldschlösser go on offensive , noe.orf.at, published on May 10, 2013.
9. ↑ Castles & Palaces , Danube Lower Austria Tourism (donau.com)
10. ↑ ^{a b} Forum Marchfeld Art-Culture-History-Literature  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   , Pp. 2, 3 (History of the Forum Marchfeld, pdf; 264 kB); Forum Marchfeld  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   ; both lafwurm.at.
11. ^ Association for the History of the City of Vienna: Wiener Geschichtsblätter , Volumes 40–41, 1985, p. 59 (LIX, limited preview in the Google book search);
    Karl Gutkas: Landeschronik Niederösterreich: 3000 years in data, documents and images . Verlag C. Brandstätter, 1990, p. 470 ff (LIX, limited preview in the Google book search)
12. ↑ ^{a b} compare, for example, the Schönbrunn success story to be continued in Marchfeld . Building committee for Marchfeldschlösser operating company, committee meeting of the NR, parliamentary correspondence No. 239 of April 5, 2002 (PK No. 239/2002, online, parlament.gv.at, parliamentary file ).
13. ↑ for example Marfeldschlösser and Donauauen , No. 5 in Catherine Ludwig, Walter M. Weiss: Vienna: Travel with Insider Tips . Series Marco Polo Travel Guide: Traveling with insider tips , the seventh edition, published by Mair Dumont Marco Polo, 2008, ISBN 978-382970592-9 , p 109 ff ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
14. ↑ Marchfeld Canal Cycle Path ( Memento of the original from March 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , weinviertel.at 
15. ↑ Cycling in Engelhartstetten , bergfex.at;
    See also web link map of the Marchfeld Canal Cycle Path