Windhaag Castle

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Windhaag Castle and Palace around 1674, copper engraving by Georg Matthäus Vischer

The former Windhaag Castle was a castle built by Joachim Enzmilner in the Renaissance style between 1642 and 1673 , about 250 meters east of today's center of the municipality of Windhaag near Perg in Upper Austria . Eight years later, in 1681, his daughter Eva Magdalena von Windhag tore it down again because the stones were needed for the construction of the new Dominican convent in Windhaag .

In contrast, the Feste Windhaag (also called the old Windhaag Castle ) located on the same hill has been preserved as a castle ruin and has been used for tourism purposes since the beginning of the 21st century.

history

Old castle

Joachim Enzmilner had the rule of Windhaag near Perg (without the offices of Zell and Weißenbach ) on August 19, 1636 from relatives of the heirs of Lorenz Schütter (Georg Schütter, Martha von Serdain, née Schütterin, Dorothea Schütter, née Fenzlin von Feuregg, Georg Schütter von Klingenberg and Kollmitz as Gerhab for his cousin Wolff Gottfried Schütter) for fifty thousand guilders . The created at this time by Georg Schütter and passed Urbar included 556 folio pages.

As far as the roof drop fell, the old Windhaag Castle was an Austrian fiefdom at the time of acquisition of the Windhaag rule . It was built in the Gothic style , not large, but comfortable.

Towards the front of the gate it was surrounded by a walled moat over which the castle bridge led. At the back, towards Münzbach , it was surrounded by a wall. All the customs that stood outside the trench, such as the chapel, the horse stable, the riding stables, a bricked grain box, in the lower courtyard the brewery , the smithy and the Badstübl, as well as the tower at the upper gate, the adjoining walls and arbors were only in 1507 partly built by Laßla Prager and partly later by his widow on free land.

New lock

Enzmilner found the old castle no longer in keeping with the times and status. He achieved the dissolution of the feudal ties, took possession of the castle and began building a magnificent new castle in Italian style in 1642. To do this, mountains first had to be removed and gorges filled in to make room for the new building in front of the old castle.

After construction of the building, which was completed in 1648, it took another 25 years to complete the interior. It is no longer known who the artists and the builders were and how high the associated costs were, because extensive archive material has been lost.

The old and new locks were connected by a bridge. Because of its rich architecture, its elaborate furnishings and the beautiful gardens, this magnificent castle was considered the first and most distinguished in the state above the Enns .

Interior

The castle had, among other things, an extensive library ( Bibliotheca Windhagiana ), a picture gallery, as well as a valuable coin and art collection , an armory with a weapons collection , a tool room, a pharmacy as well as living rooms and mansions.

  • The library occupied three large halls. Enzmilner had inherited some of the books from his father and expanded them by acquiring the libraries of several noble and other people (including Helmhart Jörger von Schloss Steyregg ) and by buying them from booksellers . According to the Quarient catalog, the library contained 16,000 volumes and was divided into three parts: Bibliotheca antiqua (books up to 1550), Bibliotheca nova (books from 1550 to 1650) and Bibliotheca moderna (books from 1650). The library was established between 1656 and 1670. The Dominican priest Hyazinth Marianus (Fidler) was busy with the order of the stocks for years.
  • The picture galleries took up three floors. The four monarchies (Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman) were depicted on the lowest floor . On the middle floor there were pictures of the most famous foreign Christian emperors and on the upper floor the portraits of the most excellent emperors from the house of Austria and their wives. The large ceiling painting showed an allegorical representation.
  • One room housed the art collection with precious stones , clocks , minerals , bird eggs and a collection of coats of arms . The basis was the valuables and coins acquired in 1666 from the estate of the riding marshal of the Lower Austrian estates Christoph Adam Fernberger von Egenberg. In addition to numerous art objects and coins, Enzmilner also collected exotic natural objects. Only a few pieces are still traceable, for example the armchair made from the bones of the elephant Emperor Maximilian II , which is now in Kremsmünster Abbey .
  • The coin collection was housed in a large coin box with 600 drawers and contained a total of almost 20,000 coins, among others of Hebrew, Babylonian and Assyrian origin.
  • The armory contained a collection of weapons.
  • The tool room was fourteen meters long and contained tools for all trades.
  • The well-stocked pharmacy contained a material room , laboratory and cold room.
  • The Römersaal and the Österreichersaal were paved with red and white marble and decorated with numerous wall and ceiling paintings.
  • The living rooms and manor rooms were equipped with ornate stucco ceilings. The floors were covered with valuable Turkish carpets. There was a beautiful gilded altar in the bedroom.

The castle received a total of seven fountains, fourteen drinking fountains, a wild bath for sweating and bathing, grottoes with water features for differently colored water, water-spouting statues and much more.

Outdoor facilities

Outside the castle were

  • the well-equipped brewery and
  • a large, well arched castle meierhof with Meier courtyard garden where deer and rabbits were cherished, a pheasant garden, a zoo with a turtle pond, ten fish ponds and a large orchard with gazebo and fountain.
  • a gloriette on the hill north of the castle with a wonderful view of the southern landscape.
  • the Portiuncula Church (consecrated 1651) , built in memory of a trip to Italy in 1645, including Assisi .

Enzmilner also had the castle chapel located in the area of ​​the old castle rebuilt and lavishly furnished. The chapel was inaugurated in 1664 by Passau Auxiliary Bishop Martin Geiger.

Demolition of the castle and monastery building

Joachim Enzmiller died on May 21, 1678, his daughter inherited the old and new castle and the entire Windhaag estate.

Eva Magdalena had turned away from her father's luxurious life. The monastery in the old castle was too small, so from 1681 she had a new monastery built in today's center. For the construction of the monastery, the new castle was completely demolished only eight years after its completion and the stones were used as building material; in addition, stones were again brought from the Pragtal ruins.

The monastery was completed in 1691, the associated church was consecrated in 1693, which today serves as the parish church. Eva died in 1700 and was buried in the monastery. The Dominican convent Windhaag was subordinated to the cathedral chapter of Linz in 1765 due to indebtedness and was abolished in 1782 ( Josefinism ).

Parts of the inventory were sold or given away. Three fountains of the castle stand today as Leopold Fountain on the town square in Steyr , on the market square in Königswiesen and in a farm in Ebelsberg .

literature

Web links

Commons : Windhaag Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Grüll 1937, p. 215.
  2. ↑ Ernst Fietz : The "stones" from Windhaag near Perg and the history of the castle. With three text drawings and five illustrations. In: Upper Austrian homeland sheets . Year 26, Issue 3/4, Linz 1972, ISSN  0029-7550 , pp. 108–115 (map of the old and new castle on p. 108 and view from 1636 on p. 110), online (PDF; 1 MB) im Forum OoeGeschichte.at.

Coordinates: 48 ° 17 ′ 0 ″  N , 14 ° 41 ′ 0 ″  E