Auhof Castle (Linz)

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Auhof Castle today (south front)

The Auhof castle in the Austrian city of Linz is derived from the 16th-century castle in the statistical district Dornach-Auhof . Auhof was first mentioned in 1350. The property served, among other things, agricultural purposes and was the location of a brewery. From 1689 to 1961, the owners were members of the long-established aristocratic family of the Starhemberg family .

Today it is owned by the Republic of Austria and serves as the administrative building of the Johannes Kepler University in Linz . This castle is the only partially preserved aristocratic country residence in the city of Linz. The early Baroque building has been a listed building since 2012 .

Surname

In the 14th century the castle was often called Au and later on until the 18th century it was also known as Auhof . Since the second half of the 18th century, the facility has only been referred to as the Auhof . The name thus refers to a farm in the sense of a (stately) homestead, which is located in a river valley or another similar wetland or at least was located at the time of its creation.

history

The Auhof Castle was mentioned for the first time in a document dated August 15, 1350. Initially, the property was a farm or estate. The elevation to the aristocratic seat ("gesazz") took place between 1350 and 1386. At this time, Jans von Capell , Lord of Steyregg , gave his servant Chunrad von Aw, a district judge from the Pergheim family in the Machland , the seat of Au as Hereditary. This passed it on to Chunrad the Walich, a district judge in Austria ob der Enns , who in turn handed over "dacz gesazz zw Aw" to the captain ob der Enns Reinprecht II von Walsee in 1386 . The property was redeemed again, presumably under Reicher dem Walch. The residence came to Reicher dem Walch's daughter Agnes, who was married to Simon Volkra zu Dornach and to whom she brought the Auhof as a marriage property. Steffan der Volkra sold the property to his relative Georg Walch von Prandegg in 1502 . The Aumai people had inherited the property in the 16th century, but in 1540 Christoph von Walch bought back the right of inheritance from the Auma people. After that, the Auhof was administered in trust by Leo von Hohenegg von Hagenberg ; he was the guardian of Christoph Walch , who was under the curatorial control. The seat of the Walchen remained until they died out in 1575.

Auhof Castle near Linz after an engraving by Georg Matthäus Vischer from 1674. You can also see the baroque castle church attached to the castle and a sundial on the tower in the northwest corner of the square.

At the end of the 16th century, the Auhof appears as a Liechtenstein fief . In 1575 Jörg von Hoheneck was enfeoffed with the Walch property. Josef Stangl (Stängl) zu Waldenfels acquired the seat in 1589; his son Jakob sold it to Konstantin Grundemann von Falkenberg in 1628 , who sold it to Mathias Kronpichler in 1639. At the time of the Grundemanns, the castle and its possessions can be described as follows:

“The building is square, three stories high, two sides are surrounded by vine hedges. Four vaults and a cellar vault are on the lowest floor. Above it are three rooms and a kitchen and on the third floor there are two rooms, a chamber, a table room, kitchen and a small chamber. There is also a place for storing grain in the noble seat in the attic. The Meierhof is directly connected to this building, on one side the Meierhaus, which includes the Meierstube, the kitchen, a vaulted servants' chamber and stables for animals such as horses, cows, calves, etc. "

- Georg Grüll, 1966

The Grange had three highly productive fields with a size of more than 30  day's work , with one third tithe to rule Riedegg and two-thirds were Steyregg to rule. Other possessions of the Meierhof were 18 days' work on wood grounds and numerous fruit trees. The farm also had a brickworks as an oven, as well as barns and clay pits. At that time, an annual hunt has been on the estate Auhof small game (zip hunting) held.

Around 1660, Count Christoff Ernst von Schallenberg bought the Auhof. The Schallenbergers ran a large Meierhof here and, since the end of the 16th century, also a small brewery. In 1689 his son Christoff Dietmar sold the “Castle and Estate Au im Wildberger Landgericht” to Count Gundacker von Starhemberg . This sale on January 2nd, 1689 took place due to debts. The castle remained in the possession of the Starhembergers until 1961, with a compulsory break from 1938 to 1952.

During the French Wars in May / June 1809, battles between Austrians and Württemberg / Saxons under Vandamme and Bernadotte took place on the castle grounds . The interior of the castle was severely damaged by the military billeted there. After the lordship was abolished in 1848, the Auhof lost its importance and fell into disrepair (as did the Hagen Castle and Auberg Castle open spaces that were owned by the Starhembergers at the time ); the Meierhof (today's Gasthof "Auhof") and the brewery were leased.

  • Auhof Castle
  • East wing with a fountain in front
  • Gate tower in the east wing from the street side
  • Entrance portal south wing
  • East wing entrance tower from the inner courtyard

At the beginning of the First World War , Ernst Rüdiger Fürst von Starhemberg , a member of the electoral roll of the Upper Austrian landed property, made some rooms of the castle available for the care of wounded and sick soldiers.

After the Second World War , the palace building served as accommodation for the Russian occupation forces from 1945 to 1955, who caused severe damage. The castle was also used for the Russian military administration. The occupiers used the surrounding barracks as a place to live. These have been available as rental apartments since 1960. In 1961 Heinrich Rüdiger Starhemberg sold the castle with the surrounding park (110,000 m²) for 8.6 million schillings (around 625,000 euros) to the city of Linz, which made the area and the castle available to the Johannes Kepler University .

Today the university administration and the rectorate are located in the castle. With the large parks and the rectangular castle pond, the castle is today the landmark of the university and a destination for walkers. The castle is owned by the Republic of Austria (Linz University Fund).

architecture

Design

The Ansitz and Meierhof used to be a closed square courtyard around a large, rectangular inner courtyard. In the 17th century, the Auhof outdoor seating area was expanded to look like a castle. Today the castle is a hook-shaped building with different storey heights. The farm buildings behind the castle were demolished, only the manor house and the east wing, which used to be used for economic purposes, remained.

Plan Schloss Auhof Linz on the left the former complete system according to the French cadastre from 1826, on the right today's inventory A today's inventory 1 part of the former main building 2 former farm wing 3 fountains

The current castle building dates from the 16th century, the facades and mansard roof from the 18th century. The south-facing main wing has three floors, a mansard roof and a simple granite portal from 1630. The attached wing is two-story with a tower-like, baroque entrance gate (1689). The entrance portal at the gate tower, which is emphasized on the street side, dates from the period between 1775 and 1800: a basket arch portal with classical plaited and rosette ornamentation, flanked by full columns with classical capitals , above it a clearly cranked entablature , supporting classical vases on the side. The square window is surrounded by a broken round arch (1905).

The four facades, which were renewed in the 1960s, are basically designed the same. The window division follows strict, but not regularly set axes. The upper floors are emphasized by the rusticated plinth. The windows on the first floor are highlighted by a profiled cornice, the windows on the second floor are rectangular. The windows of the " piano nobile " have a straight roof. On the east facade, the windows in the right part are designed as double windows. The fourteen-axle east wing probably emerged from the former Meierhof. The gate has moved a little out of the middle. This grand piano is equipped with small, round, neo-baroque sheet metal dormers .

Floor plan

All three floors of the building have the same room layout, with the exception of the entrance area behind the south portal. On the Vischer stitch you can also see the bisection of the longitudinal axis. The oldest vault , a needle cap barrel with crossed ridge ends from 1560/70, is located on the northeastern ground floor. The barrel vault on the ground floor of the southern part probably dates from the late 16th century to the first third of the 17th century; possibly the stitch caps with their kinked approaches were changed at the end of the 17th century. The needle cap barrels with crossed needle caps kinked at the ends of the other two rooms to the north date from 1689. The corner for the accessible well shaft in the north-west room was probably also built in 1689 (today exit to the boiler room). The walls of the southern part have a thickness of 110 to 115 cm at the base and become narrower towards the top.

On the upper floor you can also find needle cap barrels with cross-shaped compartments (end of the 16th century / 1st half of the 17th century). In the other rooms and on the entire third floor there are slightly grooved flat ceilings. There are also numerous magnificent portals inside.

The room layout inside the castle, especially the southern area, which goes back to the Meierhof of the 17th century, was heavily renewed in 1960. In the northern part, the division from 1905 into stables with truss vaults and apartments above is still partially preserved.

The profound redesign took place in 1961 to meet the needs of the Johannes Kepler University.

Auhof Castle Park

The castle park consists of two parts and includes an 11,500 m² pond with an island. At the time of the Starhembergers there was also an orangery , fruit trellises and exotic fruits such as melons and pineapples grew. Furthermore, there were over 150 potted plants in the park and in the Brunnenhof, which caused problems to winter. Special features include “ Turkish wheat , tartuffle (potatoes) and tobacco”. The orangery mentioned in 1730 and the hermitage at the end of the garden, which was occupied in 1743, were built by Count Gundemar Starhemberg, but they no longer exist.

Around the pond with the island, seven parcels of six and thirds hectares were laid out as an " English Garden ". In greenhouses and garden beds there were plants from foreign countries, so that this complex was described as worth seeing in 1812 and subsequently attracted many visitors. Due to the large crowds, much was destroyed, which is why in 1824 entry was only permitted for dignitaries with admission tickets.

In the course of another redesign of the park in 1832, even more exotic plants and flowers were planted. The garden was transformed to Biedermeier Front Garden with many flowers and eleven different rare varieties of roses ( moss roses , tea roses , Remontant , Bourbon and Noisette roses etc.). The park survived the First World War without much damage, and you could even admire a rarely blooming agave , which is estimated to be 120 years old.

In the mid-1920s, the park fell into disrepair and the pond was no longer maintained. The park was used as a training area for combat troops at the end of the Second World War. It was not until the palace and park were sold to the city of Linz in 1961 for the construction of the university that the park and the pond were taken care of again.

Parts of the palace park can be described as Linz's first botanical garden . The park has an impressive stock of trees (plane tree, copper beech, split-leaved copper beech, Canadian hemlock, etc.). There are also four plane trees that the Office of the Upper Austrian Provincial Government placed under nature protection in February 1994. There is also a sequoia tree in the park , which has been recognized as a natural monument under number 72 by the Linz City Council since 1975.

  • Auhof Castle Park

  • Protected plane trees

  • Pond with island

  • Protected sequoia tree

Sculptures in the castle park

There have been numerous sculptures by various artists in the park since the 1990s.

"Spirit of Linz" was created by Helmuth Gsöllpointner and is on permanent loan from the Nordico Museum in Linz. This sculpture was made by Voestalpine . Originally it was a commissioned work by the German sporting goods manufacturer Puma and was supposed to depict a hunting Puma. The city of Linz bought this property in 1993, and as a sign of the connection between science, technology and art at Johannes Kepler University, it was set up on the corner of the pond as a management center.

Works by the artist Alfred Hager and loaned by his parents after his death in 1995:

  • "Untitled garnet amphibolite" is 160 cm long. The time of its creation is unknown.
  • "Guardian granite sculpture" is 2.1 m high. Date of origin unknown. In 1998 this sculpture was placed opposite the castle entrance.
  • “Marble sculpture without a title” is 1.1 meters high. Date of origin unknown. In 1998 it was built on Forumplatz.
  • “Untitled Stone Sculpture ” is a 2.2 meter high granite sculpture. Date of origin unknown. Placed in 1998 at Forumplatz.

Other sculptures in the park:

  • "Light gate / Kepler gate:"
    This 3 meter high sculpture made of Swedish granite comes from Hiromi Akiyama and was created in 1970 at the sculpture symposium in Mauthausen. In 1971 it was donated to the Linz University of Applied Sciences by the state of Upper Austria and is now to the left of the cafeteria.
  • Metal object “Gigant”:
    a six meter high iron     object by Makoto Miura ; the loan, created in 1991, has been on Teichwiese since 1993.
  • Metal object “Tower”:
    a 3.5 meter high steel     object by Josef Baier; Made in 1992 and 1993; placed on loan at Forumplatz.
  • "Stone sculpture:"
    The stone sculpture, eleven hewn granite blocks arranged to form a wall, was made by Gabriele Berger ; placed on campus on loan in 1993.
  • "Telephone:"
    Granite sculpture in the form of a telephone, created by Gottfried Höllwarth in 1972; On loan from the Upper Austrian Provincial Museum in 1992, it was placed on the left entrance to the avenue in the palace gardens.

  • Spirit of Linz

  • Metal object giant by Makoto Miura

  • Stone sculpture

  • phone

Auhof brewery

For several centuries the Auhof also had a brewery. In the years from 1628 to 1639, when the aristocratic estate was owned by the Grundemanns, one brew produced 32 buckets. The annual net income was estimated at 400 to 3000 guilders . At that time the brewery was worth 800 guilders and the brewery utility was worth 3000 guilders. In 1795 the Auhof estate brewed 7,305 buckets of beer, most of which Linz bought.

In 1900 the brewery building was demolished.

Fountain

Auhof Castle fountain

The castle's fountain is mentioned as early as 1628. At this time he was surrounded by a well house, which had a dome covered with wood and clapboard and had eight windows with lockable bars. The cost of building the well was over 500 guilders. The water comes from a distance of 40  fathoms and is fed through pipes in the earth and in the vault. The well water was used for the brewery, the Meierhof and otherwise.

The octagonal, baroque stone fountain basin is surrounded by two stone steps. The obelis attachment in the middle of the basin dates from the 19th century. The fountain is in very good condition and freely accessible to this day.

Castle chapel

Former high altar of the palace chapel, transferred to the branch church in Oberthalheim in 1969

The baroque chapel was built directly onto Auhof Castle. In the course of the renovation and reconstruction of the castle for the university, the baroque castle chapel with stone columns was demolished in 1965. The high altar was set up in 1969 in the Filialkirche Oberthalheim . This marble altar with a block-shaped altar table probably dates from 1738. The high altar picture comes from the end of the 17th century by Johann Carl von Reslfeld and depicts the crucifixion of Christ. The picture was torn from the altar during the Second World War. Count Starhemberg then handed it over to the Linz City Museum ; On his behalf, Theodor Bohdanowicz restored it and added a motif detail (Magdalena's coat). The upper image of God the Father with globe and scepter in the four-pass frame probably dates from the end of the 17th century. The painter is not known.

legend

A legend in the form of a throat loosening puzzle describes a visit by Emperor Joseph II to Auhof Castle. He read the words above the sundial:

“ Do it like the sundial , just count the happy hours! "

These words made the emperor thoughtful and said that there were many gloomy hours to count in life. He still liked this positive attitude and asked that he be given answers to three questions:

“ How deep is the sea?
How high is the sky
What am I thinking? "

The people around Auhof considered and the chaplain of the castle was consulted. Lost in his thoughts, he watched the swineherd at work and asked him the questions that the emperor had given him. He knew the answers, asked for the chaplain's robe and waited for the emperor to visit again. When he asked the questions again, the swineherd replied, disguised as a chaplain:

“ The sea is just a stone's throw deep,
the sky is only a day's journey high because it is only a day of Ascension ;
You think the chaplain is standing in front of you, but it's only the swineherd! "

This pleased the emperor and he helped the swineherd to reputation and fame.

literature

  • Herbert Erich Baumert, Georg Grüll : Castles and palaces in Upper Austria, Volume 1: Mühlviertel and Linz . Lower Austrian Press House, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-85030-046-3 .
  • Herfried Thaler, Willibald Katzinger : Austrian Art Topography, Volume LV The profane architectural and art monuments of the city of Linz, III. Part . Horn, Berger Verlag, Linz 1999.
  • Rudolf Hirschmann: The Auhof Garden . In: Opening letter University of Linz . Linz University Fund, Linz 1966, p. 120-129 .
  • Georg Grüll: From the history of the noble Auhof estate near Linz . In: Opening letter University of Linz . Linz University Fund, Linz 1966, p. 111-119 .
  • Herbert Erich Baumert: From aristocratic country residence to university rectorate. Auhof Castle near Linz . In: Blickpunkt Oberösterreich cultural magazine . Volume 41, No. 3 , 1991, p. 3 .
  • Eva Berger : Historic gardens of Austria: gardens and parks from the Renaissance to around 1930. Upper Austria, Salzburg, Vorarlberg, Carinthia, Styria, Tyrol . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2003.
  • Beate Auer, Brigitta Fragner, Ulrike Knall-Brskovsky, Paul Mahringer: Dehio-Handbuch Die Kunstdenkmäler Österreichs Oberösterreich Linz . Berger, Vienna 2009.
  • Michaela Gusenbauer, Ingo Mörth: Linz's cultural districts today. Dornach, Auhof, Katzbach (including Elmberg, Furth). Johannes Kepler University, Linz 2008, p. 9 ( PDF; 2.3 MB on linz09.at).
  • Hermann Rafetseder : On the history of the grounds and surroundings of the Johannes Kepler University Linz, with special consideration of the Nazi era in the Auhof - Dornach area . Linz 2016 ( jku.at [PDF] pp. 5–17 on the history of Auhof Castle up to 1937).
  • Hans Commenda: Legends in and around Linz. In: Upper Austrian homeland sheets . Linz 1967 ( PDF [4.1 MB] in the forum OoeGeschichte.at).

Web links

Commons : Schloss Auhof  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Herfried Thaler, Willibald Katzinger: Austrian Art Topography, Volume LV The profane architectural and art monuments of the city of Linz, III. Part. Linz 1999, p. 327f.
  2. ↑ a b Grüll op. Cit. 1966, p. 111.
  3. ↑ On the etymology of Au and Hof see, for example, Kluge: Etymological Dictionary of the German Language , edit. by Elmar Sebold, 24th edition De Gruyter, Berlin 2002.
  4. ^ Herfried Thaler, Willibald Katzinger: Austrian Art Topography, Volume LV The profane architectural and art monuments of the city of Linz, III. Part. Linz 1999, p. 327.
  5. ↑ Grüll op. Cit. 1966, p. 112.
  6. ↑ a b Grüll op. Cit. 1966, p. 112f.
  7. ^ A b Herbert Erich Baumert, Georg Grüll: Castles and palaces in Upper Austria, Mühlviertel and Linz. Vienna 1988, p. 97.
  8. ^ Herbert Erich Baumert: From the aristocratic country residence to the university rectorate. Auhof Castle near Linz. In: Blickpunkt Oberösterreich cultural magazine . Year 41, 1991, issue 3, p. 1.
  9. ↑ Grüll op. Cit. 1966, p. 114ff.
  10. ↑ a b c d Grüll op. Cit. 1966, p. 115.
  11. ↑ a b c d Herbert Erich Baumert: From the aristocratic country residence to the university rectorate. Auhof Castle near Linz. In: Blickpunkt Oberösterreich cultural magazine . Year 41, 1991, issue 3, p. 3.
  12. ^ German hunting dictionary , accessed on December 29, 2012
  13. ↑ Grüll op. Cit. 1966, p. 116.
  14. ↑ a b c d Linz's cultural districts today (PDF; 2.3 MB); Retrieved October 22, 2012
  15. ^ Auhof Castle / Rectorate and Administration of the JKU. In: stadtgeschichte.linz.at.
  16. ^ Herfried Thaler, Willibald Katzinger: Austrian Art Topography, Volume LV, The profane architectural and art monuments of the city of Linz, III. Part. Linz 1999, p. 329.
  17. ↑ Beate Auer, Brigitta Fragner, Ulrike Knall-Brskovsky, Paul Mahringer: Dehio-Handbuch Die Kunstdenkmäler Österreichs Oberösterreich Linz , Vienna, 2009, p. 500.
  18. ↑ a b c Herfried Thaler, Willibald Katzinger: Austrian Art Topography, Volume LV, The profane architectural and art monuments of the city of Linz, III. Teil , Linz, 1999, p. 332.
  19. ^ Herfried Thaler, Willibald Katzinger: Austrian Art Topography, Volume LV The profane architectural and art monuments of the city of Linz, III. Part. Linz 1999, p. 330ff.
  20. ^ Herfried Thaler, Willibald Katzinger: Austrian Art Topography, Volume LV The profane architectural and art monuments of the city of Linz, III. Part. Linz 1999, p. 331f.
  21. ^ Johannes Kepler University: Public Buildings ; Retrieved December 6, 2012.
  22. ↑ a b c d Rudolf Hirschmann: The Auhof garden. In: Opening letter University of Linz . Linz 1966, p. 120ff.
  23. ^ Eva Berger: Historical Gardens of Austria: Gardens and parks from the Renaissance to around 1930. Upper Austria, Salzburg, Vorarlberg, Carinthia, Styria, Tyrol Vienna 2003, p. 80.
  24. ^ Eva Berger: Historical Gardens of Austria: Gardens and parks from the Renaissance to around 1930. Upper Austria, Salzburg, Vorarlberg, Carinthia, Styria, Tyrol Vienna 2003, p. 79f.
  25. ↑ University Park plane tree group. In: stadtgeschichte.linz.at.
  26. ↑ University Park Mammutbaum. In: stadtgeschichte.linz.at (former monument?).
  27. ↑ Linz sequoia tree: 42 meters - a giant and yet a dwarf , linza.at, June 10, 2021.
  28. ↑ University Park Spirit of Linz. In: stadtgeschichte.linz.at.
  29. ↑ University park garnet amphibolite, untitled. In: stadtgeschichte.linz.at ( former monument in public space in Linz-Dornach-Auhof , as of 2021).
  30. ↑ University park granite sculpture "Guardian". In: stadtgeschichte.linz.at.
  31. ^ University park marble sculpture without title. In: stadtgeschichte.linz.at (former monument, status 2021).
  32. ^ University park stone sculpture without title. In: stadtgeschichte.linz.at.
  33. ↑ University Park Lichttor / Kepler-Tor. In: stadtgeschichte.linz.at (former monument, status 2021).
  34. ↑ University park metal object "Gigant". In: stadtgeschichte.linz.at.
  35. ↑ University park metal object "Tower". In: stadtgeschichte.linz.at.
  36. ^ University park stone sculpture. In: stadtgeschichte.linz.at.
  37. ↑ University Park Telephone. In: stadtgeschichte.linz.at.
  38. ↑ Hans Sperl: Materials on the economic and social history of the Mühlviertel. Former breweries in the Urfahr-Umgebung district. In: Upper Austrian homeland sheets. Linz 1987, issue 4, p. 323 ( PDF in the forum OoeGeschichte.at).
  39. ^ Herfried Thaler, Willibald Katzinger: Austrian Art Topography, Volume LV The profane architectural and art monuments of the city of Linz, III. Part. Linz 1999, p. 333.
  40. ↑ Hansjörg Meyer: Halslösung Rätsel , 1967, Würzburg.
  41. ↑ Harald Hartmann: Sundial sayings and their meaning. Retrieved January 23, 2013 .
  42. ↑ According to Hans Commenda : Sagen in and around Linz. In: Upper Austrian homeland sheets. Volume 21, Issue 3/4, Linz 1967, p. 45 ( PDF [4.1 MB] in the forum OoeGeschichte.at).
This article was added to the list of articles worth reading on February 17, 2013 in this version .

Coordinates: 48 ° 20 ′ 16.3 ″  N , 14 ° 19 ′ 18.5 ″  E