Fischhorn Castle

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Fish horn
Fischhorn Castle with Meierhaus (right in the foreground)

Fischhorn Castle with Meierhaus (right in the foreground)

Creation time : Middle Ages (appearance after 1920)
Castle type : Hill castle (spur)
Conservation status: inhabited
Place: Bruck an der Großglocknerstrasse
Geographical location 47 ° 17 '18.5 "  N , 12 ° 48' 53.6"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 17 '18.5 "  N , 12 ° 48' 53.6"  E
Height: 770  m above sea level A.
Fischhorn Castle (State of Salzburg)
Fischhorn Castle

Fischhorn Castle is a castle in the Salzburg municipality of Bruck on Großglocknerstrasse in Pinzgau . It is located on a hill on the border with Zell am See and overlooks the Salzachtal and Oberpinzgau in a westerly direction . The castle is privately owned and is not open to the public.

architecture

Since a renovation in the second half of the 19th century by Friedrich Schmidt , the architecture of the palace has essentially consisted of neo-Gothic elements such as pitched roofs, bay windows and double pointed arch windows . Granite and tuff stone were predominantly used in the construction and renovation of the masonry. The architecture of the 19th century, however, fell victim to a major fire in 1920 and was only restored in a much simpler form afterwards. Today bay windows are largely missing (except for those in the castle chapel) and the majority of the windows are simple, rectangular.

The building itself consists of several wings. Three of them branch off from a central keep , the tallest of the towers, to the west, south and east. The east wing houses u. a. a castle chapel and from it a fourth wing branches off to the south, which leads to a round tower.

In the center of the castle is an inner courtyard surrounded on three sides, which is bordered to the south by a high wall. Access is from the west through the gateway. Another smaller courtyard is connected to the central courtyard by a passage.

The neo-Gothic main staircase from the time of the major renovation in the 19th century is remarkable, which was heavily damaged for a long time, partly hidden under wood paneling and was only restored after 2000 with great effort. It connects several floors and consists of a three -flight U-staircase with two quarter landings on each floor . The stairwell has pointed arches supported by granite columns with neo-Gothic column bases and capitals . In addition to the main staircase, there is a spiral staircase leading to all floors.

history

middle Ages

A first fortified building was probably built at this point around 1200, and in 1227 the castle was first mentioned in a document with the name Vischarn . The name Vischarn probably goes back to a natural barrier (Arn) that existed there at that time of the outflow from the Zeller See (which at that time probably reached close to the castle) into the Salzach , which favored fishing at this location.

It is not known who built the original castle. At first it probably belonged to the Lords of Goldegg , a noble family from Goldegg in Pongau . Other sources, however, report that the Goldeggers only had the castle as a fief and that the Baumburg monastery in Upper Bavaria was the owner . It is possible that Mathilde von Goldegg sold the estate to the bishops of Chiemsee around 1216 as part of a sale of several Pinzgau estates . From 1273 at the latest, their rule over Fischhorn is considered secured, because a document issued by Bishop Heinrich von Chiemsee in Fischhorn dates from this year . The castle therefore served both as a residence for the bishops and to accommodate the guardianship for the Pinzgau estates of the Chiemsee diocese .

Early modern times to the 18th century

In 1526, the peasant revolts did not stop at the Fischhorn manor. The castle was looted and set on fire and suffered severe damage in the process. The ringleaders were hanged and the farmers had to make payments to the Chiemsee Bishop Agidius Rehm for the reconstruction, which, however, did not progress. In the period that followed, the building gradually fell into disrepair. A report on the structural condition of the castle from 1602 speaks of a "jammed" curtain wall, of a residential block on the outer curtain wall that is in danger of collapsing and of dilapidated roofs.

It was not until 1675, a year after the declaration of the Hofmark , that Bishop Johann Franz von Preysing initiated the renovation and expansion of the building.

19th century

With the secularization and the associated dissolution of the diocese of Chiemsee in 1807, the rule of the Chiemsee bishops in Fischhorn ended and the castle, like all other goods of the diocese, was nationalized.

In the subsequent period, when Salzburg still belonged to the Kingdom of Bavaria, the royal Bavarian rent office had its seat in the castle. From 1816, when Salzburg was finally granted Austria at the Congress of Vienna , the Imperial and Royal Forestry Office was housed at Fischhorn Castle. When it was moved to Rosenberg Castle in Zell am See in 1842 , only a few forest guards remained in Fischhorn.

From 1846 the building was again empty and fell into disrepair, so that the property was auctioned off in 1859. The postmaster Anton Embacher von Taxenbach emerged as the new owner, who after a short time sold it to Princess Sophie von Löwenstein and her brother, Prince Johann II of Liechtenstein , in 1862 .

This was followed by extensive renovation and renovation work in the neo-Gothic style according to the plans of the Viennese master builder of St. Stephan, Friedrich von Schmidt , who commissioned the Salzburg architect Josef Wessicken with the execution. In the course of this work, the spacious farm building behind the castle hill on Knappenbühelweg, where the estate administration is based today, was also built.

The coats of arms of the two families Löwenstein and Liechtenstein are still emblazoned over the castle gate.

20th century

View of the castle from the southeast

In 1918 the Bremen merchant Heinrich Gildemeister acquired the estate. On September 21, 1920, a fire destroyed large parts of the palace. Heinrich Gildemeister had it restored by the Bremen architect Karl Wolters based on the much simpler architecture that existed before the neo-Gothic renovation. In the following time a large agricultural and forestry enterprise was established in Fischhorn, which still exists today.

During the National Socialist era, the National Socialists confiscated the palace and the surrounding buildings in May 1943. From then on, the property served the SS as a remonteamt , as a riding school and, from September 1944, also as a subsidiary camp of the Dachau concentration camp . In May 1945, Hermann Göring was captured by American soldiers in Altenmarkt im Pongau . From 7th to 9th May 1945 Göring lived with his wife Emmy and daughter Edda in Schloss Fischhorn, after which he was transferred to the Grand Hotel in Kitzbühel .

21st century

The castle stood empty until the turn of the millennium. After 2000, extensive construction and renovation work began to make the castle habitable. Today it is in a very good condition and is inhabited.

Since 2007, the owners have occasionally made parts of the castle available for events such as exhibitions.

particularities

  • The gendarmerie officer i. R. Herbert Gold from Niedernsill (Salzburg) in his book The Amber Room - Secret Transport in the Pinzgau the thesis that the Amber Room, stolen by the National Socialists and which has disappeared to this day , was transported to Fischhorn towards the end of the war, together with numerous other art objects. According to Gold's theory, it is still hidden there today. So far, however, there has been no research on the site due to the lack of consent from the owners.
  • In August 2007, an artistic crucifix stolen by the National Socialists in Poland turned up in a bulky waste container in Zell am See . Like many other stolen works of art, it was initially stored by the National Socialists in Fischhorn and was probably looted there by private treasure hunters after the end of the Second World War. The cross has an estimated value of 400,000 euros.
  • In March 2007 construction workers came across the remains of an old Roman settlement from the first century BC while excavating on the castle grounds. The settlement was most likely a trading center for the transport of goods over the main Alpine ridge .

literature

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Josef Lahnsteiner: Unterpinzgau - Zell am See, Taxenbach, Rauris . J. Lahnsteiner, 1960 (514 pages, 119 images).
  2. ↑ The Grand Hotel Kitzbühel , designed by Otto Schmid , has been used by McKinsey since 1999 and houses the Alpine University . In: Location insight-programme.mckinsey.com ( Memento from April 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ Rudolf Leo: The Pinzgau under the swastika - dictatorship in the province. Otto Müller Verlag, Salzburg / Vienna 2013
  4. ^ Herbert Gold: The Amber Room - Secret Transport to Pinzgau , self-published, ISBN 3-200-00114-3 .
  5. ^ Looted art in Fischhorn. ORF, August 22, 2007
  6. ^ ORF report on the archaeological site in Fischhorn. ( Memento of July 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) ORF, March 21, 2007