Lamberg Castle

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View from the Ennsdorf district , with the Ennskai in the foreground
Aerial photo from 2011

The Lamberg lock in Steyr in Upper Austria is located on a high location above the mouth of the Steyr in the Enns . The castle emerged from the Styraburg , which gave the city of Steyr and the federal state of Styria its name . Since the building was owned by the Lamberg family from 1666 to 1938 , their name was transferred to the castle.

history

The Styraburg and at the top right the parish church . Detail from a city view from 1554

middle Ages

The Styraburg , Stiraburg , Styrapurg , Stirapurhc or Styrapurch , was built at the beginning of the 10th century and was first mentioned in a document in 985. It belonged to the Counts of Traungau ( Otakare ). Otakar II was first mentioned in a document in 1078 . In 1079 the Styraburg becomes his residence. In 1192 the castle came to the Babenbergs due to the Georgenberg hand festivals , and later to the Habsburgs .

Built at the crossroads of important traffic routes and in a strategically favorable location, it was located around 976 on the northern border of the Margraviate of Styria (from 1180 Duchy of Styria ) to the Mark of Austria . The border here was the Steyr River. The areas north of the lower reaches ( Steyrdorf ) belonged to the Mark Austria. In the area of ​​the margraviate, in addition to the castle, the later old town of Steyr and Ennsdorf were located , bordered to the north by the Ramingbach . The Styraburg only lost its border position when a treaty concluded by Ottokar II of Bohemia and Bela IV of Hungary on April 3, 1254, shifted the northern border of the Duchy of Styria to today's southern border of Upper Austria.

17th and 18th centuries

In 1666 the castle and its lordship came into the possession of the Counts of Lamberg . In 1727 the facility was destroyed in a fire and rebuilt by Johann Michael Prunner . Around 1750, the lordship belonging to the castle was the largest manorial estate in Upper Austria.

19th century

The castle was badly damaged during the coalition wars of 1800, 1805 and 1809. The Römerturm received its today's striking crenellated platform after the city fire of 1824.

20th century

After the February fights in 1934 , the stables at Lamberg Castle were briefly used as a prison for around 800 prisoners, mostly members of the Schutzbund , due to the lack of other accommodation . On February 17, 1934, the trials against the rebels began in the district court building on the town square.

Vollrath Graf Lamberg sold Lamberg Castle and the extensive forest holdings in the Enns and Steyrtal valleys to the German Reich (Deutsche Reichsforste) in 1938. After the Second World War, Lamberg Castle first came into the possession of the Province of Upper Austria and in 1961 the Federal Forests . On the occasion of Steyr's 1000th anniversary in 1980, the castle has been restored since 1977 - in 1980 it housed the state exhibition on Hallstatt culture .

21st century

The premises of the police station and the Steyr city ​​police station are currently located in the castle . It is also used for cultural events, among other things. In 2014/2015 the fountain in the inner courtyard and the sculptures were restored. On this occasion, the courtyard was also redesigned.

Founding sagas

In the legend of Biterolf and Dietleib , the founding of the castle is associated with Attila the Hun King, who appears here as Etzel . The Visigoth Biterolf was Prince of Toledo , but he took part in Etzel's military campaigns for several years. He left his wife Dietlinde, his son Dietleib and his daughter Künhilde behind. When Dietleib grew up, he left home against his mother's will and looked for his father. After a stopover at King Gunther's court in Worms am Rhein, he finally came to Etzel's court, where Margrave Rüdiger von Pechlarn welcomed him. Like his father, he joined Etzel's undertakings and, like Biterolf, distinguished himself in a Polish campaign. However, since neither father nor son knew each other, Rüdiger von Pechlarn arranged this. After returning to the farm, which is said to have been in the lowlands between the Danube and Tisza , Etzel rewarded Biterolf with the Steyerland. Father and son now built the Steyrburg on the rocky promontory and named the state of Styria . Then they rode back to Spain and brought Dietlinde and Kühnhilde over to them. The legend of the robbery of the beautiful Künhilde by dwarf king Laurin then ties in with this tradition .

Another legend tries to explain the site of the castle: two brothers, both knights, roamed the area on horseback. When they got to the Tabor (the place where the Tabor Tower stands today), one of them decided to build the castle here on the hill, as this place was the most beautiful. His brother, on the other hand, insisted on the ledge at the confluence of the Enns and Steyr rivers as a safer building site. When they did not agree they decided to fight and according to the will of the winner the castle was built on the ledge.

This tradition is to be seen as a wandering legend that comes from the founding legend of Rome by Romulus and Remus . The border location of the place and the associated political contradictions may also have contributed to the tradition.

The attachment

Information board with floor plan

Lamberg Castle is today a baroque castle with an English landscape park. The plans for the baroque renovation come from Johann Michael Prunner . From the former Styraburg, a Gothic archway at the foot of the castle hill, remains of the city wall, the 35 m wide moat and the keep (Roman tower) have been preserved. The Renaissance fountain with the Lamberg's heraldic animal was first set up in the castle courtyard in 1666.

Castle courtyard

The courtyard with the fountain. Behind it are the stairwell vestibule and the former palace chapel (July 2015)

The courtyard is enclosed by the three main wings. The triangular shape results from the building site on the ledge.

Fountain with dwarf figures

In the middle of the courtyard is a fountain from 1666 with a dog sculpture, surrounded by twelve baroque sandstone dwarf figures. The water-spouting dog figure represents the Lambergian heraldic animal. The inscription on the collar reads: FIGV LAMBERG 1666. The sandstone figures originally come from the dwarf garden of the former Gleink Abbey and were set up on the occasion of the 1980 state exhibition in the Lamberger castle courtyard. Until August 2014, this ensemble was surrounded by six linden trees planted in the 1950s. According to the Steyr magistrate, the fountain was badly damaged by the tree roots. The trees were therefore removed on August 25, 2014 and the well dug. Fountains and dwarf figures were then restored and put up again (as of 2015).

Figures of the seasons

The sandstone figures of the four seasons on the southwestern edge of the green area were erected at the same time as the dwarfs in 1980 and also come from the garden of Gleink Abbey.

Former castle chapel

The two-storey baroque facade of the former palace chapel dominates the south-east wing. Today the chapel serves as the ceremonial hall for the registry office .

Stairwell lobby

The hall of the baroque gate building leads into the stairwell, from which the police premises are accessible.

clock tower

The clock tower from 1731 was originally covered with a dome-like dome.

Main portal

The main portal in the south-east wing of the castle can be reached through Berggasse. It shows the coats of arms of the Lamberg and Harrach families.

Roman tower

The oldest part of the complex is the Roman tower. The tower, crowned with battlements, was the keep of the old castle. When it was built, cuboids made of non-local granite, possibly from the former Roman legionary camp Lauriacum , were used in the base area .

Moat

The Styraburg moat was also preserved. It is spanned by an arcade bridge from around 1728/31. The ditch is used for operetta performances and open-air cinema as part of the Steyr music festival. Alpine ibex have been kept there since 1988.

Castle library

The baroque palace library is one of the largest private libraries in Austria with around 12,000 volumes. There are 200 volumes from the 16th century, 2,150 from the 17th century, 3,000 from the 18th century and 4,950 from the 19th century. The majority of the works are in German, but 30 percent are also in Latin, 10 percent in French and 5 percent each in Italian, Spanish and other languages. Of the four incunabula , the oldest is from 1478 (Ludolf von Sachsens “De vita Jesu Christi”, Nuremberg).

Outdoor facilities

Lower castle gate

Ascent through the Gothic archway

The Berggasse leads through a Gothic archway, which is a remnant of the medieval castle fortifications, to Lamberg Castle. The castle gate shows a plastic representation of the Lamberg coat of arms and a fresco with two full-length knights against the background of the medieval Steyr. Emperor Friedrich III. and his son Maximilian I are shown here. Based on the founding legend of Steyr Castle, the two are also interpreted as the knights who determined the location of the castle through a duel. The fresco from 1949 is Otto Götzinger's first work in Steyr. A painting with two knights was initially located at the Ennstor and was redone after its demolition in 1864 on the Mauthäusl in Haratzmüllerstraße. Since this painting was already in very bad condition after the end of the Second World War, Götzinger was commissioned to paint the new version at the Lower Burgtor.

Castle Park

From 1476, under Johannes Beckenschlager , the escaped Archbishop of Gran and later Archbishop of Salzburg , a castle garden was laid out for the first time. In March 1844, what was then the French ornamental garden was given its current design as an English landscape park . It has been open to the public since July 23, 1919 and on August 1 the municipality took it on lease. In 1938 the Reichsforstverwaltung took over the park together with the allodial property of Count Lamberg and in 1942 this property passed to the Reichsgau Oberdonau . From this the city acquired the park together with the glass houses, water tower and garden pavilion. The garden pavilion (Blumauergasse 1) remained unused for a long time and was not revitalized until 1969/72; the last renovation was in 2002.

The Holy Trinity Column at the Blumauergasse entrance dates from 1714 and used to stand on Leopold-Werndl-Straße. It received its current place in 1974.

Web links

Commons : Schloss Lamberg  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Schloss Lamberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Schloss Lamberg, Steyr Tourist Office http://www.steyr.info/kultur/schloss-lamberg.html
  2. a b Volker Lutz: In the beginning there was the Styraburg ... in: A thousand years of Steyr. Festschrift on the occasion of the city anniversary, published by the association “Thousand Years of Steyr” . Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft Gutenberg, Linz 1980, pp. 10–13
  3. a b Entry about Lamberg on Burgen-Austria. Viewed on March 18, 2011
  4. Erich Hackl , Evelyne Polt-Heinzl (Eds.): Im Kältefieber: February stories 1934 , Vienna 2014 ( ISBN 978-3-7117-2009-2 )
  5. a b Hannes Fehringer: Roots destroyed baroque fountain ( memento from September 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) and commentary tree falls! ( OÖN of August 28, 2014, local section Steyrer Zeitung p. 29)
  6. ^ Franz Harrer - Sagen und Legenden von Steyr , Steyr: Ennsthaler 1994, 5th edition p. 7 f. ISBN 3-85068-004-5
  7. Sagas and legends of Steyr, p. 12 f.
  8. a b Josef Ofner's contribution in the Official Gazette of the City of Steyr No. 6/1970 ( steyr.at: Buildings: Schloss Steyr. )
  9. Folder Lamberg , p. 20
  10. ^ Dwarfs wander into the city in: Official Gazette of the City of Steyr 3/1979, p. 17 ff. (Text collection H. Kern, scans on steyrdenkmal)
  11. a b From Styrapurch to Lamberg Castle, Folder Österreichische Bundesforste, http://www.bundesforste.at/fileadmin/immobilien/PDF/Folder_Lamberg.pdf
  12. Official Gazette of the City of Steyr , July 2015 p. 17
  13. Ibex stay in the castle moat. in: Official Gazette of the City of Steyr, December 19, 2013 p. 9
  14. Castle library: Steyr.info ( Memento of the original from October 6, 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. (accessed on October 5, 2014) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.steyr.info
  15. Josef Ofner: Schloss Steyr (Berggasse 2 - Land Oberösterreich) from the Official Gazette of the City of Steyr No. 6/1970 via steyr.at: Buildings: Schloss Steyr (accessed October 14, 2019)
  16. Dr. Franz Lipp paid tribute to two Steyr artists: “They were united by their love for Steyr”. in: Steyrer Zeitung, July 23, 1987, based on the Steyr memorial, text archive Ernst Schimanko accessed on April 6, 2019 (Götzinger's first work)
  17. ^ Steyr calendar 1950, based on the Steyr monument, Heinz Kern photo collection , accessed on April 6, 2019 (history of the subject)
  18. Folder Lamberg (PDF; 2.5 MB) accessed on February 6, 2015
  19. ^ A b Manfred Brandl: New history of Steyr . Ennsthaler 1980, ISBN 3-85068-093-2 , pp. 71f.
  20. ^ Meissl Architects - Lambergs. Archived from the original on February 13, 2015 ; accessed on December 24, 2015 .

Coordinates: 48 ° 2 ′ 30 ″  N , 14 ° 25 ′ 8 ″  E