Laufen Castle (Bavaria)

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Laufen Castle with Salzburg City Tower

The former Salzburg castle Laufen is located in the town of Laufen in the Berchtesgadener Land district in Bavaria (Schloßplatz 1).

history

A castellum ad Loffi was mentioned as early as the time of the Salzburg bishop Vigil . It is believed that a castle was built on the remains of the Roman building at this time. On March 29, 1166, Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa held a court and court day in this Laufen castle. This castle was mentioned again in the 13th century. Late Gothic renovations and extensions took place between 1424 and 1426. Johann Baptist Ninnguarda began building a new castle on the medieval remains under the reign of Prince Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau from 1591–1606, then the renovation was started in 1606–1612 by master builder Egon Riedl continued and the final shape of the facility was created. Between 1697 and 1702, a new renovation took place with the demolition of the "Great Tower" under Prince Archbishop Johann Ernst von Thun and Hohenstein .

In the Middle Ages , the castle was the seat of the city judge and then the caretaker , who was the representative of the Salzburg sovereign . In the 18th century the castle became a hunting and summer residence for the archbishopric. After the end of the Salzburg archbishopric , beginning with the unfavorable course of the Battle of Hohenlinden , politically unstable conditions followed, which only ended in 1816: according to the treaty of April 14, 1816 between Bavaria and Austria ( Treaty of Munich ), Laufen was divided, the areas on the left the Salzach fell to the Kingdom of Bavaria , those on the right to the Austrian Empire . The Salzach through Laufen was from then on the state border, both parts of Laufens came to a peripheral location.

In 1862 the castle was converted into a prison . This was designed for 400 inmates, and around 70 supervisory officers were active here. Caring for all these people was an essential source of income for the citizens of Laufen. However, the prison was closed on April 1, 1932 due to undercrowding.

In 1933 an SA sports school was housed here, in 1934 a department of the Reich Labor Service occupied the castle building, and from 1935–1938 it was used as barracks. After the outbreak of war, a prison camp ( Oflag VII-C ) was set up here. Initially, Polish officers were housed here, who were relieved in May 1940 by the English who had been captured near Dunkirk . In 1942 the castle served as an internment camp Ilag VII for people deported from the Channel Islands . On May 4th 1945 the camp was liberated by American troops. A Wehrmacht release camp was set up here for a short time, then Hungary moved into the castle. In 1946 a Caritas retirement and nursing home was built here (until 1966, then the home moved to Glonn ). During this time there was also a housekeeping school for girls.

The building stood empty for a long time, as the city of Laufen was unable to renew the castle, which was once the prince-archbishop's palace. Finally, from 1970 to 1992, the Laufen architect Gottfried Lobmayr converted it into a residential and commercial building. A community of owners has been castle owners since 1992.

Laufen Castle today

The castle is a massive, four-story, four-sided building complex that encloses an inner courtyard, with three-story extensions and a stair tower at the rear. The building is covered by a hipped roof. Today various businesses, rental apartments and two restaurants are housed here. To the east of this is a four-story hipped roof building as an auxiliary building; the high retaining wall is from 1800 and was built under Prince Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo .

literature

  • Heinz Schmidbauer: The changing functions of the castle. In: Heinz Dopsch, Hans Roth (eds.): Laufen and Oberndorf. 1250 years of history, economy and culture on both banks of the Salzach. Pp. 198-201. Self-published by the city of Laufen and the market town of Oberndorf, Laufen 1998, ISBN 3-00-003359-9 .
  • Werner Meyer: Castles in Upper Bavaria - A manual . Weidlich Verlag, Würzburg 1986, ISBN 3-8035-1279-4 , p. 49.

Web links

Commons : Schloss Laufen (Bavaria)  - Collection of images

Coordinates: 47 ° 56 ′ 18.8 ″  N , 12 ° 56 ′ 11.7 ″  E