Litschau Castle

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Litschau Castle

Litschau Castle is located in the municipality of Litschau in the Lower Austrian district of Gmünd in the Waldviertel . The castle has been owned by the Seilern-Aspang family since 1763 and is not open to the public.

history

Located on the medieval highway to Bohemia , Litschau, Austria's northernmost city, dates back to its first documentary mention in 1215. The aristocratic family of the Hirschberger were probably the owners of the fortifications at that time, the existence of which has been documented since 1260. However, the building stock indicates a defense system as early as the second quarter of the 13th century, i.e. a little earlier. According to this, from 1237 to 1297 the Kuenringer should have been in possession of the Litschau rule. After that it was owned by the sovereign Duke Albrecht I , but he pledged it. In 1348 the Lords of Puchheim acquire Litschau Castle. From 1470 the castle came into the possession of Ulrich von Grafenegg, who, however, passed it on to Emperor Friedrich III two years later . must submit. In 1542 the facility came to the Barons von Kraig . In 1587 the rule of Litschau was handed over to Baron Wenzel von Moratschky von Noskau.

At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War the castle was in Bohemian hands until 1620; In 1645 it was besieged by the Swedes in vain.

From 1687 to 1763, Litschau Castle and Lordship were owned by the Counts of Kuefstein . On May 12, 1687, Hans Georg IV von Kuefstein had acquired the lordship of Litschau including the two sovereign fiefs of Reingers and Reitzenschlag from Isabella Maria Ottokolek von Augezd for 45,000 guilders; he also acquired the Grünau estate in the same year. After his death in 1699 this went to his widow Anna Franziska, née Freiin Hocher von Hohenkrän, about. The Countess, who was remembered in the history of Litschau as a charitable foundation - she founded a brotherhood and a hospital, among other things - died in Litschau in 1722, and her son Johann Anton I took over the reign. When he died in 1740 (also in Litschau), the rule went to his widow Maria Antonia, nee. Countess von Rottal , about. In 1754 she handed this over to her son Johann Anton II, who died in 1757 and left a 3½-year-old son, Johann Franz Anton. Due to the heir's minority, the rule was administered by his stepfather Johann Philipp von Diller, and from 1761 by Count Johann Franz von Fünfkirchen . In the meantime, the property had already become heavily indebted, so that it finally had to be sold in 1763 to the imperial count Christian August von Seilern and Aspang . Litschau Castle still belongs to his descendants today. From 1770 to 1874 there was also a glassworks, the Gräflich von Seilern'sche Glasfabrik am Galthof .

The original medieval castle Litschau (type Höhenburg ), which can be recognized as such in the pictorial sources of the 17th and 18th centuries, presented itself in the first half of the 18th century as an ensemble consisting of a medieval stronghold with a keep and one of its upstream bailey (from the 16th or 17th century), with arbor facing the city and a tower with a baroque onion dome . Between 1722 and 1745, under the Kuefstein, renovations took place on the castle. The stronghold began to decline around 1800; a pictorial source from 1817 shows this already as a ruin. Schweickhardt provided a detailed description of the ruins in 1839 and complained that the roof of the stronghold and keep was already very damaged in 1789, but had not been repaired. Ultimately, only the outer bailey and the keep of the stronghold (reconsidered in 1911 and 1912) were to remain in their original form (now called the "Old Castle"). The ruins of the stronghold remained an architectural feature of the city throughout the 19th century; After the parts that were in danger of collapsing were demolished around 1850, the existing building fabric was renovated from 1888 (until around 1910) and partially rebuilt.

In the first half of the 18th century, the ruler's private chapel was located in the outer bailey, which had a papal mass license , but not always its own chaplain. In 1723 a visitor reports from the local chaplain Anton Amigoni, a Gorizian born in 1698 , who devoted himself more to idleness than pastoral care and who also did not speak German. From 1730 to 1760 Johann Paul Krall worked as court chaplain of the Kuefstein at the chapel, who donated a requiem and a libera to the Litschauer church shortly before his death . As Krall in November 1760 at the age of 60 years died, he was - in the Litschauer Church, in the tomb before the central altar to the - apparently at the instigation of the Countess Antonia von Kuefstein Magi , free interred. In 1765 the chapel was already open; as a result, it was to be converted into living space.

The baroque building on the other side of the moat, erected at the beginning of the 18th century, which originally housed the stately hospital and the upper office on the ground floor and the upper floor of which served as a pouring box , was destroyed as a result of the decay of the stronghold at the end of the 18th century or At the beginning of the 19th century it was adapted as the "New Castle" for residential and administrative purposes, and the beneficiaries were relocated to another building.

Towards the end of the Second World War , the New Palace was looted by Russian occupation troops and partially destroyed inside. The Seilern-Aspang family moved into it as their main residence after their eviction from Lešná Castle .

architecture

New Litschau Castle

The castle sits enthroned on a rock at the western end of the Litschauer town square. The current appearance is shaped by several extensions that have been made over time. In addition to the actual core castle at the highest point of the rock, there is also the so-called New Castle from the 18th century, a Meierhof built at the foot of the rock, and several farm buildings. It is therefore an irregularly laid out system. The large round keep is particularly striking. From around 1589, it was converted into a renaissance castle .

Todays use

The castle is used for forest and estate management and is privately owned. It is not open to the public.

literature

  • Evelyn Benesch, Bernd Euler-Rolle , Claudia Haas, Renate Holzschuh-Hofer, Wolfgang Huber, Katharina Packpfeifer, Eva Maria Vancsa-Tironiek, Wolfgang Vogg: Lower Austria north of the Danube (=  Dehio-Handbuch . Die Kunstdenkmäler Österreichs ). Anton Schroll & Co, Vienna et al. 1990, ISBN 3-7031-0652-2 , p. 675 ff .
  • Georg Binder: The Lower Austrian castles and palaces. 2 volumes, Hartleben Verlag, Vienna / Leipzig 1925, II, p. 78 f.
  • Stefan René Buzanich: The lifeworld of the village subjects of the Kuefstein rule Litschau as reflected in the legacy treatises of the 1st half of the 18th century (dissertation at the University of Vienna, 2020, 4 volumes).
  • Georg Clam-Martinic : Österreichisches Burgenlexikon , Linz 1992, ISBN 9783902397508 , p. 153.
  • Falko Daim , Karin Kühtreiber, Thomas Kühtreiber : Castles - Waldviertel, Wachau, Moravian Thayatal . 2nd edition, Verlag Freytag & Berndt, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-7079-1273-9 , p. 308 ff.
  • Franz Eppel : The Waldviertel . Verlag St. Peter, Salzburg 1978, p. 155 f.
  • Felix Halmer: Lower Austria's castles, a selection . Birkenverlag, Vienna 1956, p. 74 f.
  • Friedrich-Wilhelm Krahe: Castles of the German Middle Ages, floor plan dictionary . Würzburg 1994, p. 380.
  • Laurin Luchner: castles in Austria I . Beck, Munich 1978, ISBN 3406045073 , p. 212 ff.
  • Walter Pongratz , Gerhard Seebach : Castles and palaces Litschau - Zwettl - Ottenschlag - Weitra. Lower Austria's castles and palaces III / 1 (birch row) . Vienna 1971, ISBN 3850300072 , p. 40 ff.
  • Gerhard Reichhalter, Karin and Thomas Kühtreiber: Castles Waldviertel Wachau . Verlag Schubert & Franzke, St. Pölten 2001, ISBN 3705605305 , p. 225 f.
  • Gerhard Stenzel : From castle to castle in Austria. Verlag Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1973, ISBN 321800229X , p. 198 f.
  • Georg Matthäus Vischer : Topographia Archiducatus Austriae Inferioris Modernae 1672. Reprint Graz 1976 VOMB, No. 67.

Web links

Commons : Altes Schloss (Litschau)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stefan René Buzanich: The lifeworld of the village subjects of the Kuefstein rule Litschau as reflected in the legacy treatises of the 1st half of the 18th century (dissertation at the University of Vienna, 2020, 4 volumes). S. 24 .
  2. ↑ Stefan René Buzanich: The lifeworld of the village subjects of the Kuefstein rule Litschau as reflected in the legacy treatises of the 1st half of the 18th century (dissertation at the University of Vienna, 2020, 4 volumes). S. 37 .
  3. ↑ Stefan René Buzanich: The lifeworld of the village subjects of the Kuefstein rule Litschau as reflected in the legacy treatises of the 1st half of the 18th century (dissertation at the University of Vienna, 2020, 4 volumes). S. 37 .
  4. ↑ Stefan René Buzanich: The lifeworld of the village subjects of the Kuefstein rule Litschau as reflected in the legacy treatises of the 1st half of the 18th century (dissertation at the University of Vienna, 2020, 4 volumes). S. 38 .
  5. ↑ NÖN.at of June 20, 2011
  6. ↑ Online at Austria Forum

Coordinates: 48 ° 56 ′ 39.1 ″  N , 15 ° 2 ′ 25.9 ″  E