Piber Castle
The Piber Castle is located in the village of Piber the municipality Köflach , in voitsberg district in West Styria ( Austria ). The origins of the castle go back to the early 11th century. The administration of the Piber Federal Stud has been located in the castle since 1952 . In addition, the castle now serves as a cultural exhibition space and as a venue for concerts.
Location
The castle is located in the village of Piber , about 2 kilometers northeast of the municipality of Köflach , next to the Piber parish church . It is located there on a low hill with relatively steep slopes, some of which have been artificially demolished.
history
In the year 1000, Margrave Adalbero von Eppenstein began to colonize the area around Piber, whose land he had previously received from Emperor Otto III. had been given. A fortified courtyard was built on the site of today's castle around 1020, which consisted of a solid house secured with a wall and moat . The court and the surrounding land came in 1103 through Duke Heinrich III. as a donation to the newly founded St. Lambrecht Abbey . The monastery had the estate administered by servants who soon named themselves after the court, so Otto von Piber is called in 1145. The Archbishop of Salzburg, Eberhard von Regensberg, handed the property and the parish over to the Seckau diocese in 1219 , which led to long-lasting disputes with the St. Lambrecht monastery, which were only settled in 1414 in favor of the monastery. The former Archbishop of Salburg Ulrich von Seckau spent the last ten years before his death in 1268 in Pieber. In the period between the late 13th and the entire 14th century, various aristocrats used Pieber as a rich benefice . One of these nobles was Konrad von Wallsee, who was known to be very cruel and was slain by angry peasants.
After the dispute between the diocese of Seckau and the Lambrecht monastery was settled by a decision by Duke Ernst the Iron and the Pope in favor of the monastery in 1414, a provost's court was built on the estate . The monastery administration for western Styria was housed in this Provosteihof . The Bishop of Seckau did not finally renounce Piber until 1492, despite the decision made. There was a new dispute between the Lambrecht Abbey and the Holleneggern , which was only settled in the 17th century. In addition, there were repeated problems between Piber and the St. Lambrecht Abbey in the 16th century, as rule had been handed over to secular nobles and most of them were Protestants . For example, the castle was besieged with a small force in 1586 by Wolf von Saurau, Georg Bernhard von Herberstein and Christof Georg von Khollenburg, with the surrounding fields of the rule being destroyed. Due to these problems, the monastery decided in 1596 to manage the estate itself and appointed Hans Stübich as administrator.
The current castle was built between 1696 and 1728, presumably according to plans by Domenico Sciassia, as a summer refuge for the abbots and monks of the Lambrecht monastery. After the Lambrecht Abbey was closed in 1786, Piber came to the state religious fund , before there was another change of ownership in 1792. In 1789 a stud for military horses was built near the castle and in 1867 it was subordinated to the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture. In 1919, the Lipizzaner breed was moved from Sežana to Piber before it was moved to Hostouň during the Second World War . In 1952 the Lipizzaner came back to Piber, with the management of the stud being housed in the castle. In 1967 the castle was restored. In 2003, Piber Castle was home to part of the Styrian state exhibition “The Horse Myth”. In addition, the castle now serves as a venue for concerts and the cultural exhibition space.
architecture
The castle is a three-storey baroque building with four regular wings and an almost square floor plan. The four wings surround a large arcaded courtyard with pillar arcades that extend over all floors and have three-axis corner projections . The outer facade is structured by painted pilasters that extend over all floors. The windows have painted borders. The individual floors are separated from each other by decorative fields under the windows. The building can be entered through a main gate in the west, dated 1726, or through a side portal dated 1728. A chronogram above the main gate refers to the completion of the new building in 1728 and to the Lambrecht Abbots Franz von Kaltenhausen and Anton Stroz as builders. Little has been preserved of the original furnishings and design of the castle rooms. Some of the halls in the south wing have baroque stucco ceilings from the 18th century and were restored between 1970 and 1972. There are numerous coats of arms in the large ballroom.
The castle is accessed from the north, where there used to be a wide moat for protection. Only a few retaining walls have been preserved from the former defensive wall.
literature
- Federal Monuments Office (ed.): Dehio Steiermark (excluding Graz) . 2nd Edition. Berger, Horn / Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-85028-439-5 , p. 359 .
- Robert Baravalle: Castles and palaces of Styria . 1961.
Web links
- Entry via Schloss Piber to Burgen-Austria
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Entry about Piber Castle in Burgen-Austria
- ↑ a b Federal Monuments Office (ed.): Dehio Steiermark (excluding Graz) . 2nd Edition. Berger, Horn / Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-85028-439-5 , p. 359 .
Coordinates: 47 ° 4 ′ 48.2 ″ N , 15 ° 6 ′ 2.1 ″ E