Ritzen Castle

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Ritzen Castle around 1930
Saalfelden 2004
Ritzen Castle

Ritzen Castle (formerly called Grub ) is one of the castles in the town of Saalfelden in the Salzburg region .

Starting from an early medieval castle , the buildings over the centuries changed constantly. It was continuously added and torn down, and in 1892 a fire destroyed most of the property. It was only when the Ritzen Castle came into public hands that further deterioration could be prevented. The castle and its remaining old buildings have been restored and renovated. Some extensions and connecting structures were also built.

The oldest tradition on this manor points, dates back to 1339. At that time the property was still referred to by the name "Grub" and the owner was the dynasty of Grafenberg . It is mentioned that a certain Konrad Grafenberger left “Gut Grub in the Saalfeldner Pfarr” to his son Alex . Other well-known owners were the Wispeck family , a Reichenhall citizen Schönberger and the Ramseider dynasty , who died out in 1579. Their heirs sold to the Gastein trades Hans and Christoph Weitmoser . When Christoph Weitmoser died in 1603, the heirs, the Lords of Ritz , acquired this castle in 1604 and gave it its name. The sons of Herr von Ritz then achieved great wealth, which, however, was also lost again due to the very lavish lifestyle. Ritzen Castle remained in the possession of the dynasty until 1787 and then came into "peasant" hands, most recently to a Rohrmoser family until 1937. In 1964, the market town of Saalfelden acquired the remains of this old manor house, which made it possible to save the remaining components.

Since 1968 the main building has housed the Saalfeldner Heimatmuseum with a very valuable and widely known nativity scene exhibition. Many of these Christian-religious nativity scenes come from the Saalfeld nativity scene maker Xandi Schläffer , who is known far beyond the borders . He died on November 18, 1984. His cribs were and still are related to their homeland and as part of the exhibition one learns: “He built farms with stone roofs and house corridors with decorated boarding. He always built the open stable of Bethlehem with great love, but also whole nativity villages from the Pinzgau , everything true to nature and around the stable, which always remained the focus; and in the background he painted the panorama of the Stone Sea . "

Web links

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

Coordinates: 47 ° 25 ′ 16 ″  N , 12 ° 50 ′ 45 ″  E