Weissenberg Castle (Neuhofen)
Weißenberg Castle belongs to the market town of Neuhofen an der Krems and is located north of Neuhofen on the Kremstal federal road (B 139).
History of Weißenberg Castle
As early as the 1st century AD, a Roman fort or a watchtower is believed to have stood at the site of today's castle. The exact time when the original Weißenberg Castle was built is unknown, but it must have been before 1195, because at that time a Hezel and a Werhard von Wizensprech took part in the court days of Duke Ludwig of Bavaria in Herzogen-Hall (now Bad Hall ). Warmund von Weißenberg is mentioned as the last of his family in 1261. He had the already ruined castle renewed. The Weißenbergers were followed by the Polheimers , who had Weißenberg as a fief from the Austrian dukes . Georg von Volkensdorff bought the castle from them around 1362. A feud with Hans von Lichtenstein from this time also reports a siege of the castle and its conquest. The property still remained with the Volkensdorffern.
The conversion of the castle into a palace began in 1517–1575 under Volker von Volkensdorff . Under Hans Caspar von Volkenstorff, today's castle was built in the Renaissance style in front of the old castle. This remained connected to the castle with a bridge resting on four yokes over a moat. In 1594, the extensive complex was one of the defensible places of refuge for the civilian population. The heirs to the last Volkensdorffer sold the castle and the estate to Count Werner von Tilly in 1629 . They did not keep the property for long and sold it to Karl Sebastian Vorig von Hochhaus in 1724 . In 1730 Baron Johann Josef von Weichs acquired the castle, from which it went to the Kremsmünster Abbey . In 1803, the Kremsmünster Abbot Alexander had the old castle with the fortifications and the Ascension Chapel demolished and a new castle wing built for it. The moat was filled with the building material and the castle square was leveled. The vacant lot was closed by a new transverse wing in the east.
A large number of owners followed in the 20th century; It also belonged to the Roth shoe factory, which established its business in an outbuilding of the castle. The castle stood empty from 1969 to 1971.
present
In the last few years (1970) Weißenberg Castle was acquired by the Kuthy family and restored in an exemplary manner. Today it is mainly used for residential purposes and cultural events. Apart from vernissages and other cultural events, the castle can only be viewed from the outside.
The village of Weißenberg and the associated castle are located below the Kremstal main road. In terms of architectural history, this can be explained by the Weißenberg Castle, which no longer exists today. The floor plan of the inner courtyard is an irregular pentagon. Access is possible through a gate hall in the three-story gate tower, which is covered by an oversized wedge roof. The wide renaissance gate is flanked by half-columns and designed artistically. Above it, between two short obelisks, there is a plaque with a Latin inscription. The wings of the building delimiting the spacious courtyard are consistently two-story. They are provided with arcades and arbors, but the former are partially walled up. A Roman stone walled into a courtyard facade is remarkable. The facade shows the late baroque structure of pilaster strips, the side wings end in hipped gable ends. The former castle chapel with a three-bay groined vault is located in the entrance wing.
Outside in a wall niche on the south side there is a large baroque wooden statue of St. Florian from the 17th century. There was once an arcade on this side, but this too was walled up.
literature
- Norbert Grabherr : Castles and palaces in Upper Austria. A guide for castle hikers and friends of home. 1976 (3rd revised edition), Linz: Oberösterreichischer Landesverlag, ISBN 3-85214-157-5 .
Web links
- burgenkunde.at
- Entry via Weißenberg / Krems to Burgen-Austria
- Art and culture in Weissenberg Castle
Coordinates: 48 ° 10 ′ 4.1 ″ N , 14 ° 14 ′ 6 ″ E