Schloss Puchenau: An Upper Austrian Administrative Residence and Estate
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Austria
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Habsburg, Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Castle
On this page7 sections
History
Schloss Puchenau is a historic castle in Austria, built by Count Ernst Christoph Schallenberg as an administrative residence for his Upper Austrian estates. It was not designed as a fortified or defensive building. The construction financially ruined Schallenberg, who sold the castle and its associated manor farm in 1693 to Baron Augustin von Ehrhard, also recorded as Erhart.
From noble residence to landed estate
Ehrhard secured Puchenau’s elevation to a noble landed estate in 1695. Through his daughter Maria Theresia, who died childless in 1697, Puchenau and the lordship of Gallspach passed in 1704 to Count Ehrgott von Khueffstein. Because his marriage was also childless, the property later went to the siblings Lobgott and Maria Franziska von Khueffstein. Maria Franziska married into the Thürheim family, and ownership subsequently passed to the Thürheims.
The noble proprietors operated a Danube crossing and a ferry service to Linz in 1713. Christoph Ernst von Schallenberg had already kept a ferryman in his service. Joseph Gundaker von Thürheim later united the lordships of Puchenau and Hartheim, transferring the administration and court to Hartheim. This reduced Puchenau’s administrative importance. In 1752, he sold the castle and manor farm to Reichart Arminger, an innkeeper and brewmaster. Puchenau then became a peasant farm and lost its former lordship rights.
Military occupation and changing ownership
After this change, the castle became a relatively neglected appendage of the manor farm. Bavarian and French forces occupied it during the War of the Austrian Succession and the later French Wars, conflicts that brought military forces into the region, and the building was used as a military hospital.
Later owners included Count Josef Wenzel von Thürheim in 1793, Prince Georg Adam von Starhemberg in 1803, the priest Johann Georg Pühringer, who also administered Helfenberg, and Gustav Hartmut, who held the property from 1877 to 1901. Hartmut’s daughter Eleonore, married to Krüzner, sold the castle to Johann Bill from Moravia. Oskar Streit later became its owner.
Industrial and contemporary use
After 1920, Schloss Puchenau belonged to Erwin Dubler from Aargau. His son sold it in 1961 to the brickworks owner Karl Leitl of Eferding, who established the administrative centre of the Leitl-Werke construction company there in 1973.
The property later passed to Amisola, the real-estate company of Billa founder Karl Wlaschek. Wlaschek sold it to Sare GmbH and Businesspark Schloss Puchenau GmbH, owned by Ernst Seyr, Rainer Lehner, and a Swiss pension fund. After 2009, the castle underwent extensive renovation and conversion. Apartments and commercial premises were created inside, and the building now houses the municipality of Puchenau’s wedding hall, which may also be used for cultural purposes.
Remains
Castle and estate complex
Schloss Puchenau stands above the settlement of Puchenau on the Danube escarpment. The massive, relatively austere castle and its associated service buildings form an approximate four-sided enclosed farm complex, a layout comparable to a manor farm arranged around a courtyard. The three-storey castle is entered through a substantial gateway built of dressed stone. Fires destroyed original parts of the complex, including the stables, and these sections were not rebuilt.
Park features and inscription
The castle park contains a late-Baroque fountain installation whose provenance is unknown. It was acquired through the Vienna art trade in 1973. The fountain includes male and female allegorical figures, sculptural personifications of rivers.
A marble plaque on the ground floor bears an inscription dated 1619. It refers to the “flower of the garden,” the “valley of roses,” love, the Muses, and wedding celebrations. The text names Georg Christoph von Schallenberg and his descendants and expresses the wish that they flourish in wisdom.
