Feistritz Castle

Feistritz Castle stands in the municipality of Feistritz am Wechsel, Austria, and was first established in the second quarter of the 12th century by ministeriales as stone fortifications.

A document from 1170 records Gerhard von Glizenvelt transferring a farm in the area to Admont monastery, confirming the site’s early medieval presence. From the 14th century the estate belonged to the Pottendorf family. In 1488 ownership passed by marriage to Christian IV von Zinzendorf, and that family remained associated with the castle until 1537. The castle endured a military confrontation in 1485 when Ottoman forces besieged the place, and it also withstood attacks during the 1529 campaign linked to the First Turkish siege of Vienna.

In 1537 the property is recorded under Christoph Rabenessel von Schönegg. Ten years later, in 1547, Wilhelm von Rottal acquired the complex and the Rottal family kept it for roughly a century and a half.

Around 1500 a rebuilding in late Gothic style produced new buildings in the southern portion of the site and led to the erection of three round corner towers. By 1681 the von Pergen family held the castle. The fortress again resisted a Turkish siege in 1683. After 1685 a major reconstruction moved the principal entrance from the east to the west and included construction of a gate tower and a drawbridge.

Between 1796 and 1815 the castle passed through a series of owners. In 1815 Joseph Freiherr Dietrich von Dietrichsberg purchased the ensemble and carried out a renewal in Romanesque style, laid out a park, and provided a platform for a palace theatre in the north wing.

In 1922 Maximilian Mautner bought the property and, working with the architect Marischka, undertook an extensive renovation around 1922 to 1924. Mautner used a 1672 engraving by Georg Matthäus Fischer and other historical images as models and established a military museum whose collections were later transferred to the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna.

After Mautner fled Austria in 1938 the castle passed into municipal administration and was later sold to Ernst Mahle and Reinhard Turnwald. During and after the Second World War the site lay within the Soviet occupation zone and was used as a dining facility for Soviet officers, but it was not destroyed or looted and was returned to its Austrian owners in 1955. From 1965 ownership is recorded under the Reichhold family. In the later 20th century the complex was adapted for use as a centre for meetings and events and continued to include guest accommodation. The entire ensemble is protected as a listed historic monument.