Salenegg Castle

Salenegg Castle stands in Maienfeld, Switzerland; its earliest predecessor was built around the year 950 by the prior of the Pfäfers monastery, a medieval Christian monastic community.

The earliest recorded house on the site was known as Prestenegg and belonged to the monastery of Pfäfers. That house served the sick whom the monastery’s monks were charged to care for and occupied a sunny position on the valley slope. In 1330 the property entered the hands of the Freiherren von Vaz; when that line died out in 1338 the estate passed to the Werdenberger family and thereafter to the Toggenburger family. By the second half of the 1400s the house was owned by the Beeli von Belfort family.

Following several further transfers, Vespasian von Salis and his wife Anna von Schauenstein bought the property in 1594. Ten years later they rebuilt and enlarged the house and gave it the name Salenegg. At that time a willow associated with the von Salis emblem was planted beside the courtyard well. Vespasian’s daughter Violanda brought the estate into the von Molina family by marriage to Ritter Anton von Molina.

During the unrest known as the Bündner Wirren, in 1637 Anton von Molina, identified as a supporter of Austrian interests, was one of the conspirators against Duke Henri II de Rohan. In that phase Molina extended the building to the south and created the garden hall on the ground floor. In 1654 Molina’s daughters sold Salenegg for 14,000 Gulden and six Fuder of wine to Hans Luzi Gugelberg von Moos, who served as Landeshauptmann in the Veltlin and as the city bailiff of Maienfeld. Around this purchase Hortensia Gugelberg von Moos lived at Salenegg.

In about 1713 Ulysses Gugelberg von Moos added an annex with a stair, and his sons Heinrich, Lorenz and another Ulysses erected the tower in 1756. Between 1782 and 1784 Ulysses Gugelberg carried out the largest remodelling, joining the previously separate building phases into the single complex that is seen today. The property has remained in the Gugelberg von Moos family. The building contains 79 rooms in total, of which 27 are inhabited.

Viticulture has a long history at the site, with wine cultivation recorded from 1068. The Salenegg estate is described as the oldest continuously operating winery in Europe and produces wines, brandies and several types of vinegar. A willow planted beside the courtyard well in the early 1600s grew to notable proportions by the late 19th century; contemporary measurements recorded the old trunk at 5.40 metres in circumference by 1926 and also noted a younger trunk that had developed within the older shell measuring about one metre in circumference that same year. The poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote the poem “Die Weide von Salenegg” into the castle guestbook in August 1926. Salenegg Castle is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.