Schloss Oberberg

Schloss Oberberg in Gossau, Switzerland, is a medieval castle constructed by local noble families who served the Abbey of St. Gallen. The site first appears in records in 1262 and belongs to the medieval period; its fabric and later works reflect the castle’s long role in regional power struggles and abbey administration. The fortress stood to protect lands controlled by the prince‑abbot and to assert abbey rights against neighbouring secular authorities.

A wooden structure may have stood nearby as early as the 11th century, and by 1262 the stone stronghold is named with Chunrad de Obernberge. In 1380 ownership passed, together with Junker Albrecht, to the Herren von Andwil. That family acted as ministerial officials for the abbey and the branch resident at the castle thereafter adopted the name von Oberberg. The castle’s purpose included guarding the abbey’s territorial claims against the Bishop of Constance and the Counts of Toggenburg.

In July 1406 the complex was attacked and set alight during fighting associated with the Appenzell War, the assault carried out by armed men from St. Gallen and Feldkirch. Walter von Andwil rebuilt the damaged buildings later that same year. In 1452 Hans von Andwil the Younger conveyed the property to the Holy Spirit Hospital of the city of St. Gallen, and following the Rorschach monastery breach in 1490 the abbey took possession, making Oberberg the seat of its appointed reeves.

Abbot Diethelm Blarer von Wartensee ordered a major rebuilding and enlargement in 1545, raising the residential quarters in solid stone and giving the castle much of the appearance it still shows. During the War of the Twelve in 1712 forces from Bern and Zurich occupied Oberberg for three months. The abbey’s chief stewards continued to live at the castle and to exercise local jurisdiction until 1789; their coats of arms remain on the courtroom walls.

Political upheavals around the turn of the 19th century brought new ownership. From 1798 until 1812 the canton of St. Gallen held the property, and on 27 August 1812 it was sold at auction to Johannes Merz of Herisau. The castle remained in private hands until 1924. From 1856 the building accommodated a sequence of commercial uses, beginning with Gossau’s first Emmental cheese dairy (1856–1864), followed by an embroidery workshop, a lithographic business, and from 1877 a restaurant, during which period maintenance became sporadic and the fabric fell into disrepair.

Local citizens formed the Cooperative Oberberg in 1924, acquiring the estate and assuming its care; that organization survives today as the Förderverein Schloss Oberberg. The castle received federal monument protection in 1927. An initial renovation took place in 1954–55, but on 27 October 1955 a fire destroyed the roof truss and the upper storeys. A public fundraising effort paid for reconstruction, which lasted three years and culminated in a reopening on 1 June 1958, with an official ceremony two weeks later. The site’s chapel also underwent several phases: a small private chapel is known from the later medieval period, a chapel floor within the courtroom appears in 1468, and the present ground‑floor chapel was formed in the former dungeon in 1864–68 after the dairy vacated; that chapel was restored in 1958 by the Catholic parish of Gossau with federal support.