Schloss Schiltern

The castle stands as a two-storey, three-wing complex oriented around an inner courtyard, its main construction phases dating to the 16th century with subsequent alterations through the 18th century. The plan is anchored by four round corner towers that rise just a little above the main rooflines and are capped with Baroque onion-shaped domes covered in wooden shingles. Some subsidiary structures were removed during late-20th-century repairs, but the dominant massing of wings and corner towers still defines the site.

The principal street-facing north façade extends across nine bays and shows Baroque surface treatments: window pediments, raised paneling on the walls, and a continuous projecting cornice supported by consoles. A small roof turret with a multi-part spire added in the 19th century marks the central axis. The main entrance on this face dates to the early 18th century and is framed by Ionic pilasters; a projecting entablature carries two large stone vases and the arch over the doorway bears the Aichelburg family coat of arms from the 19th century, while stucco garlands decorate the window above the portal.

Courtside elevations are comparatively restrained, except for an 18th-century west-facing gateway richly finished in stucco whose canopy features a soldier’s bust flanked by floral vases. That entrance gives access to the west wing, which contains tall Venetian-style chimneys and leads to a square chapel. The chapel has a cross-groin vault (a vaulted ceiling formed by intersecting arches) and during restorations in the second half of the 20th century frescoes dating to about 1760 were uncovered and conserved; these paintings, executed in the manner of Johann Leopold Daysinger, illustrate the Christian virtues and the four Evangelists. The altar canopy within the chapel carries the combined coat of arms of the baronial families Moser and Suttnert.

On the ground floor a large hall is covered by a stitch-cap vault (a vaulted ceiling with curved segments meeting over a central support) that rests on an octagonal central pillar, creating a strong central focus in the interior space. The internal fittings today are described as modern and functional, and the castle no longer houses the Aichelburg family’s former collection of paintings and sculptures. Across the street the park is entered through an ornate Rococo wrought-iron gate; on a small rise within the garden sits a finely stuccoed pavilion whose interior once displayed illusionistic architectural and landscape paintings, of which only fragments survive.