Schallaburg Castle is a castle in the village of Schallaburg in the municipality of Schollach, near the

Wachau The Wachau () is an Austrian valley formed by the Danube River. It is one of the most prominent tourism in Austria, tourist destinations of Lower Austria, located between the towns of Melk and Krems an der Donau, Krems that attracts epicureans ...

valley,

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

, north of the Alps. Schallaburg Renaissance Castle is from

Melk Melk (; older spelling: ) is a city in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, next to the Wachau valley along the Danube. Melk has a population of 5,257 (as of 2012). It is best known as the site of a massive baroque Benedictine monastery named ...

, in the region known as Mostviertel. The central part of the castle was built in the

German Renaissance The German Renaissance, part of the Northern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which developed from the Italian Renaissance. Many areas of the arts and sciences ...

Age, beginning around 1540, by the Losenstein dynasty.

History of the castle Schallaburg

In 1242, the castle appears in a document for the first time mentioned as

fortress A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from L ...

Schala. From the 13th to the 15th century the castle was owned by the lords of Zelking (German: ''von Zelking''). From 1456 until 1614, castle Schallaburg was in the possession of the family ''von Losenstein''. In the 16th century Hans Wilhelm von Losenstein renovated it into a

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

, and rebuilt the church of

Loosdorf Loosdorf is a town in the district of Melk (district), Melk in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. History The first-known mention of Loosdorf, then referred to as "Ladestorf," dates to 1145. Even from this period, the town had a strong conn ...

into a Renaissance Lutheran church. There he also founded a Lutheran grammar school for youths of both nobility and non-nobility ('die Hohe Schule', 1574-1627). In 1601 Hans Wilhelm von Losenstein died, resulting in rested high debts on the castle. In 1614 the father-in-law of George Christoph auf Losensteinleithen, George von Stubenberg, bought the castle. In 1627 the church and school were closed according to a law issued by the archduke of Austria emperor Ferdinand II, who wished to restore the Catholic faith in Lower Austria. From the 17th century until the 20th, the castle changed owners several times. It remained private property until 1945. In 1945 it was confiscated by the Russians, and then in 1955 the castle became property of the new Republic of Austria.

Description

The castle is combination of a Romanesque residential castle and a Gothic chapel, patterned in the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...

style. Aesthetically built, it has a well-decorated two-storied arcaded court with elegant cantilevered staircases and a courtyard. The decorations are in

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

depicting mythological figures, gods, masks and human beings and animals; a legendary mythical figurine here is known as ''Hundefräulein'' (a female human figure with a dog's head). At the gate entrance to the castle, there are two large "smoke-spewing dragons", each long and high, which is a favourite entertainment spot for the children to slide down its mouth from the top. Its culturally rich Mannerist gardens have roses, ornamental trees and bushes and herbs planted in the gardens in the town, and two Renaissance apple orchards.

Schallaburg

Schallaburg is a village in the municipality of Schollach, in

. Schallaburg is situated at an altitude of 310 m.Schallaburg Altitude and Location
/ref> The Schallaburg Castle is one of the best known

castles in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Today the castle functions as a museum.

Museum Schallaburg

In 1967 the government of Lower Austria bought the castle from the Austrian state. The government of Lower Austria decided to renovate the Schallaburg. In 1968 the restoration started with the roof. In 1974 the Schallaburg was opened as a museum for Lower Austria. The topic of the first exhibition of museum Schallaburg in 1974 was the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. Every year there is a new exhibition; the exhibition of 2011 was on the history of

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, the one of 2012 about

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...

. On March 29, 2014 an exhibition on the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

called "Glory and Gloom - living with the Great War 1914-1918" was opened. The exhibition showed weapons, movies, historical posters, post cards from particulars and other items from that time. In 2015 the Vikings were the topic of the annual exhibition.

References

External links

Official site

The home page of Museum Schallaburg
{{Authority control Houses completed in 1572 Castles in Lower Austria Renaissance architecture in Austria Gardens in Austria Museums in Lower Austria 1572 establishments in the Habsburg monarchy 16th-century establishments in Austria Establishments in the Archduchy of Austria