Oberwallsee Castle

The castle ruin of Oberwallsee is located above the Pesenbach valley in the Bad Mühllacken district of the municipality of Feldkirchen in the Urfahr-Umgebung district in the Mühlviertel region of Upper Austria. The castle was built between 1364 and 1386 and converted into a palace in 1600. After 1750, the castle was left to decay, and from 1958, parts were briefly inhabited.

On October 30, 1364, Eberhard von Wallsee, as governor of Upper Austria, received permission to build a castle on the Klausberg. The land belonged to the lordship of Freudenstein, which was also owned by the family. The construction was completed in 1386 and was named Oberwallsee, as the Veste Niederwallsee, also family-owned, already existed in Lower Austria. Duke Albrecht V granted blood jurisdiction in 1415. In 1483, the last Wallseer died in the male line.

Through inheritance, the castle came into the possession of the Schaunberger family. Around 1500, the Schaunbergers handed over the castle to the administrator Christoph the Cammerer, and in 1540 to Kaspar Neuhauser. After the extinction of the Schaunbergers (1559), it came into the possession of Emperor Ferdinand I. Hans Hofmann von Grünpichl was enfeoffed with Oberwallsee as administrator, followed by Pankraz Schmiedtauer. Around 1600, Jobst Schmiedtauer had the castle converted into a palace and expanded the buildings in Renaissance style. In 1625, the Protestant Schmiedtauers had to give up the palace, and Prince Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg received Oberwallsee.

In 1717, Gundaker Thomas Starhemberg was granted the lordship of Oberwallsee. In the 18th century, the lordship was connected with Eschelberg. The palace was henceforth used by craftsmen and smallholders, and no investment was made in the building.