Seisenburg Castle

Complex

Around 1329, the Seisenburg house was still documented as a fortified defensive castle. Between 1609 and 1610, Achaz Fenzl had the fortress converted into a Renaissance castle. Another important enlargement took place between 1680 and 1690 under Sigmund Friedrich Freiherr von Engl. The castle was probably built on the remains of a curtain wall around the old castle. The chapel with a crypt, located west of the castle, was built by Franz Friedrich Thomas Graf Engl. It was accessible from the castle through a closed archway.

On the west side of the castle, there was also a vegetable garden with a summer house. The chapel was accessible from the castle through a closed archway. In addition, there was an outbuilding with a built-up area of over 330 m², as well as an administrator-forester with an inn, whose liquor license belonged to the lordship, a glass veranda, and a bowling alley. Additionally, a castle well house with its own water pipeline was built.

Interiors

The castle had two floors and consisted of four wings enclosing a right-angled columned courtyard. In this courtyard, there was a fountain adorned with coats of arms and a square tower, which stood in the north corner of the castle building and through which the entrance road to the castle led. On the lowest level of the castle, there was an armory, an outdated kitchen with four adjoining rooms, four small rooms on the north side, a valet's room, as well as an old and new forestry office, and a servant's room.

On the first floor, there was a more modern kitchen, a bedroom, a large furnished salon hall, a study, a dining room referred to as the yellow room, the library, a guest room, a hall of honor, and the tower room with a distant view. All rooms were large and the spaces very high. The ceilings sometimes featured stucco work, and almost every room was equipped with a tiled stove.

On the second floor, there were four hall-like ballrooms, also decorated with magnificent stucco, another tower room, six low but large women's rooms, and a fisherman's room. In addition, there was a series of cellar rooms and a professionally executed roof construction. Furthermore, the baroque interior design was carried out by Franz Friedrich Thomas Engl and completed by his son Franz Sigmund Adam. The castle library, established by Sigmund Friedrich Freiherr von Engl in 1684, was expanded by Franz Georg Engl.

The outbuilding contained an administrator's apartment with three living rooms and another room, as well as a furnished inn on the ground floor with a kitchen and a bedroom. Another farm building contained stables, two empty living spaces, and a cellar. There was also a laundry kitchen and a utility kitchen.

In 1922, the archive director I. Zibermayr attempted to visit the Seisenburg castle archive, but the owner Baron Schneeburg refused. He claimed that only family records were kept in the archive. However, a forester assured the archive director that old furniture, books, and also archival materials had already been sold and removed from the castle after the war. Eleven years later, the castle archive could be placed under monument protection to safeguard the remaining archival materials. Already in September 1933, manuscripts were found in the library, some of which contained general history, but also the manorial history of Seisenburg. However, the actual manorial archive was located in the tower building, where it was found in great disarray. Among them were letter and treatise protocols, as well as orphan books from the 16th to 18th centuries.

On June 22, 1934, the owner Count Spiegelfeld-Schneeburg agreed and sold the archival materials of the castle archive to the Upper Austrian State Archive for 300 Schilling. E. Straßmayr carried out the acquisition of the archival materials in July 1934. A total of 70 documents, 18 folders of files, and 120 manuscripts were found. Only one document from the Middle Ages was found, while the others originated from modern times. In addition, some dispute and litigation files were found, which mainly dealt with forest and forestry matters. Furthermore, some family files, which supplemented the document series around 1520, could be acquired. Also important were the copies of purchase deeds from February 5, 1518 (Emperor Maximilian sells Seisenburg to Georg Vogl), from October 10, 1520 (Vogl sells to Achaz Fenzl), and from August 24, 1605 (Hans Sigmund Kirchberger sells to Achaz Fenzl).

The manuscripts, on the other hand, date back to 1605, when Seisenburg was sold to Achaz Fenzl. Many manuscripts deal with forestry, as a great deal of forest belonged to the Seisenburg lordship. Letter, inventory, and interrogation protocols began around 1619, some with gaps extending to 1819. In the regional court archive, the volumes between 1820 and 1848 can be found.

Also of great importance is the diary of Stefan Engl zu Wagrain and the catalogs of the castle library from 1684. The extent of the former castle archive can be clearly seen from an archive inventory from the 18th century, although the archive holdings are said not to have been of too great importance.

Collections of finds from Seisenburg are also exhibited in the Schrift- und Heimatmuseum in Pettenbach, also known as Bartlhaus. Old historical writings and pictures found and recovered around 1940 in the then uninhabited Seisenburg are on display as loans in showcases.