Achleiten Castle

Achleiten Castle is located in the Achleiten district of the municipality of Kematen an der Krems in Upper Austria, in the Linz-Land district (Achleiten 1).

The area where Achleiten Castle is located originally belonged to the Tegernsee dominion. Then the Berchtesgaden provostry followed as liege lord, and around 1200 the area became a fief of Kremsmünster Abbey. A Chunrat and a Sieghart are mentioned as the first feudal tenants. The castle had strategic importance: together with the no longer existing Veste Rohr, Achleiten Castle could completely block the Kremstal valley if necessary. The castle was protected by a double moat system with associated drawbridges. These are now replaced by stone bridges.

The first mention of Achleiten by name occurred in 1189 with Bernhard von Achleiten (Achleuthner). At the consecration of the Aegidius Church near the Wels Traun Bridge, Bernhard's sons Walchun, Hartwig, and Otto are named as donors. The Achleitner were "one-shield knights" who were enfeoffed with the castle by Kremsmünster Abbey. A Berthold von Achleuten became abbot of Kremsmünster Abbey in 1219. Achleutener are listed as witnesses in various documents (1254 Otto and Heinrich; 1287 Otto, who enters Kremsmünster Abbey; 1289-1318 Heinrich, whose sons Heinrich, Bernhard, and Berthold are mentioned in 1318). A Wolfgang von Achleuten, who also owned Almegg Castle, was married to Elisabeth von Geymann. In 1303, the castle passed from Kremsmünster Abbey to the sovereign, with Achleiten coming under the feudal lordship of the Wallseer. The last of the Achleitner was a Hans von Achleuten (†1431), married to Katharina Feuchtner. Already before (1375), the Lords of Achleuten had sold their seat to Conrad von Meillenstorff. He in turn sold the property to Wilhelm der Stadler von Stadlkirchen in 1375. In 1377, Hans der Lerbühler acquired the castle and gave it to his daughter Wendelmut as a dowry, who brought the property to her husband Wolfhart von Sinzendorf in the same year.

Achleiten remained with the Sinzendorff family until 1602. In that year, Appolonia von Sinzendorff married Erhard von Grienthal and received the castle, converted into a palace, as a bridal endowment. He was followed by Gottfried Freiherr von Grienthal. His wife was the daughter of Matthias Castner von Siegmundslust. Freiherr von Grienthal sold Achleiten and Hehenberg Castle near Bad Hall to his father-in-law in 1674. In 1643, the castle chapel, which had been damaged by fire, was demolished. A Maria Opferungskapelle (Chapel of the Presentation of Mary) was built on the site of the former Leonhard's Chapel, containing an altarpiece by Kremser-Schmidt. In 1692, Count Ernst von Thun bought the Achleiten dominion, which he combined with Hehenberg into a fideicommissum. This was only dissolved in 1815, and the Achleiten dominion was sold individually. In 1816, Franz Iglseder acquired the castle, but sold it in the same year to Franz Planck von Planckburg of Weyer Castle. In 1880, Achleiten came to Ludwig Ritter von Boschan. Thereafter, the Teufenstein family became owners of Achleiten Castle. The last of the Teufenstein family were the widow Edina after Baron Georg Teufenstein and his daughter Tatiana. In 1982, the Max-Theurer family acquired the castle and park from them and restored the complex. Today, Achleiten Castle is owned by the Olympic champion in dressage (Moscow 1980) Elisabeth Max-Theurer; she uses the castle as her main residence and also houses the stud farm for her horse breeding there.