Gmünd Castle

The city castle of Gmünd was probably built between 1180 and 1190. It was first mentioned in 1217. The builder was Hadmar II of Kuenring.

Heinrich III of Kuenring bequeathed the lordship to his wife Hedwig, who, after his death, married the Bohemian nobleman Wok of Rosenberg. From 1262 to 1418, Gmünd was owned by the Lords of Liechtenstein, who were followed by the Lords of Puchheim until 1483. In the first half of the 14th century, Bohemians and Hussites caused great devastation. In 1473, a devastating city fire occurred, which resulted in an extensive renewal of the castle in the Late Gothic style. In 1483, the troops of the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus succeeded in taking possession of the castle.

After the withdrawal of the Hungarians, Emperor Maximilian I initially entrusted the mercenary leader Nikolaus Spanowsky with the administration of Gmünd. In 1518, the lordship was pledged to Wilhelm von Greiß, who undertook major alterations. In 1585, the Barons of Greiß succeeded in obtaining the lordship as a free estate. Sebastian von Greiß sold it in 1601 to Karl Freiherr von Puchheim. From the middle of the 17th century, the owners changed quite frequently. These included, among others, the families Zinzendorf, Khuen, Geymann, Volkra, Geyersberg, and Geusau. From 1844, bourgeois estate owners can also be found.

In 1859, Archduke Sigismund of Habsburg-Lorraine acquired the property. He had some changes made and gave the castle its definitive current appearance. After the Second World War, the largely rented building was severely neglected. In 1985, the Habsburg-Lorraine Estate Administration sold the castle to a housing cooperative, which renovated it and divided it into condominiums.