Hadersfeld Castle

The place name Haederreichsvelde appears for the first time in a document in 1260. At that time, the Lords of Greifenstein returned their fief to the Diocese of Passau. However, the present castle or its predecessor was only built around 1500 by the supreme imperial forest master Wolfgang Fueger. He was the administrator of the castle on Kahlenberg, after which he also called himself Wolfgang Kahlenberger. His new court in Hadersfeld was elevated to a noble seat by Emperor Maximilian I in 1517. In 1551, Christof Rueber was the lord of the manor. Around 1567, the lordship was owned by Bartholomäus Freysleben, who also owned the neighboring Hintersdorf. Through his brother-in-law Christoph Poldrig, who had taken it over around 1571, and his daughter Barbara, it passed to the Reichart family in 1611. In 1667, Hadersfeld was sold to Johann Paul Bartolotti, a Viennese merchant. At the time of the impending Turkish invasion, a beacon station was set up next to the castle to relay news of the advance of raiding parties to the west. It is depicted in the Vischer engraving of 1672. The next owners changed relatively quickly until the Princes of Liechtenstein acquired the estate in 1765. Prince Johann I von und zu Liechtenstein had the castle rebuilt between 1803 and 1806, using the existing building fabric. The castle chapel, mentioned in 1740, was also integrated. However, some outbuildings, such as the Meierhof and the Passauerhaus, fell victim to the reconstruction. The plans probably came from the architect Josef Hartmuth, who worked extensively for the Prince. At the same time, a landscape garden was laid out. Since the Liechtensteins united their Hadersfeld property with their lordship of Judenau in the later 19th century, there was no longer any use for the castle, so it fell into disrepair from 1888. It was not until 1954, when it was acquired by Dr. Kasimir Kuczewski-Poray and Werner Olbrich, that extensive renovation work took place. The current owner is Anneliese Olbrich.

Chapel doorThe castle is located on a plateau of the Vienna Woods main ridge above Greifenstein. It originally had a hook-shaped floor plan, but today it is a three-sided complex built into the slope with different ridge heights. The 21 m long main wing, facing northwest, is three-story, with the uppermost floor only added in 1806. The northwest corner dates back to the 16th century, making it the oldest part of the building. In 1806, the north wing was extended to the east by a six-axis single-story tract. It is concluded on its northeastern narrow side by a gable-crowned classical portico. Its triangular gable rests on pillar arcades. The baroque tract in the west was also extended in 1806. The castle chapel, dedicated to the Deposition of Christ, was integrated into it. The stone-framed, baroque curved chapel portal on its narrow side dates from before 1740. The otherwise simple interior shows a painting from the second half of the 18th century on the flat ceiling, which has the divine virtues as its theme. The unadorned facades of the castle are only enlivened by the numerous windows. The shallow, three-sided courtyard was further reduced in size in the 20th century by additions to the southwest wing. The ground floor rooms of the north and west tracts are often vaulted with lunette vaults.