Heuberg Castle

Heuberg Castle is located on the sunny side of the Salzach Valley above the district of St. Georgen in Bruck an der Großglocknerstraße in the Pinzgau district of Zell am See, 7 km east of the town of Zell am See.

The castle was built before 1100 by the Counts of Sulzbach and was then called Hof zu Niederheim. On the occasion of its foundation by Irmgard von Sulzbach, it was donated to the Prince-Bishopric of Berchtesgaden and became the official seat of the Provostry of Niederheim.

The possessions belonging to Niederhaim were listed as 170 prebends, 37 farms, 29 hides, 10 houses, 11 mills, and some vineyards. In addition, there were considerable forest shares and some salt springs. Part of this property was in Niederheim, another in Kreuztracht Prugg, and another in Taxenbach, mainly in the hamlets of Thannberg and March. Further property was in Embach, Eschenau, and Rauris. Due to the rights included, such as productive salt springs, conflicts with the Archbishop were pre-programmed. Efforts were therefore made to secure the monastery and its possessions ecclesiastically to prevent access from Salzburg. Pope Paschal II, 1099 to 1118, confirmed the ownership of the foundation in 1105 ("allodia vestra villamm scilicet Berthesgadem et Niderhaim", i.e., "Your full property, especially the estate of Berchtesgaden and Niederhaim"). At the same time, he placed the monastery of Berchtesgaden under his special protection. This marks the beginning of the history of the Provostry of Niederhaim, later Heuberg. It became the seat of a Berchtesgaden secular provost. His task was to administer all the monastery's possessions in Pinzgau.

In 1296, for the first time, a document no longer refers to Niederhaim alone but also to a "Heyberch". A document from 1454 mentions "Gericht und Herlikait am Heuperg" (court and lordship on Heuperg). In 1474, Peter Renn was Amann on Heuperg. One of the most famous lords of Heuberg was Provost Georg Stöckl. In 1518, he donated the marble altar to the Church of St. George. Veit Stöckl, who died in 1607, was Amann of the Berchtesgaden possessions on Heyperg and left behind an enormous fortune for that time of 39,213 guilders. Due to simultaneously revealed tax evasions, 27,000 guilders were confiscated from this inheritance. In 1699, Eduard Piesser was the provost administrator. His custom of serving wine when concluding contracts brought him into conflict with the then innkeeper of St. Georgen, Bartl Milthaler. The latter complained that his business was being diminished. The authorities continued to allow the provost to offer a witness drink but no other serving.

In 1669, a fire destroyed the castle; in 1673, it was rebuilt in a somewhat simplified form.

In 1803, the Berchtesgaden Abbey lost its land to the Bavarian state through secularization, which sold the castle in the same year to Karl Freiherr von Moll.

His descendants sold the estate in 1849 to the Pinzgau family Scherer.

In 1900, there was another major fire, and the castle had to be renovated again. For several generations, Heuberg Castle remained in the possession of the Scherer family (who adopted the surname "von Heuberg") before it was sold to the Porsche family (still the owners today) in 1970.