Mitterfels Castle

Mitterfels Castle emerged from the castle complex of the Counts of Bogen. For the centrally located strong fortress of Mitterfels, a castellan "Bercholdus de Mitterfels" is first mentioned in 1194 in the necrology of Oberaltaich Monastery. With the extinction of the Counts of Bogen, the Wittelsbachs came into possession of the castle in 1242 and made the place the seat of a regional court, which for around 600 years was the judicial and administrative center of a large catchment area. During the Thirty Years' War, the Swedes conquered the Mitterfels fortress and devastated the castle. During the Austrian War of Succession, in 1742, the Pandurs under their colonel Franz Freiherr von Trenck stormed the castle. In 1780, the current castle was built on the remains of the palas. It is a simple Baroque administrator's house, which later served as a district court. In 1812, the keep, designed as a gate tower, collapsed. In 1818, the Mitterfels regional court had jurisdiction over 60 municipalities and 8 bailiff's offices as lower courts. In 1847, the last execution took place at Mitterfels Castle. The remains of the medieval castle complex are separated from the village by a twenty-meter-deep moat, which is spanned by a stone bridge built in 1791. Since 1977, the castle has served as the seat of the Mitterfels administrative community and as a local history museum.