Oberweis Castle

Oberweis Castle is located in the municipality of Laakirchen in the Gmunden district of Upper Austria (Oberweis 3). It is privately owned and generally not open to the public.

In 1383, Oberweis was first mentioned as a fief of Ulrich Aboltinger von Abolting (= Ainwalding) of the Ort dominion. The Aboltingers remained the holders of this knight's fief until 1446, when they were replaced by the Geymanns, who in turn appear in the Wallseer zu Ort urbarium. In 1484, Oberweis came to Walter Hauser as the dowry of Magdalena Geymann. He was enfeoffed with Oberweis, which had in the meantime become a princely fief, by Emperor Frederick III. Next, the dominion passed by inheritance to the Greisenegger family. In 1512, Erasmus Greisenegger sold the castle to Benedikt Pirchinger, who sold it to Wolfgang Jörger in 1514. In the same year, Oberweis then came to Ulrich Perkheimer. In 1519, he left the castle and property in Oberweis to his daughter (married to Michael Weichselpaumer) as a bridal endowment. In 1566, Oberweis came to Veit Traint by marriage, in 1580 to Michael Weinzierl, and in 1610 to Daniel Hofmandl. In 1626, Johann Spindler von Hofegg bought Oberweis and was enfeoffed with it by the emperor in the same year. The next owner was Ritter von Sparr in 1671 through a loan purchase. In 1695, Baron Karl Quintin Josef von Grienthal († 1724) acquired Oberweis. Due to the remarriage of his widow, Oberweis came to Baron Johann Emanuel von Hoheneck. The Hohenecks sold Oberweis to Baron Ferdinand von Imsland in 1799.

Another owner from 1808 was Alois Haselmayr von Fernstein. His son Alois, k. u. k. Postmaster in Lambach, had Oberweis completely renovated in 1843 and gave the castle its present appearance; he also had the castle park laid out as a landscape park. The garden figures, however, date from the second half of the 19th century. In 1864, the Linz shipmaster Ignaz Mayr became the owner, followed by Anton Haase von Buchstein in 1871, Lieutenant Hans Ohn in 1890, and Gustav and Maria Clemm in 1910. After 1911, Oberweis was owned by the Weller family. In 1911, Oberweis was redesigned by the Gmunden city architect Bruno Heisig. The pond system with an artificial island was created in 1966.

During the Second World War, Oberweis Castle housed the "Alpenland" home of the NS organization Lebensborn (1943).

Until 1960, Rittmeister Karl Weller was the owner of the castle. Then it came to Josef Swoboda. Since 2003, Carvatech GmbH, a body and cabin construction company, has been based here; the owners use the castle as a residential complex. In addition, the complex is also one of the venues for the Salzkammergutfestwochen Gmunden.