Prielau Castle

Prielau Castle is a former prince-bishop's hunting lodge in Zell am See, which is now used as a hotel.

The first documented mention of Prielau Castle dates back to 1425. In 1560, it was rebuilt and received its present-day appearance. In 1598, the estate came into the possession of Dietrich Kuen-Belasy, Baron of Chiemsee, and remained prince-bishopric property until 1811. The last prince-bishop to use the castle was Sigmund Christoph von Zeil und Trauchburg. His coat of arms can still be seen on the castle portal.

After Bavaria abandoned the Diocese of Chiemsee, the castle was sold to the sacristan Franz Neumayer. In 1936, Gerty von Hofmannsthal, the widow of Hugo von Hofmannsthal, bought the estate and began to restore the castle. She lived there with her son Raimund and his wife Elisabeth. To escape expropriation by the National Socialists, she wanted to give the castle to her daughter Christiane and her husband, who were not considered full Jews, soon after the purchase. Christiane could then have sold the property to Gustav Kapsreiter, who was a friend of the family, but the gift, which had initially been approved, was ultimately not permitted, and the family was expropriated. Kapsreiter's attempts to acquire the property were unsuccessful. The sculptor Josef Thorak managed to acquire the property, and the Hofmannsthal family only regained their property after the end of the Third Reich.

In 1987, the Porsche family bought the estate and transformed the castle into a hotel with only a few guest rooms and suites. It features, among other things, a park, red deer breeding, a private beach on the north shore of the lake, a golf course, a helicopter landing facility, and a wellness area with sauna, steam bath, and massage services. On the grounds there is a baroque chapel where 30 to 40 marriages are performed annually. Since 2004, the hotel has been managed by Anette and Andreas Mayer. Andreas Mayer was trained by Eckart Witzigmann and has already received numerous awards.