Puchberg Castle

The Bildungshaus Schloss Puchberg is an educational institution of the Diocese of Linz in the city of Wels, in the district of Puchberg.

From 1595, the Protestant politician Christoph Puechner built a Renaissance-style castle in Puchberg. The baroque castle fountain with a Neptune figure in the forecourt was erected in 1740.

The arms dealer Alfred Ritter von Jurnitschek from Vienna bought the castle in 1877 and had it redesigned in the Neoclassical style, creating the sgraffiti in the forecourt, the mosaic floors, the stucco ceilings, and the Neo-Baroque Hall of Mirrors. Jurnitschek sold the castle in the course of a patent dispute with the Steyr arms manufacturer Josef Werndl to the rubber manufacturer Josef Reithoffer in Steyr. Reithoffer's granddaughter Gisela Kobbe sold the castle in 1950 to the Ministry of Agriculture, which in turn sold the war-damaged castle in 1952 to the Diocese of Linz.

The rural youth chaplain Karl Wild as the first rector of the Bildungshaus and the general secretary of Catholic Action Josef Gruber as the first director of the Bildungshaus began agricultural educational work in 1953. From 1960, the castle became a general educational institution and was expanded with additions by architects Karl Odorizzi in 1960/61 and 1972/73, Nobl & Nobl & Roth from 1985-1987, and Maul & Luger in 2002.