Puchenau Castle

Count Ernst Christoph Schallenberg had the castle built as an administrative seat for his Upper Austrian estates. As the construction financially ruined him, he had to sell it in 1693 to Baron Augustin von Ehrhard, who in 1695 achieved the elevation of Puchenau to a noble country estate. Through his childless daughter Maria Theresia, the property passed in 1704 to Count Ehrgott von Khueffstein. After his childless marriage, Puchenau went to the siblings Lobgott and Maria Franziska von Khueffstein. In 1713, the noble owners operated a Danube ferry and a ferry service to Linz. Joseph Gundaker von Thürheim later united Puchenau with the Hartheim dominion and moved administration and court there, which diminished Puchenau's importance. In 1752, he sold the castle and the associated farm to the court innkeeper Reichart Arminger, whereby Puchenau became a farm estate and lost its manorial rights. During the War of the Austrian Succession and the Napoleonic Wars, the castle served as a lazaret and was occupied by Bavarian and French troops.