Rauchenbichlerhof Castle

The Rauchenbichlerhof is a baroque small palace in the Schallmoos district of the Austrian city of Salzburg. It is located directly on Linzer Bundesstraße, has always been used for residential purposes, and remains in private ownership today.

The estate was first mentioned in 1120 as "Gut Waldbichl" and from 1238 was owned by St. Peter's Abbey, which leased the estate and farm by hereditary right. From 1597 until around 1677, the Salzburg merchant family Fabrizin resided here, whose coat of arms is carved in stone above the southern main gate of the estate. From 1677 to 1741, the brewery family Kaserer owned the estate. In 1741, the building was acquired and rebuilt by Salzburg city councilor Franz Anton Rauchenbichler and his wife Maria Theresia Poschinger; during the French period, it belonged to their son and freedom fighter Anton Rauchenbichler.

In 1822, Tsar Alexander I visited the castle on his journey to the Congress of Verona of the Holy Alliance.

From 1831, Napoleon's former mistress, Baroness Emilie Victorine Wolfsberg, née Emilia Viktoria Kraus, who had accompanied Napoleon on his travels, lived here. In Salzburg, she was known as the "Dog Countess" due to her many dogs and later died in complete poverty. In 1841, Alois (Anton's brother) and Elisabeth Rauchenbichler von Rauchenbühl acquired the estate. They were followed in 1857 by their son Josef Anton Rauchenbichler von Rauchenbühl and in 1881 by his stepson Franz Mayr; after 1881, the property, together with the Gablerbräu, belonged to the Mayr family for many decades. Their daughter Maria Mayr married the brewery owner of Schärding, Gustav Kapsreiter, on October 11, 1921. Since then, the property has been owned by the Kapsreiter family.