Reichersbeuern Castle

Reichersbeuern Castle, also known as Sigriz Castle, in the municipality of Reichersbeuern, stands at the foot of the foothills of the Bavarian Alps, six kilometers east of Bad Tölz.

Since 1829, it has been owned by the von Sigriz family. Today, it houses a reform-pedagogical artistic gymnasium with a full-day school and boarding school, the Max-Rill-Schule.

Around 920, the early country estate of Tegernsee Monastery was called "Puron" or "Piura," which was probably granted as a fief to the noble Bavarian family Richer. These lords "de Richerspiuren" held a key office of the monastery until 1380: the office of seneschal. Around 920, a fortified castle was also built in Puron against the Hungarian invasions – a moated castle, almost hidden between the hills.

From 1384, Reichersbeuern was a Hofmark with its own jurisdiction. Veit Jacob Tänzl zu Trazberg, who became rich from silver mining in the Inn Valley and thus an important financier in the empire of Maximilian I, converted Reichersbeuern Castle into a Renaissance castle in 1520, representative, comfortable, and artfully designed, including wood sculptures by Erasmus Grasser and G. Bockschütz.

Christoph II von Pienzenau doubled the property. The Hofmark Sachsenkam was added. There, in 1606, his daughter Anna von Pienzenau-Closen founded a "Loreto" pilgrimage chapel on the Reutberg, rebuilt after the original in Ancona, Italy. Anna's scandal-ridden Italian husband, Jakob Papafaba Count zu Carrara and Aquilara, the cupbearer of the Duke of Bavaria, is said to have tried to rob, abduct, or even murder his wife; in vain – he himself had to flee to Italy.

Anna and her mother Sophie play a major role in the rumors and ghost stories that arose during and after the Thirty Years' War and its anxieties. In fact, an exorcism of the restless spirit of Sophie von Pienzenau is documented on December 26, 1644.

Although the land and castle suffered under the Swedish occupation during the Thirty Years' War, the rule of the Preysing family from 1627 to 1827 was stable and recognized because they reformed and modernized in a caring and enlightened absolutist manner. Around 1700, the northern part of the castle was moderately baroqueized.

Since 1829, the castle has been owned by the von Sigriz family. The castle was extended, and the castle's economy was decisively expanded. From 1934 to 1937, the owners had to accept the billeting of 350 men of the "Austrian Legion" and later a penal camp as punishment for insubordinate behavior towards the National Socialists.

In May 1938, the educator Max Rill moved into the castle with 43 female students to realize his humanistic reformist pedagogy of communal living and learning. Currently, the castle is used by the Max-Rill-Schule as a gymnasium.