Schernberg Castle

The origins of Schloss Schernberg date back to 1193, when it was first documented as a tower in Schernperge owned by the Lords of Schernberg. In 1370, the tower and its associated estates passed to the Graf family. Under Christoph Graf, the administrator of Radstadt, and his sons, the building was converted into a castle by 1550. In 1845, Cardinal Friedrich von Schwarzenberg, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, acquired the then heavily dilapidated property. He initially had it converted into a brewery before transforming it into a hospital and care institution by 1850. He then handed the castle over to the Sisters of Mercy of Schwarzach, who had been resident there since 1844, with the explicit wish that the house should always be a nursing home for disabled and elderly people. Five sisters took over the management of this institution in 1846, which was unique for the state of Salzburg at the time, as there had been no psychiatric hospital before.