Unterdürnbach Castle

Farmstead

To the west of the castle is a spacious three-winged farmstead with one- to two-story tracts. The core of the buildings largely dates from the second half of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century.

The north wing, with its late Baroque pilaster strip articulation, has a late Baroque representative column portal with a curved pointed gable from the third quarter of the 18th century, featuring a coat of arms cartouche "Lilienfeld Abbey/Dominik Peckenstorfer" and a Biedermeier wooden gate from the second quarter of the 19th century. The courtyard-side facade has portal and window frames from the 17th century, as well as a central risalit with corner stone articulation. The windows on the ground floor are vaulted internally with lunettes.

The facade of the west wing is articulated by giant pilasters; the round-arched passage has a barrel vault with plastered cross ribs. Inside, there are also barrel vaults with lunettes.

A chamfered round-arched cellar portal from the 16th century is located in the south wing. Inside this wing, there are partly square vaults from the 18th century.

Castle

Exterior

The two-story four-winged building is surrounded by a moat and, to the south and east, by an originally fortified outer wall with round, bastion-like corner turrets from the late 16th century. The southeastern turret is developed as a Baroque pavilion.

The facade has a late Baroque blind frame articulation through giant pilasters and a grid-like articulation in the window axes with saddlecloth motifs from the mid-18th century. The windows on the ground floor have leaded glass windows and are fitted with Baroque window baskets. Those on the upper floor have cornice pediments and window sills from the second half of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century. A continuous coved eaves cornice forms the upper facade termination.

The profiled round-arched portal on the west facade probably dates from the early 18th century; the entrance is closed by a wide cross-rib vault.

The two-story columned arcaded courtyard has cross-rib vaults from the 16th century. One column is adorned with an acanthus capital. On the east side of the courtyard is a recessed cellar entrance with a rectangular portal. This portal has a florally reliefed frame, which is marked with "1556".

Interior

The rooms on the ground floor are vaulted with wide barrel vaults and lunettes from the 16th century, as well as with Baroque lunette vaults from the mid-18th century. The rectangular stone door frames are delicately fluted.

In the north wing is a barrel-vaulted chapel with lunettes, which was intended as a place of worship for the spiritual estate administrator and where weekday services of the Unterdürnbach parish now take place.

The staircase to the upper floor has a baluster railing; the rooms on the upper floor feature simple stucco ceilings and partly polychromed plaster panels. One room has a wide lunette vault from the 18th century.

In the former Knights' Hall (today called "Monkey Hall" after five monkeys in the wall painting) there are wall paintings depicting exotic animals and landscapes from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In one corner stands a Baroque tiled stove with strapwork decor from the mid-18th century, which could be heated from the corridor. In one of the hand-blown windowpanes, the words "Judges, Jurors, Scoundrels" are scratched, suggesting that the room was used as a medieval courtroom.

A room that served as a bedroom is decorated with wall paintings marked "Johann Oswald fecit".

In the cartouche of a curved stucco mirror in the former Prelate's Hall (today "Picture Room") is the coat of arms of Abbot Dominik Peckenstorfer. Wall paintings in geometric fields of this room show depictions of Lilienfeld Abbey's possessions, surrounded by genre paintings.

In the opposite piano room, there is another Baroque tiled stove with strapwork decor from the mid-18th century. In another room, there is another tiled stove with Empire decor from the first half of the 19th century.

The dining room ceiling has a realistic painting that gives the impression of a real wooden ceiling.

On the archive shelves are remnants of the files and documents of the former manorial estate. In 1848, parts of the entire collection had to be handed over, some of which are now in the Lower Austrian Provincial Archive in St. Pölten and some in the external branch in Bad Pirawarth. A part of the collection has not yet been viewed and researched.

In the chapel there is a Baroque sarcophagus altar with a retable structure and rocaille decor. The altarpiece from the mid-18th century, flanked by gilded statues of Saints Joseph and Joachim, shows Anna selbdritt with a miraculous image. To the sides stand figures of the Madonna from 1607 and Saint Joseph with Child from the 17th century. On the left wall hangs a painting of Jesus.