Weinzierl Castle

Weinzierl Castle is located in Weinzierl, a district of the Lower Austrian municipality of Wieselburg-Land. It houses the Francisco Josephinum, a Higher Federal Teaching and Research Institute for Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering, and Food and Biotechnology.

A first castle building developed between 1578 and 1586 under Johann Linsmayer Freiherr von Greiffenberg from an estate belonging to the monastery of Sankt Emmeram in Regensburg, which was rebuilt by his descendants. Under Johann Carl Weber von Fürnberg, a Baroque renovation was carried out in 1741.

A prominent employee of the castle lords was the then still unknown composer Joseph Haydn, who worked here around 1755 or 1759.

In 1796, Weinzierl Castle came into the possession of the imperial family, who temporarily used the castle as a summer residence. In 1883, Emperor Franz Joseph I bequeathed it to the "Kaiser Franz Joseph Youth Asylum Association," which established a home for difficult-to-educate children here. After the end of the monarchy, the castle became the property of the City of Vienna. In 1934, the Ministry of Agriculture took over the castle and relocated the Francisco Josephinum, previously based in Mödling, here. During the Nazi era, Weinzierl Castle housed a "Higher Agricultural State Teaching Institute." From 1944 to 1945, the castle served as a military hospital. In the first post-war years, the resumed school operations were hindered by the quartering of returning soldiers.

Archduke Johann Salvator of Austria-Tuscany, who had to move to Upper Austria after 1859, had furniture that had once belonged to Maria Theresia of Austria brought from Weinzierl Castle to Ort Castle.

In 1951, boarding school and other school buildings were erected in the castle park, followed by further renovations and extensions in 1959. In 2004, the Federal Monuments Office closed the castle; eight classes with around 730 students and the school administration were housed in containers. In March 2006, the groundbreaking ceremony for the new building took place, which was completed in 2008.