Windhaag Old Castle

Eva Magdalena had left her parents' home on June 24, 1648, and entered the Dominican convent in Tulln. On December 25, 1664, she returned to Windhaag. She was accompanied by her confessor, Vinzenz Hauser, the first prior of the Dominican monastery of Münzbach, by Hyzint Marian, the librarian and author of the Topographia Windhagiana, as well as by two choir sisters and one lay sister.

Her father furnished the old Windhaag Castle as her residence and convent and initiated the formalities for the founding of a convent. Bishop Wenzeslaus von Thun appointed Eva Magdalena as the first prioress in 1668, and on May 9, 1673, the convent for twelve nuns in Windhag was confirmed by Passau. The annual sustenance provided by Joachim Enzmilner amounted to 1200 guilders.

After her father's death on May 21, 1678, Eva Magdalena inherited a large part of his property, including the lordship of Windhaag. Soon thereafter, she had the new Windhaag Castle, completed only in 1673, completely demolished, and the nearby Pragtal Castle largely torn down. From 1681, she used the building materials to construct a new convent, completed around 1689, including a convent church, completed in 1691 and consecrated in 1693, on the site of today's village center of Windhaag. The church has been the parish church of Windhaag since the relocation of the Altenburg parish in 1782.

In 1689, the prioress moved with 14 choir sisters and five lay sisters from the old castle to the new convent. After the construction of the convent, the old castle served only as a residence for the confessor of the nuns, for the court judge and court clerk. The castle ruin has been made usable for tourist purposes since the beginning of the 21st century.

Apparently, Eva Magdalena bequeathed her inheritance to the convent, as the convent then owned the old castle chapel, the new convent church, the Portiunculakirchl, the new convent, the old castle, the farmstead, the brewery, the bakery, several smithies, wooden huts, gatekeeper's rooms, Hoftaverne Windhaag, fishing waters and ponds, meadows, fields, forests, quarries, brick kiln, castle and farmstead Pragtal, called Krottentalhof, market Münzbach, Hoftaverne Münzbach, convent Münzbach, Gotteshaus Münzbach, parish Altenburg, parish Rechberg, Hoftaverne Rechberg, parish Pergkirchen and the Windhag library, which, however, was moved to the Dominican convent in Vienna and made accessible to the public.

When Eva Magdalena died in 1700, little of her father's wealth remained. The predominant part had been built upon, sold, and given away. A few months after Eva Magdalena's death, lightning struck the convent, and the subsequent fire destroyed large parts. From 1765, the convent was under administration due to high debts. In 1782, the convent was dissolved and handed over to the Linz Cathedral Chapter.

The former prioress's wing of the convent, also called the castle, was purchased by the municipality of Windhaag in 2008 and is to be used in the future for municipal administration and the establishment of an event hall. The immediate previous owners were the three Scharrer brothers.