Zell Castle

The origins of Zell date back to 955, when the place was first documented. The first owners, Hermann and Otto de Celle, resided in a castle on the left bank of the Pram, whose foundations later disappeared during road construction. In 1426, the Zeller family built a moated castle on the right bank of the Pram, surrounded by a wall with towers. After the Zeller family died out in 1550, the property passed through marriage to Christoph Retschan and Leo von Hoheneck. Later, the entire estate came into the possession of the Tattenbach family, who were elevated to imperial counts in 1637. Count Ferdinand Josef von Tattenbach-Rheinstein commissioned the renovation of the moated castle, which had been devastated during the War of the Spanish Succession, between 1709 and 1712. The current castle was built from 1760 after the demolition of the moated castle and was completed in 1774. The master builder was Franz de Cuvilliés the Younger, while Christian Wink created the Rococo frescoes and Josef Damian Stuber the trompe-l'oeil architecture in the ballroom. In 1821, Count Maximilian von Arco-Valley acquired the castle. The 19th century saw its decline, and in 1938, it even faced demolition.