Zigguln Castle

Zigguln Castle is an estate first documented in 1547 and expanded into a castle in the first half of the 17th century, located on the Kreuzbergl northwest of the city center of Klagenfurt am Wörthersee.

The name Zikullen first appeared in a document in 1496; it derives from Secula, a type of axe used as a clearing tool in the Middle Ages. In 1547, Zigguln was mentioned as a Hube (small farm) belonging to an Adam Hofstetter. His daughter Ursula married Christoph Windisch († 1597), a Klagenfurt master builder and later the city's first mayor. Zigguln had been in his possession since 1589. Their daughter Regina, who inherited Zigguln and was married to the Protestant Lattacher, emigrated in the early 17th century during the Counter-Reformation. The estate was sold to a miner named Lebmacher. Ownership then passed from a state armory administrator to a hammer mill owner. During this time, Zigguln was likely expanded into a country castle. In 1633, the Jesuit order acquired the small estate and used it as a student dormitory and recreation center for the Jesuit school, which was located at Klagenfurt Cathedral.

After the order was dissolved in Austria in 1773, its property, including the castle, became state-owned. Maria Theresia initially leased Zigguln to the military orphanage on Deutenhofenstrasse, and later gifted the estate to this institution. In the 19th century, the property changed hands several times: in 1825, Matthias Galler bought Zigguln; in 1829, Gottfried Ebner von Ebenthal; in 1843, it passed by inheritance to Maria Mühlbacher née von Ebner († 1855). In 1848, it was noted in the land register that Zigguln housed a kettle beer brewery and that a restaurant had long existed at this location. He bought properties and townhouses, moved his residence to Klagenfurt, relocated, returned to Zigguln or the neighboring Bichlhof, which he had acquired in 1883.

From Maria Mühlbacher, ownership passed to Paul Mühlbacher, born in Bleiberg in 1838 and still a minor in the 1850s, who was then released "from paternal authority" in 1860, i.e., declared of legal age. Paul Mühlbacher later served for many years as president of the Bleiberger Bergwerks-Union, founded in 1868 with its headquarters in Klagenfurt, and was a representative of large landowners in the Carinthian Landtag. He died at the age of 82 in 1920; his inheritance was taken over by Maria Balzar, Emil Mühlbacher, Dr. Hans Mühlbacher, and Paula von Blazekovic. From 1927, Hans Mühlbacher was the sole owner of Zigguln.

In 1952, Paul Mühlbacher the Younger was entered as owner in the land register; from him, the Volkskeller-Gesellschaft Klagenfurt bought the property in 1956, which then transferred it to the Chamber for Workers and Employees in 1960. In 1985, electrical engineer Robert Tschuk bought Zigguln, and it remains in private ownership to this day. In 1996, a restoration of the inner courtyard was carried out, as well as a plaster renovation.