Aigen Castle

Aigen Castle is a historic noble house in the south of Salzburg that bears the name of today’s district of Salzburg-Aigen.At the foot of the Gaisberg, it is surrounded by grassland.The Revertera family has held the property since 1921.The castle is now vacant and undergoing substantial restorations; the owner occupies portions of the castle’s well-renovated outbuildings.The award-winning restaurant “Gasthof Schloss Aigen” is housed in an outbuilding to the north.The Aigner Park, which many Salzburg locals refer to as the parkLocal recreation area and attraction, spans behind the castle complex, towards the Gaisberg.The “Campsite Schloss Aigen” is presently located nearby.

The castle grew out of a manorial estate and was first listed as a “free property” possessed by the cathedral chapter in 1402.Following multiple ownership changes, Levin von Mortaigne (cf. Schloss Seeburg (Seekirchen) ) purchased the property in 1614 and transformed it into a grand country estate.The adjoining Wildbad was originally recorded in the 16th century and, due to its curative water, was as well known as the Wildbad Gastein until the early 17th century.

In 1647, with the death of Johann Dietrich von Mortaigne, Aigen passed to the Barons of Pranckh.In 1673, they sold the house to Johann Josef Graf Kuenburg.Franz Josef Waldherr, Kuenberg’s secretary, purchased Aigen Castle and the surrounding Wildbad in 1727.He created the first vast, near-natural castle park in the Gaisberg woodland region, which the future owner Basil von Amman outfitted with several monuments, grottoes, and other park features and became a gathering site for the Illuminati organization (Apollo Illuminati Lodge ).In 1780, the Salzburg canon Willibald Wolfegg had portions of the park renovated as the English Garden.Hereditary marshal of Salzburg Hieronymus GrafLodron and his successor in possession, canon Ernst Fürst Schwarzenberg, guaranteed the continued embellishment and growth of the natural, romantic gardens, as well as the expansion of the spa.The castle, with its spectacular, wildly romantic woodland garden, was well-known well beyond the bounds of Salzburg in the nineteenth century.In a poem, Bavarian King Ludwig I sung about the garden.

The Revertera family of Upper Austria has possessed the castle since 1921; Peter Graf Revertera gained the property through his marriage to Ida zu Schwarzenberg.The mansion was utilized by the Reich Labor Service in 1939 before becoming a training facility for the German Red Cross in 1941.The Hallein School Sisters stayed in the property after the Second World War until 1948.After then, the rooms were rented out; the last tenant died in 2007, leaving the castle deserted save for an outbuilding occupied by the Revertera-Salandra family.The Federal Monuments Office is supporting extensive restorations that began in 2017.

The palace square’s entrance is flanked by two brick pillars holding classical stone urns from the 18th century.The castle itself is a four-story rectangular structure with a Biedermeier front surrounded by pilaster strips and a high hipped roof.In the courtyard, a five-story tower is erected to the west front.Three low-rise residential structures that were initially planned as farm buildings encircle the castle in a trapezoidal configuration around an inner courtyard.

The marble coat of arms of Count Revertera and Prince Schwarzenberg has been displayed on the northern arched entrance since 1921.Four 17th century marble slabs with previous tombstones from the former cemetery with skulls, each with four bat wings, are walled into the northern farm building.In 1920, an expansion south of the main structure was completed, and in its oval hall is a bust of Cardinal Ippolito Aldobrandini, afterwards Pope Clemens VIII, made of Carrara marble in the 17th century.Today, the castle structure appears dilapidated.

The old farm buildings north of the manor house date mostly from the second half of the nineteenth century.They house the Gasthof Schloss Aigen.It has been restored several times to keep it in fair shape.Theatrical performances used to take place in the guest garden, but there are no plans to bring them back this year (2018).