Castle Obermurau

Schloss Obermurau is a palace complex on the Schlossberg hill in Murau.It is located in Austria’s Upper Styria region.

Ulrich von Liechtenstein, well known as the Minnesinger, built the first stronghold on the Murauer Schlossberg about 1232.During the 1276-1278 battle between the House of Habsburg and the Bohemian King Pemysl Otakar II, the castle was destroyed.Otto von Liechtenstein, Ulrich’s son, then rebuilt it.

Christoph von Liechtenstein married the merchant’s daughter Anna Neumann von Wasserleonburg (November 25, 1535 – December 18, 1623; her second marriage), who purchased the estate from her husband’s siblings and served as mistress in the old Liechtenstein castle in Murau for half a century after their marriage. His wife acquired the kingdom of Murau after he died in 1580. She is recognized as one of Murau’s most powerful figures. She married her sixth husband, the then 31-year-old Imperial Count Georg Ludwig zu Schwarzenberg, in 1617, at the age of 81, with the marriage most likely concluded in the sense of an adoption with a view to future inheritance (two children of the “Neumannin” had died before her and were childless, so she herself had no descendants).After his wife died in 1623, Count Georg Ludwig had the old castle demolished and the square Renaissance castle built between 1628 and 1643 around an arcaded courtyard.

The Schwarzenbergs have owned Obermurau Castle since Emperor Leopold I elevated them to the status of imperial princes in 1670.

The castle presently houses the Schwarzenberg family’s forest management in addition to residential residences.The Schwarzenbergs owned 18,000 hectares of woods in and surrounding Murau, for a total of 19,000 hectares.