Marquartstein Castle

Marquartstein Castle is a medieval castle complex in Marquartstein in the Upper Bavarian district of Traunstein. It is located on a rock in the Chiemgau region, protruding into the valley of the Tiroler Achen.

The founding of Marquartstein Castle by the Chiemgau Count Marquart von Marquartstein dates back to 1075. Shortly after his marriage to Adelheid von Lechsgmünd, Marquart died. His widow subsequently married Ulrich von Passau, a member of the Diepoldinger family. After his death in 1099, the castle came into the possession of the House of Spanheim through the marriage of his daughter Uta to Engelbert II. The resulting County of Kraiburg-Marquartstein became part of the Ortenburg possessions after his death. After the palatine line of the House of Ortenburg died out with Rapoto III in 1248, the possessions fell to his son-in-law Hartmann I von Werdenberg. He sold the county to the Wittelsbach Duke Heinrich XIII of Lower Bavaria in 1259. Marquartstein was subsequently the seat of a Bavarian Pflegamt until 1803. In 1803, the Pfleggericht Marquartstein was abolished and incorporated into the Traunstein district court. In 1857, the Anglo-Irish writer Jemina Montgomery and her husband Cajetan von Tautphoeus bought the decaying castle and had it renovated. From 1928 to 1958, the castle housed a country boarding school. After a complete renovation in the 1990s, the castle is now privately owned by an art and antiques dealer from Munich and cannot be visited.