Breitenau Castle

Breitenau Castle, or the current Breitenau Manor, is located in the Breitenau district of the municipality of Pennewang in the Wels-Land district.

The Breitenau estate or castle is first mentioned in a document in 987. At that time, Archbishop Friedrich of Salzburg, in the course of the separation of assets between the diocese and St. Peter's Abbey, also transferred the possessions in Preitinouwa (Preitnowe) to the monastery. Through donations, the Breitenau office was enlarged. Despite attempts by the noble family of Jörger von Tollett in the 16th century and Lambach Abbey in the 17th century to acquire the office and the district court, the property remained with St. Peter's Abbey until the abolition of manorialism in 1848–1850. Even today, the manor and the associated demesne land are owned by St. Peter. The relationship between an allegedly existing castle and the Breitenau estate is unclear. For the castle, a Ulrich der Salmansleyter zw Praytenaw is mentioned in 1411, and a knight Jörg der Treytelkover zu Praytenaw in 1452. On February 11, 1459, a Walter Palstorffer, residing in Praytenaw, appears. However, those mentioned are also found on the list of administrators of the St. Peter's estate, so the assumption that there were two properties here, one of which is no longer structurally verifiable, is probably incorrect.

The list of administrators of the Breitenau lordship has been documented since the 12th century. In addition to numerous secular administrators, the estate was also managed by a number of clerics of the monastery (OSB) in the 18th century. In 1887, Rupert Eckschlager, originally from Hintersee in the Salzburg region, took over the administration.