Eckartsau Castle

Eckartsau Castle is a building converted from a castle into a hunting lodge in Eckartsau, not far from the Danube wetlands in the Marchfeld region of Lower Austria. It entered the history books as the last domestic residence of Emperor Karl I after his renunciation of any share in state affairs on November 11, 1918.

The original castle was a four-sided moated castle. The knightly family of Eckartsau, who owned the castle, was first mentioned in a deed of gift from Irnfried von Rötelstein, who owned the castle on Braunsberg near Hainburg, to Klosterneuburg Abbey. In this, Heinrich des Ekkarisowe is named as a witness to the donation. The Eckartsau family was enfeoffed to the Prince-Bishopric of Regensburg.

Over time, the knightly family acquired market rights, land, and other castles around the castle. In the Minorite Church in Vienna, where the most respected people of the country were buried at the time, the Knights of Eckartsau also had a crypt built.

Since Konrad von Eckartsau supported the Austrian Duke Albrecht V in taking over the regency at the age of 14, he was generously promoted by him. Under Emperor Friedrich III, the knights were repeatedly robbed and their castle plundered, but Georg von Eckartsau himself was also a robber knight.

Wilhelm von Eckartsau was the last male Eckartsau. His daughter Appolonia inherited Eckartsau Castle and estate in 1507. Her sons sold the estate after their mother's death in 1571 to Georg Freiherr von Teuffel. Over the next two centuries, ownership changed hands very often, until Franz Ferdinand Graf Kinsky bought the castle in 1720. He had the castle converted into a hunting lodge according to plans by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach.

In 1760, Emperor Franz I Stephan of Lorraine, husband of Maria Theresia of Habsburg, ruler of the Austrian Hereditary Lands, bought the castle. In 1797, it was transferred by their grandson, Emperor Franz II (from 1804 Franz I of Austria) to the family foundation of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine (called the Family Fund).

After Maria Theresia's death in 1780, however, the castle visibly deteriorated. The south and east parts were demolished. Only Archduke Franz Ferdinand had it completely renovated in 1896–1897 and the already demolished parts rebuilt. The castle park was also redesigned at that time. In 1912, the heir to the throne had the magnificent staircase made of white, hard Kaisersteinbruch stone removed from the former Harrach Garden Palace in Vienna Landstraße and the parts brought to Eckartsau Castle.

The castle gained significance again when Emperor Karl I and Empress Zita with their children, including six-year-old Otto, moved from the state-owned Schönbrunn Palace to Habsburg private property on the day of the renunciation of government in Austria and lived in Eckartsau from the night of November 11/12, 1918. Here, on November 13, 1918, Karl handed over his written renunciation of the exercise of government in Hungary to a Hungarian political delegation, who had to put in a lot of persuasion, but did not formally abdicate there, as in Austria. When going into exile became inevitable due to his refusal to abdicate, the British Colonel Edward Lisle Strutt ordered the Imperial and Royal court train of the state railways to Kopfstetten, the nearest railway station. From there, Karl and his family departed for Switzerland on March 23, 1919.

The Habsburg Family Fund was taken over by the state without compensation with the Habsburg Law of April 3, 1919. Thus, the castle, which is now located in the Danube-Auen National Park, became the property of the Republic of Austria, managed by the Austrian Federal Forests.

As a museum, the castle has also been awarded the museum quality seal. The Marchfeld Castles also include Niederweiden Castle and Hof Castle.