Engelstein Castle

The castle only appears in documents around 1417, but is likely to be significantly older. Presumably, a simple watchtower stood in its place before.

After the destruction of Hadmarstein Castle on the neighboring Johannisberg, the tower at Engelstein was probably expanded into a moated castle in the second half of the 13th century. In 1417, Georg von Klingen is mentioned as the owner. A few years later, the Schaller family provided the lord of the castle. Kaspar Schaller was enfeoffed with the lordship in 1442 by Reinprecht von Wallsee, whose family had succeeded the Kuenringer. Vinzenz Schaller sold it to Hans Zeller towards the end of the 15th century. The feudal suzerainty had already fallen to the respective territorial princes around 1480.

In 1531, Benedikt Schaul took over the fortress and began to expand it in the Renaissance style. The subsequent brothers Ladislaus, Hans, and Andreas von Prag, Barons of Windhag, continued the elaborate reconstruction and gave the main castle its current appearance. Due to the enormous construction costs, the heavily indebted lordship was confiscated by the estates towards the end of the 16th century. In 1616, it was sold to Hans Kalchgruber, who transferred it two years later to his son-in-law Nikolaus von Gurland. In 1619, imperial troops stormed the castle and plundered it. In 1630, Lazarus Parfuß is mentioned as the lord of the manor. After his death, the brothers Georg Adam and Hans Ernst von Mühlwang followed in 1656. In 1681, they sold the lordship to Adam Anton Graf Grundemann.

The Grundemann family kept the castle for 150 years. During this time, further alterations and extensions took place, but these did not relate to the core castle. In 1806, Engelstein came to the Barons von Geusau, who owned it until 1916. Afterwards, Adolf Lewin acquired the castle, but was dispossessed in 1938. Engelstein was taken over by the Deutsche Ansiedlungsgenossenschaft, but soon sold to Baron Kloss. In 1964, the industrialist Erich Meinl acquired the castle, which had been plundered and neglected during and after the Second World War. Currently, Engelstein is owned by the veterinarian Andreas Meinl.