Gobelsburg Castle

Gobelsburg Castle is located in the cadastral community of Gobelsburg, part of the municipality of Langenlois, in the district of Krems-Land in Lower Austria. The castle, with a Renaissance core, was baroque-styled by Joseph Munggenast and contains a work by Kremser Schmidt in its chapel. The building is a protected monument.

The history of the castle is closely linked to that of Zwettl Abbey. Gobelsburg Castle was originally built as a fortified stronghold in 1074 by the progenitor of the Kuenring family, Azzo von Gobatsburg, and was first mentioned in a Kuenring document. After the founding of Zwettl Abbey by his grandson Hadmar I von Kuenring in 1138, he endowed the abbey with vineyards in Gobelsburg.

Gobelsburg remained in the possession of the Kuenring family until 1314 and subsequently passed into the possession of various noble families. In the 16th century, the fortress was converted into a four-wing complex in the Renaissance style. Otto Achaz von Ehrenreich, Baron von Hohenfeld, commissioned Joseph Munggenast in 1725 to carry out the Baroque transformation.

In 1740, von Hohenfeld sold the castle to Zwettl Abbey, and a few years later it became the administrative seat of the abbey.

After the First World War, the castle fell into disrepair, and when French prisoners of war were housed there during the Second World War, it completely deteriorated.

Renovation work began in 1958, and after its completion in 1966, it served as an outpost of the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art, which established a ceramics museum, until the end of the 20th century.

Today, Gobelsburg Castle, with its vineyards, is used as a winery.