Gumpenstein Castle

Gumpenstein Castle is a former stately building in the Raumberg district of the market town of Irdning, now houses the Teaching and Research Institute for Agriculture and is a protected monument.

Gumpenstein Castle was built on a hill in that manageable region where the Donnersbach valley flows into the Enns valley. The building consists of two wings that are at right angles to each other. The northern wing is equipped with two towers and is also the oldest part of the castle. The second wing was added about 30 years later. The castle was once equipped with defensive measures belonging to a fortification (walls, moat...), none of which remain today.

Originally, a farm stood on this land. The fiefdom on Gumpenberg is mentioned in 1391, and on December 2, 1449, a "hoff auf Guempten" is named[1]. Duke Albrecht III was in possession of this simple rural farm and property named auf der Guempen. He left this estate to the Gaming Charterhouse towards the end of the 14th century[2]. After several changes of landlords, Moritz von Stainach came into possession of the entire estate at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1616, Moritz von Stainach had the estate converted into a castle. In 1629, due to financial difficulties caused by this conversion, he had to sell it to Georg Welser, the former administrator of Donnersbach Castle and later Baron von und zu Welserheimb und Gumpenstein. The Welserhaimb family owned the castle for several generations. In 1766, Gumpenstein Castle was seized due to high tax debts of the Welsers, but could be bought back and was finally sold to Josef Bublay in 1789. At the end of the 19th century, the residence was converted into a Tudor Gothic style. After the Second World War, Gumpenstein Castle became state property and was renovated in 1954.