Hunnenbrunn Castle

Hunnenbrunn Castle (also: Hungerbrunn) is a listed building in the village of Hunnenbrunn, which today belongs to the municipality of Frauenstein in Carinthia. It was built in the second half of the 16th century in the Renaissance style, but has lost much of its original character due to numerous additions and alterations. The listed building is now used by an agricultural vocational school.

The name of the castle allegedly comes from the spring that rises here, which dried up in dry periods and thus predicted a bad harvest - a so-called hunger year. At the site of the present building originally stood a farmstead belonging to the Hunnerbrunner family. Originally part of the Kraig dominion, the estate passed to their heirs, the Counts of Hardegg zu Glatz and Machland, after the Kraigers died out in 1564. In 1570, Georg Freiherr von Khevenhüller acquired the estate and had a small castle built and furnished here in place of the farmhouse. The property remained in the possession of the Khevenhüller family until Paul Freiherr von Khevenhüller, as a Protestant, had to emigrate in 1619 during the Counter-Reformation. Subsequently, the castle was predominantly owned by St. Veit's merchant and burgher families.

The Khevenhüllers were followed by the wealthy merchant family Zenegg. In 1642, the imperial mint master Hans Georg Pero was the owner of the castle. In 1659, his son Georg Balthasar von Pero sold the property to Johann Jakob Kärner, mayor and city judge of St. Veit. In 1671, Hans Christoph von Zenegg, administrator of Taggenbrunn, took over the manor. In 1686, Franz Andreas von Mayerhoffen bought the castle and the dominion, which was now also equipped with a regional court, and which remained in the possession of his descendants until 1806. After another change of ownership, Peter Graf von Goëss acquired the castle in 1822, after which the owners changed rapidly. Anton and Anna Eibl, who acquired the castle in 1876 at a forced auction, had the name changed from Hungerbrunn to Hunnenbrunn. In 1929, Josef Klimbacher was the owner of Hunnenbrunn. In 1943, the Deutsche Umsiedlungs- und Treuhandgesellschaft briefly took over the castle, which already had a new owner, Walter Klimbacher, the following year.

In 1964, the Province of Carinthia acquired the estate to establish a vocational school for women here. In 1971, the extension facing away from the valley side became necessary, and an extensive restoration followed the year after. The castle is currently used by an agricultural vocational school.