Lerchen Castle

Lerchen Castle is located in Radstadt in the district of Sankt Johann im Pongau, Salzburg (Schlossstraße 1).

This Salzburg manor was first mentioned in 1289, when it was built as a tower. During the peasant uprisings of 1525/26, it was conquered, plundered, and burned down by the peasants. Reconstruction began in 1530 under Michael Wilpendorfer. Wilpendorfer's descendants owned the castle until 1633. In 1637, Captain Johann Schmiedinger bought it. In 1648, it was sold to Joseph Christoph Ziurletti von Lerchen. His son Johann Christoph bequeathed the estate to the city of Radstadt, which sold it to Felix Pflanzmann in 1695.

After further changes of ownership, the Salzburg Court Chamber acquired the castle in 1779 and expanded it as an official and residential seat for the chief hunter and forest master. The princely archiepiscopal coat of arms of Archbishop Colloredo with the year 1779 can still be seen on the oriel on the eastern facade. After Salzburg's annexation to Austria, the castle was auctioned in 1823 and came into the possession of Josef Schaidinger, a brewer and innkeeper in Radstadt, who set up his brewery cellar here.

After 1828, the following owners are traceable: Katherina Zallerin, Franz Bededikt Steinwender (1828), Dean of Teisendorf, Municipality of Radstadt (1831), Benedikt Geringer (1845), Matthias and Theresia Wisenegger (1846), Cyril and Maria Darin (1872), Leonhard Marangani (1882), an Italian sawmill owner. He disfigured the interior of the castle, and his children sold the manor in 1904 to Rupert Prehauser. In 1905, it was sold to the St. Katharina Hospital in Radstadt, which established a hospital and care facility here. In 1939, it was taken over again by the municipality and expanded in 1971/72 with a featureless annex.