Losensteinleiten Castle

The largest historic building in the market town is Losensteinleiten Castle. In addition to the horseshoe-shaped castle with arcaded courtyard, the complex also includes a large garden with a castle pond and the mausoleum, which was built several hundred meters away at the edge of the forest. The exact beginnings of the lordship can no longer be precisely determined. It is certain that a Niklas Flusshart sold his possessions to Dietrich von Losenstein. Through the family of the "Losensteiner zu Leiten", the former village of Leiten got its current name Losensteinleiten. Bernhard I von Losenstein built the late medieval moated castle between 1409 and 1433, to which the regional jurisdiction was later transferred. Through his wife, Bernhard I also acquired the lordship over the Lower Austrian Schallaburg and the lordship of Gschwendt. Later, these possessions were divided among Bernhard's three sons, and Florian received the lordship of Losensteinleiten. Since the family was at home in Losensteinleiten, the ancestral castle in Losenstein increasingly fell into disrepair. Florian, the founder of the Losenstein zu Losensteinleiten line, was knighted by Emperor Friedrich in 1453 – during his coronation in Rome – on the Tiber Bridge. He was married to Magdalena Auer von Prennberg and left a son named Wilhelm upon his death in 1462. Wilhelm was a councilor to Emperor Maximilian I and inherited not only the lordship of Losensteinleiten but also the lordship of Gebenhofen in Bavaria from his mother. He married Barbara von Parsberg in 1476 and had five sons with her, of whom Acharz took over the lordship. Acharz died in 1527 and his son Christoph III von Losensteinleiten took over the lordship. When a Turkish army under Kassim Pascha made the area unsafe in 1532, the castle also suffered greatly. Between 1550 and 1570, the moated castle was enlarged by three wings by Georg Achaz I von Losenstein, a son of Christoph III.

When Georg Acharz I died in 1597, he left behind his wife Christine von Perkheim and his son Georg Christoph II. Georg Christoph II was Lord of Losenstein zu Losensteinleiten and was also able to unite the lordships of Schallaburg, Weidenholz, and Siechtenberg in his hands. He had married Anna von Stubenberg in 1610. At his early death in 1622, his son Georg Wolfgang was still a minor. The Losensteiners were zealous followers of the Lutheran doctrine and kept several court preachers. It was not until 1620 that the Losensteiners again professed the Catholic faith. Georg Acharz II, Count and Lord of Losenstein, bought the estate "Mayr zu Laach", which remained from the former noble seat of Hauzenbach, in 1627 as guardian of Georg Wolfgang. When Georg Wolfgang, the last of the Losenstein zu Losensteinleiten line, died in 1635, Losensteinleiten Castle passed to the Lords of Losenstein zu Gschwendt. After this line also died out with Franz Anton in 1692, all possessions of the Losensteiners passed to the Princes of Auersperg.

Little information has been preserved from the time when the castle was owned by the Princes of Auersperg. In the 18th century, the castle was rebuilt once more. Until the 1950s, the castle was inhabited by the princely family of Auersperg, but after the war damage of the Second World War, the castle fell into disrepair.

On June 1, 1955, Losensteinleiten Castle became the property of the Austrian Camillian Order Province. For twenty years, Losensteinleiten housed the province's minor seminary and a private grammar school with public rights. In 1976, school operations ceased, and in 1978, the boarding school closed. Since then, the use of the building has caused major problems. Maintenance costs became a great burden for the order. In 1978, a lease agreement was concluded with the state of Upper Austria, and until 1983, the state government ran an agricultural vocational school for girls in the castle. In 1985, the Linz community returned to Losensteinleiten and established the St. Kamillus Retreat and Education Center in the monastery. Economic and personnel difficulties eventually led to the sale of the castle and the four-hectare property. On September 1, 1997, REWO Residenzen und Wohnheime GmbH acquired Losensteinleiten Castle and operates the St. Kamillus Residential and Nursing Home according to the Christian-social values of St. Camillus de Lellis. As the owner of REWO, Losensteinleiten Castle now bears the coat of arms of the Plocek family.

Mausoleum

The mausoleum was built around 1880 as a burial place for the then owner of Losensteinleiten Castle, Karl Wilhelm Prince of Auersperg. Until then, the Auerspergs were buried in the crypt under the parish church of Maria Laah. Karl Wilhelm von Auersperg, who died in early January 1890, was then already buried in the mausoleum. The building is located about 300 m west of the castle amidst fields and forests. At the time of its construction, the area belonged to the castle and was used as a spacious garden.

The actual burial site is located in the basement of the mausoleum. There, in addition to the stone sarcophagi of the Prince of Auersperg and his wife, there are also the wooden coffins of their descendants. Visible from the outside is the beautiful chapel, which is located directly above the Prince's stone sarcophagus. Cloisters adjoin both sides of the chapel, on whose walls the memorial plaques of the Auerspergs buried here are affixed. The symmetrical basic form and the simplicity of the mausoleum are clear characteristics of the Historicist architectural style in which the building was erected.

Although Losensteinleiten Castle was sold in 1953, the burial site is still in the family possession of the Auerspergs. The last descendant of the Austrian line died in November 1998 and was buried in the mausoleum. For the Bohemian line, the Auersperg family crypt is located in Vlasim in Bohemia.