Mühlwang Castle

Mühlwang Castle is located in the municipality of Gmunden in the district of Gmunden, Upper Austria (Linzer Straße 61).

This ancestral seat of the Mühlwanger family from Steyr is first mentioned in 1305 with Herbort dem Muhlbanger. The Mühlwangers were vassals of the Lords of Ort. The fief was first granted by the Wallseer and then by the sovereign. The last Mühlwanger died around 1500. Wolfgang Zollner became his successor. After his death in 1528, the reverted fief fell to the Hofkammer, with Emperor Ferdinand I granting the property to Hans Hofmann von Grünpichl. In 1576, Jobst Schmidttauer bought the lordship of Mühlwang from the barons Friedrich and Ferdinand von Grünpichl. In 1608, Maximilian Hacklberger von Höhenberg auf Weyer was enfeoffed with Mühlwang by Emperor Rudolf II. He sold the castle in 1614 to the Gmunden citizen Leopold Pötsch, whereby Mühlwang temporarily lost its noble freedoms. In 1622, Mühlwang passed as "free inheritance" to the rent master Raphael Fraunholzer from Steyr. He was succeeded in 1628 by inheritance by Benedikt Fasold, administrator in Ebensee. In 1646, the property came to his son Johann Baptist Fasold.

In 1662, Mühlwang was again elevated by Emperor Leopold I to a "land and liberated noble estate". At the same time, the privilege was granted to build taverns, a brewery, mills, and smithies. In 1684, Mühlwang was sold to the salt official Baron Georg Ehrenreich von Schifer. In 1695, Johann Emmerich Graf von Seeau bought Mühlwang from Schifer's son. In 1724, it was sold to Karl Josef Ritter von Frey and from his family in 1817 to Joseph Solterer zu Au. From the Solter heirs, the property passed in 1868 to Karl Klusemann and from his heirs in 1901 to Duke Ernst August of Cumberland. His descendants separated from Mühlwang again in the second half of the 20th century.

The legend of the holy well in Gmunden is associated with the castle.