Neubeuern Castle

Neubeuern Castle is a multi-winged castle complex in the Inn Valley. It was originally built in the 12th century as a hilltop castle on a hill in the Inn Valley above the town of Neubeuern. The striking keep is visible far across the Inn Valley and from the A 8 and A 93 motorways.

12th–17th Century

Based on the oldest part of the castle, the keep, the first beginnings of Neubeuern Castle can be dated to the second half of the 12th century. The castle originally belonged to the dominion of the Bishops of Regensburg. During the conflicts between the prince-bishopric and the Bavarian Duke Ludwig in the 13th century, it was handed over to Count Konrad von Wasserburg for administration. He is said to have built a massive ring wall with nine towers and expanded the fortress into the strongest castle complex in the Inn Valley. In 1388, however, the Bishop of Regensburg sold the castle to the knight Hartprecht Harskircher of Zangberg, the chamberlain of Duke Friedrich of Bavaria-Landshut. Over three hundred years of Regensburg rule thus ended for Neubeuern.

12 years later, Knight Wolfhart von der Alben acquired the castle, but sold it again in 1403 to Knight Jakob von Thurn. The Thurn family had risen from minor archiepiscopal vassals to the Salzburg nobility. The castle remained in their possession for over two hundred years until the beginning of the 17th century, when the rule of the Thurns began to crumble.

18th–19th Century

From 1668, the Counts of Preysing-Hohenaschau became the "collectors" of the Thurn family's possessions in Neubeuern.

The castle and the market had survived the Thirty Years' War relatively unscathed, but in the War of the Austrian Succession, Hungarian troops destroyed Neubeuern. What remained of the castle was blown up.

Count Max IV. Emanuel von Preysing-Hohenaschau (1739–1764) then commissioned the Munich city architect Ignaz Anton Gunetzrhainer, together with his brother Johann Baptist Gunetzrhainer, to completely redesign the complex in the style of Bavarian-Tyrolean manor houses (1747–1752).

The castle chapel of St. Augustine was also rebuilt. Johann Baptist Zimmermann (high altar with column structure in the Wessobrunn stucco marble style) and Joseph Götsch, who created the two side altars in 1767/68 (Baptism of Christ and Martyrdom of St. Sebastian), contributed to the design. The castle chapel of St. Augustine is considered Bavarian Rococo and is a destination for visitors to Neubeuern interested in art history.

Count Johann-Christian Preysing died in 1833. The property remained in the hands of descendants for another thirty years and eventually could no longer be held by them.

In 1882, Jan Wendelstadt, son of the founder of the "Darmstädter Bankverein Ferdinand Wendelstadt" and a Dutch aristocrat, acquired the castle. In 1893, he married Julie Countess von Degenfeld-Schonburg, a lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Württemberg, who thereby became Baroness von Wendelstadt and mistress of Neubeuern Castle. This completed the connection to the Swabian-German ancient nobility.

20th Century

After the eastern part of the castle had already been renovated in 1893 after a fire, the Baron had the central building of the castle rebuilt between 1904 and 1908. He commissioned the architect Gabriel von Seidl, who had become known for building the Bavarian National Museum. The new central building, designed in the Neo-Renaissance style, is characterized by its spacious staircase and magnificent rooms.

The marriage of Jan Wendelstadt to Julie von Degenfeld remained childless. Thus, the Baroness spent the years after her husband's death primarily with her sister-in-law Ottonie von Degenfeld and other like-minded people. She formed a circle of artistically creative friends around her, which included writers and poets such as Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Annette Kolb, Rudolf Alexander Schröder, Rudolf Borchardt, Henry van de Velde, Harry Graf Kessler, Eugen Roth, Carl Burckhardt, Henry von Heiseler, the musician and composer Max von Schillings, and the art historian and Krupp director Eberhard von Bodenhausen. In addition, there were well-known South German painters such as Carl Arnold, Bruno Paul, Leo Putz, Paul Hoecker, Arnold Böcklin, Alfred Haushofer, Franz von Lenbach, Walter Püttner, Ludwig von Hofmann, Hans Rossmann, Josef Sattler, and Franz von Stuck. Some of these people met annually for a "Neubeuern Week" until the First World War. Afterwards, the castle was used as a military hospital.