Radeck Castle

Radeck Castle, also known as Radegg Castle, is a castle complex in the municipality of Bergheim in Salzburg, only partially preserved today.

The Lords of Radeck first appeared in documents in the 13th century. They were among the most important Salzburg ministerial families of the 13th and 14th centuries. The construction of the castle probably dates back to around 1200. It was the seat of the Radeck district court and thus also of local jurisdiction, which is still commemorated today by the popular term "Galgenbichl" (Gallows Hill). In 1334, Radeck Castle was sold to the Archdiocese of Salzburg.

Later, Radeck was owned by Hans III. Präzl, who had the castle rebuilt and a chapel erected next to the castle in 1516. The next owner was the Passau canon Erasmus Hohenfelder. He granted his relative Margarete Saurer the right to reside at Radeck for life. On August 18, 1525, several citizens of Salzburg, led by Virgil Hippinger, attacked the castle and caused devastation. The castle was set on fire on all four sides. Margarete then returned to her hometown of St. Georgen im Attergau. She tried in vain to get compensation from Cardinal Matthäus Lang. Only after a petition to Emperor Charles V did she receive a certain sum of money as compensation after 13 years of litigation. After the Peasants' War, Radeck was restored and came into the possession of Dr. Paul Rettinger from Nördlingen, personal physician to the Salzburg administrator Duke Ernst of Bavaria. His son Martin Herkules Rettinger (Bishop of Lavant from 1569) sold Radeck to Hieronymus Meitting, city judge of Salzburg. He invested considerable sums in the reconstruction. Since he had overextended himself financially, he sold the property to his brother-in-law Friedrich von Rehlingen.

He had the complex largely renovated in 1670. In 1685, Johann Paris Freiherr von Rehlingen sold the castle to the Salzburg canon and president of the court chamber, Franz Anton Graf von Königsegg (coat of arms above the door). In 1713, Radegg, along with the lordship, was sold by Johann Georg von Rehlingen and his sister Ana Eleonora, widowed Countess Fugger, to the Maria Plain Church, which was then owned by the Benedictine University of Salzburg. Even before the university was abolished by the Bavarian occupiers of Salzburg, Radeck was sold to rapidly changing owners in 1808. The destruction during the Napoleonic Wars marked the beginning of the property's decline.

In 1854, the farmer Felix Fuchs acquired the castle and the associated Schlossmeiergut (castle farm). Both are still owned by the Fuchs family (now Moarbauer). In 1972, the last remnants of the castle were removed during a renovation of the residential building there.