Ritzen Castle

Ritzen Castle is one of the castles in the municipality of Saalfelden in the Salzburg region.

Starting from an early medieval castle complex, the building fabric constantly changed over the centuries. Additions and demolitions were continuously carried out, and in 1892, a fire destroyed a large part of the estate. Only when Ritzen Castle came into public hands could further decay be prevented. The castle and its remaining old building structures were restored and renovated. Some additional and connecting buildings were also erected.

The oldest tradition pointing to this manor dates back to 1339. At that time, the estate was still called "Grub" and its owner was the Grafenberger dynasty. It is mentioned that a certain Konrad Grafenberger left it to his son Alex. Other known owners were then the Wispeck family, a Reichenhall citizen Schönberger, and the Ramseider dynasty, who died out in 1579. Their heirs sold it to the Gastein mine owners Hans and Christoph Weitmoser. When Christoph Weitmoser died in 1603, the Lords of Ritz acquired this castle from his heirs in 1604 and became its namesake. The sons of the Lords of Ritz then attained great wealth, which was, however, lost again due to their very lavish lifestyle. Ritzen Castle remained in the possession of the dynasty until 1787, and then passed into "peasant" hands, most recently a Rohrmoser family until 1937. In 1964, the then market town (now municipality) of Saalfelden acquired the remains of this old manor, which made the rescue of the remaining building parts possible.

Since 1968, the main building has housed the Saalfelden Local History Museum with a very valuable and widely known nativity scene exhibition. Many of these Christian-religious nativity scenes come from the Saalfelden nativity scene builder Xandi Schläffer, who is known far beyond the borders. He died on November 18, 1984. His nativity scenes acquired and have a local connection, and as part of the exhibition, one learns: