Sierndorf Castle

The castle dates back to the Lords of Sierndorf, who were related to the Lords of Werd. In the 1260s, an Albero von Sierndorf is mentioned in documents, followed in 1272 by a Swikerus de Syrendorf.

The Sierndorfs died out in 1379. Their heirs sold the dominion to the Viennese burgher family of Tirna. After several changes of ownership, Hans von Zelking acquired the princely fief in 1496. His brother Wilhelm converted the medieval castle into a moated castle after 1516. The Zelkingers sold the dominion to the Herbersteins in 1604. Maria Susanna Herberstein brought the property into her marriage with Albert Ernst Graf Gurland in 1696. Between 1709 and 1728, under Johann Anton Ernst Graf Gurland, the castle underwent a baroque redecoration.

In 1749, Leopold Graf Schallenberg inherited the castle. He sold the estate as early as 1755 to Prince Rudolf Josef Colloredo. The last structural changes occurred in the second half of the 19th century, when a decorative staircase was added to the south side of the inner courtyard. Extensive restoration work took place between 1898 and 1902. In 1940, the property was expropriated by the German Reich, but returned to the Colloredo-Mansfeld family in 1950. In the meantime, most of the inventory had been destroyed and the building severely damaged. Today, the castle once again makes a very well-maintained impression.