Söllheim Castle

Söllheim Castle is located in the municipality of Hallwang near the city of Salzburg and is an old Baroque castle that is privately owned.

The first owner of Söllheim is said to have been Adelheid de Saldersheime in the 12th century. Söllheim came from the Tanners to the Archdiocese at the end of the 14th century. On February 23, 1455, Friedrich Gauchsperger sold the seat "zu Selhaim" to Hans I Prätzl. He was followed by Hans II as administrator of Radegg in 1565. Around 1510, Hans III owned the manor and acquired Radegg Castle. On January 3, 1539, Cardinal Matthäus Lang enfeoffed Jakob Strasser, judge of the Cathedral Provostry, with Söllheim, who had bought it from the Prätzl heirs. On June 25, 1576, the curators of the Strasser estates returned Söllheim to the Archbishop to settle outstanding debts. On October 29, 1650, the butcher Matthias Reitsamer bought Söllheim; at that time, the court chamber demanded its return to the court register, as it had been separated from the Tanner office. The widow Eva Reitsamer sold it in 1684 to Johann Kaufmann, who, according to legend, acquired a large fortune in Venice. He had the manor built in its current form (1689-1702), which had emerged from a medieval defensive and residential tower. At the same time, Kaufmann built the Antonius Chapel. In 1694, he was ennobled with the predicate "von Söllheim". His only daughter Anna Maria married Johann Christoph Pauernfeind von Eys in 1696. In 1710, Kaufmann established a fideicommiss in favor of his grandchildren, which Johann Christoph Cajetan Pauernfeind von Eys then took over as the majorat holder. He was followed by his son Johann Franz Christoph Ignaz, who died in Söllheim in 1782. Already in 1778, he had handed over the majorat to his younger brother Johann Franz Anton. After his death, the still minor son Johann Burkhart became the majorat holder. He then fought in the Austrian army, from which he retired in 1811; he left Söllheim to his sister Maria Anna Mayr, née von Eys. Under her, there was also a spa for women in this castle. The fideicommiss was abolished by the Bavarian government in 1812.

The subsequent owners of the "freehold Söllheim Castle with Mayer and Mesnerhaus" were Franz Schwarzacher (by purchase) on May 18, 1832, Georg Weikl (after auction) on August 10, 1839, Marie Countess von Thun-Hohenstein, née Baroness Mladota von Solopisk, on July 20, 1843, and Ernst Count von Thun-Hohenstein on January 27, 1879. By inheritance, it then passed to Rudolf and Mathilde von Thun-Hohenstein on October 15, 1904, and to Mathilde alone on September 8, 1941. From her, Karl Ledóchowski-Thun, deputy state office director, inherited the property on October 26, 1964. He handed over Söllheim to Eleonore Gruchmann-Bernau on December 16, 1968.