Thannegg Castle

Thannegg Castle in Moosheim (also Moosheim Castle, Thonegg Castle) is located in Michaelerberg in Styria. It is a protected monument under 96381!

Thannegg Castle is located in the Moosheim district of Michaelerberg, on the right bank of the Enns river. The main building, together with the former farm buildings, encloses a courtyard in a horseshoe shape. Remains of the surrounding walls are still preserved. The old moat can only be guessed at. A visit is possible as part of the hotel operation.

Chronicle

Records of the "Old Castle" with its tower and the church of St. Michael date back to 1150.

In the first half of the 14th century, the Lords of Wildon enfeoffed Eckbert von Thann with several estates in Sölk. He may have already begun to expand the farm into a noble seat. However, he in turn passed the estate as a sub-fief to Amelreich von Sankt Michael. In 1346, Amelreich's widow sold the farm to the Bishop of Chiemsee, with Eckbert von Thann renouncing his feudal sovereignty.

In 1369, Markwart von Thanpeck, who was a judge in Admont, appears as the owner of the castle. He was already called Thanneck at that time. To raise the Turkish tax, in 1529 the Bishop of Chiemsee sold the "seat in St. Michael" to Bartholomäus von Moosheim. His grandson Benedikt began to expand the castle in the later 16th century. Two side wings were added to the old castle.

Towards the end of the 16th century, a beacon station was established here. The high costs for the castle construction, but also the severe storms that repeatedly destroyed harvests between 1567 and 1580, led to the financial decline of the Lords of Moosheim. Thannegg was therefore first pledged to Johanna von Rorbach in 1599 and finally sold to Achatz Hagen zu Niederdorf. Since he could not pay the purchase price, the Moosheimers took back the estate and finally sold it in 1642 to the Gröbming citizen Franz Schörkhmayr. They themselves had previously had to leave the country as the last Lutheran nobles of the Enns Valley. A descendant was Johann Lorenz von Mosheim. Franz Schörkhmayr's son of the same name sold Thannegg in 1671 to Count Peter Bonaventura von Crollolanza.

In 1777, Karl Graf von Stainach acquired the property, which he had administered from his Stainach Castle. By means of a public auction, Moosheim passed to Alois Graf Khuenburg in 1810. In 1819, Franz Ritter von Friedau acquired the castle, followed by numerous owners.

In 1911, it was acquired by the municipality of Michaelerberg and used as a poorhouse. In the first quarter of the 20th century, the building had already almost fallen into ruin. Even the noble, but short-term owners Count Charles Henry Bardeau (1919) and Prince Colloredo (1929) could not change this. In 1941, the municipality of Michaelerberg, which had reacquired the old castle in 1933, partially demolished it and used the stones for road construction. In 1984/85, the current owners, Ernst and Gerlinde Schrempf, acquired the almost uninhabitable ruin, revitalized the masonry and transformed Thannegg Castle in Moosheim into a castle hotel.

Architectural-historical classification

The predominantly three-story building is kept quite simple. Its only architectural ornament is a projecting bay window above the entrance gate. In the courtyard, remains of Renaissance sgraffito decorations have been preserved. The individual building wings are provided with hipped roofs with a small gable.

Due to its temporary use as a poorhouse, little of the original interior decoration has been preserved. The castle had to be newly adapted and furnished for its use as a hotel. During excavation work in 2002/03, a vault from 1150 was uncovered in the deep cellar. The original stone floor reappeared.

Immediately next to the castle is the small late Romanesque St. Michael's Church, which served as the castle church. It features a round apse and early Gothic windows. Genealogically interesting is the fragment of the family tree of the Moosheimers on the back of the altar.