Walpersdorf Castle

Walpersdorf Castle is located in the Walpersdorf district of the Lower Austrian municipality of Inzersdorf-Getzersdorf, in the Sankt Pölten-Land district.

The Renaissance castle was built in 1571 by Hans Ulrich von Ludmanstorf, who, however, died in 1572. In 1576, Helmhard VIII, Baron von Jörger, bought the property and had it extended; his son Helmhard the Younger completed the castle in 1619. During the Thirty Years' War, the castle passed to Empress Eleonora Gonzaga, who designated the Walpersdorf estate as property to provide for the Loreto Chapel she founded in Vienna with 400 fl. annually. After the Empress's death, Georg Ludwig von Sinzendorf bought the castle, where he built Austria's first systematically constructed factory building – a silk spinning mill. After his death, his widowed wife had to sell the complex to Ludwig Graf Colloredo-Wallsee, who bequeathed it to his daughter Maria Antonia Josefa Montecuccoli. After her death, the inheritance passed to Camillo Graf Colloredo-Wallsee in 1738. From 1859 to 1956, the castle belonged to the Falkenhayn family. Marie Countess Falkenhayn finally bequeathed Walpersdorf, along with other estates, to the Order of the Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver. The castle was severely damaged during World War II but was subsequently repaired. The missionary order remains the owner today. As only a very few sisters still live in Walpersdorf, efforts are currently being made to sell the castle.