Youth hostel
CastlePölla-Wetzlas
Wetzlas Castle
Wetzlas Castle is a Neoclassical manor house in the Lower Austrian town of Wetzlas, which, together with its outbuildings and an astronomical tower, forms a three-sided enclosed building complex. The listed complex is surrounded by a park and a garden wall.
The former Meierhof was converted into a manor house around 1720–1725 by Baron Ignaz Philip von Ehrmanns, the owner of the Dobra estate. Under the Ehrmanns, the astronomical tower and the castle garden were also laid out. After frequent changes of ownership, Baron von Pereira-Arnstein is named as the owner in 1814. In 1842, Franz von Andrea bought the property and expanded it by adding a floor and building a chapel. However, even after Franz von Andrea, ownership changed frequently. In 1940, Wetzlas Castle was sold to the German Reich and incorporated into the Döllersheim military training area. After the end of the Second World War and the withdrawal of the occupying powers, the property came into the possession of the Republic of Austria, which in turn sold it to a private owner in 1964. At this point, the castle was already threatened by decay and had also been repeatedly targeted by arsonists. In 1991, it was bought by Hans Pretterebner and fundamentally renovated. Since 2001, it has been operated as a youth hostel and holiday castle.
Description+
The elongated, two-story building with a gabled central risalit is structured on the ground floor by continuous rustication. The five-axis central risalit has pilaster articulation on the upper floor and bears the coat of arms of Franz von Andrea on the gable. The wide, front-facing driveway is bordered by a stone balustrade. The partially preserved stucco ceilings inside probably date from the 19th century.
The chapel is located on the west side of the castle. It is rectangular and has a recessed choir with a round apse to the south, a small roof turret with an onion dome, and round-arched and oval windows. The flat-ceilinged nave with beveled corners and the choir are cross-vaulted and have continuous pilaster articulation. The vaulting of the choir is provided with a profiled impost. The ceiling painting is Neoclassical, as is the marble altar, which probably dates from the 19th century.
The astronomical tower dates from the second half of the 18th century and was built by the Ehrmanns family. The two-story building with a banded ground floor has round-arched windows and pilaster articulation on the upper floor.
On the north side of the courtyard are former stables with cross vaults over Tuscan columns, which were built in the late 18th/early 19th century. Parts of these were destroyed by arson in 1963.
Film Set+
Wetzlas Castle has been used several times as a filming location for films and television series, for example in 1972 for the television series "The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schwejk" with Fritz Muliar and Heinz Marecek, or for some scenes of the cinema comedy "Drei Herren" with Karl Markovics, Karl Merkatz and Ottfried Fischer in 1998.
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Source: Wikipedia · Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GuentherZ_2011-03-19_0127_Wetzlas_Schloss.jpg
This description draws on the facts documented in the linked Wikipedia article; Wikipedia content is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Wording and editing: Mobile History.
Location: 48.6032, 15.4025