Windern Castle

Windern Castle is located in the district of the same name in the municipality of Desselbrunn in the Vöcklabruck district of Upper Austria.

Windern (Windarin) is first mentioned in 1185, when it was owned by the Styrian ministerialis Gerhoch von Viecht. Through him, Windern became a donation to Admont Abbey, from there in 1261 to Hedwig von Weng and Heinrich Aistersheimer. Around 1300, Konrad von Haag followed; in 1315, an owner first appeared who named himself after the property: Ulrich von Windern. He was followed in 1379 by Purkhart von Windern. The lordship, which had meanwhile become a princely fief, passed in 1395 to Koloman der Windner and his wife Agnes. Hans Windern's daughter Margarete married Kolomann von Grienthal in 1419 and brought Windern into the marriage as a dowry. In 1455, Sigmund Moser held the "Gesäzz Windern" and then his son Clemens until 1523. In 1594, the Polheimers followed. They had the actual castle built. During the time when the country above the Enns was pledged to Bavaria, Count Adam von Herberstorff acquired the property from Siegmund Ludwig von Pollheim in 1628 with a right of repurchase. In 1629, the widow Salome von Herbertorff sold the castle back to the Pollheimers. Under Karl von Hayden, the lordship of Windern, alongside Dorff and Lindach, belonged to the Haydens in 1630. In 1654, Georg Erasmus von Zetlitz bought Windern Castle, from whom his son Georg Christoph inherited it in 1657. Through the marriage of Sara Sophia von Zedlitz, Windern passed to Hanns Kaspar Höritzer in 1742.

In 1750 (1745), Windern came to Franz Xaver Poch(k)steiner von Wolfenbach. His wife, née Baroness Pozzi von Rosenfeld, gave birth to 19 children; of these, Peter inherited the property after his father's death in 1798. The Pochsteiners had the castle chapel built in 1769.

During the French Wars, Windern was heavily fortified; the earthworks were later leveled again. After a fire in 1817 (and 1866), Windern was rebuilt. Peter Freiherr von Wolfenbach's sister Rosa married Baron Kaspar von Lempruch. Their son Karl Ludwig inherited the lordship in 1835. Thereafter, a rapid change of ownership began, including: Karl Freiherr von Mladota (1851), Michael and Therese Bruckmüller and Anton von Lansa (1867), Ludwig Graf Folliot-Creneville (1877) and Freiherr Eduard von Lago (1884). In 1888, Windern was acquired by Legation Councillor Karl Baron von Gagern, whose family made great efforts to preserve the castle. The writer Friedrich von Gagern often stayed at the castle. The widow Maria Gagern died in Linz in 1960, a year before Windern passed into the possession of Freiherr von Buttlar-Brandenfels. The next owner was Maximilian Garber, who had the castle renovated. In 1988, Windern went to Werner Frey from Basel, who wanted to convert the castle into a retirement residence; this plan was not realized. Since 2006, the castle has been owned by Franziska Pranckh and Vikas Thapar, who began extensive renovation work in the same year.