Grafenegg Castle

Grafenegg is a moated medieval castle that Count August von Breuner-Enckevoirt and his son August Johann had rebuilt between 1840 and 1888, with the architects Leopold and Hugo Ernst, into an extravagant piece of romantic historicism - turrets, oriels, gables and chimneys piled up in a manner drawn from English Tudor Gothic and Austrian late Gothic together, set in a landscape park of about thirty-two hectares planted with specimen trees. What it is now is a music venue: the Wolkenturm, a steel and concrete open-air stage shell designed by the Next Enterprise practice and opened in 2007, stands in the park, and a summer festival with major orchestras runs there and in the castle's own auditorium. On non-concert days the park is open for walking and the castle shows rooms and exhibitions.

History

A small settlement called Espersdorf, with a mill and a farmstead, is first recorded on the site in 1294; after 1435 it was ringed with a wall and a moat, and it took the name Grafenegg in the later 15th century from its owner Ulrich von Grafenegg. Johann Count Hardegg rebuilt it around 1500, leaving the slender late Gothic tower of the east wing, Bernhard I Thurzó added a Renaissance portal in 1538, and Johann Baptist Verda von Verdenberg, chancellor to Ferdinand II, turned it into a fortified palace between 1622 and 1633, with bastion houses at its four corners and a chapel of 1633. Count August von Breuner-Enckevoirt, who inherited it in 1813, and his son August Johann rebuilt it between 1840 and 1888 in romantic historicist style with the architects Leopold and Hugo Ernst; the family's losses in the crash of 1873 meant a planned great dome was never built, and in 1894 the castle passed by marriage to the Dukes of Ratibor, who own it still (Wikipedia, Schloss Grafenegg).

The main sights

• A historicist castle - turrets and gables piled up in the rebuild of 1840 to 1888.
• The Wolkenturm - the 2007 open-air concert shell standing in the park.
• A thirty-two hectare park - landscape planting with specimen trees.
• A summer music festival - orchestras playing outdoors and in the auditorium.

When to go

May to September; check the concert calendar. Half a day.

Before you go

Concert nights fill the roads and parking, and the park may be restricted. Outside the season the castle interior has limited opening. Open-air concerts move indoors in bad weather.

Nearby

Krems and the Wachau are west; the Kamptal wine villages are north.

Key facts