Schloss Matzen

Matzen Castle is located in the Lower Austrian municipality of Matzen-Raggendorf. There exists a castle of the same name Matzen in Tyrol, which is used as a hotel.

The medieval castle was probably built at the same time as the foundation of Matzen in the 12th century. From 1551 in the possession of the Barons of Herberstein, the castle was rebuilt into a Renaissance castle.

The present chateau is the result of these modern building measures, in particular the reconstructions by the Fünfkirchen family, who held the chateau between 1629 and 1700. By marriage Matzen passed to the Kinsky family. Christian Joseph Count Kinsky carried out another reconstruction in 1827 to transform the castle into a neo-Gothic castle with small towers and battlements in the style of Romanticism. Paul Count Kinsky sold Matzen in 1931 to the Löw family, whose company Gustav and Wilhelm Löw was engaged in the production of spirits, for which many agricultural lands in the surrounding area were leased. At the end of the Second World War it was looted and subsequently fell into disrepair. In 1963 an engineer bought the plant and started renovation works.

From 1966 to 1989 the castle was a branch of the Museum of Ethnology.

The castle has been privately owned for many years. According to press reports, the elevated irregular building group with arcaded courtyard, three-story main building, crenellated walls and square tower is in a structurally difficult condition. In particular, a legal dispute since 2015 has made waves in the media. An outer wall of the castle collapsed after a heavy rainfall event and triggered a mud avalanche. A house located below the avalanche was subsequently declared uninhabitable, so that the owner had to move out by official order. After years of disputes, only emergency stabilization of the slope was achieved.