Fuggerau

[1] It was set up by the brothers Ulrich, Georg and Jakob in 1495 on lands that they had acquired from Arnoldstein Abbey.

[1][2] This was done with the express permission of the Bishopric of Bamberg, in which the Abbey fell and with whom the Fuggers already had business dealings thanks to their presence in Franconia.

[3] Metal smelting occurred within the walls of the fortress and brass hammering in the valley, since it needed water power, probably from the River Gailitz.

[1] Brass was only hammered at the complex under 1530[1] and from 1547 onwards the family began to retreat from the Hungarian mining industry and to concentrate on domestically-mined ores, which left the Fuggerau with less and less importance.

The brothers Marx and Hans Fugger sold the Fuggerau, all its properties and rights and even its equipment and furniture back to the Abbey in 1570 for 2500 guilders during the abbacy of Petrus von Arnoldstein.