Schloss Grafenegg
Together with Burg Kreuzenstein and Schloss Anif near Salzburg, it is considered to be an outstanding example of romantic historical architecture in Austria.
As a result, a planned mighty dome on the south-east side was never constructed, and the castle's character remains better preserved today.
When count August Johann passed away in 1894, Schloss Grafenegg was inherited by his daughter Marie Breunner-Enckevoirth (1856-1929), who was married to Viktor II, Duke of Ratibor and prince of Corvey (1847-1923).
The surname of the family changed when Viktor II's grandson, Franz-Albrecht (1920-2009), was adopted by princess Clementine von Metternich-Sandor and he took her name (Metternich-Sandór) instead.
The 19th century conversion by the architects Leopold and Hugo Ernst left the nucleus of the existing building almost fully intact.
However, they gave the castle exterior a completely different impression by adding stepped gables, arcades and facade decoration in a neo-gothic Tudor style.
Directly above the entrance, under a canopy, a knight statue, dating from 1856, depicts the builder, Count August Ferdinand Breuner-Enckevoirt.
After the gate, you walk through a rib vault from the early 16th century, which runs at a slight angle to the bridge, and leads into the castle courtyard.
It has a radiant color (polychrome) and contains a late Gothic winged altarpiece from 1491, whose shrine figures represent the Coronation of the Virgin.
On the upper floor, there is the knight's hall, completed in 1851, the showpiece of the castle, so to speak, in which the most precious materials - various woods, leather, marble and metal - were processed.
The knight's hall has a remarkable coffer ceiling and three courtyard-side bay windows with coat of arms panes in the glazing.
It forms a strong contrast to the slender late Gothic tower opposite on the east side of the castle courtyard.
All rooms on the main floor in the west wing are lavishly decorated; different veneers, carved ornaments and figurative details result in a magnificent overall effect.
The designs for the bedroom and the count's writing room in the south-west corner, known as the Blue Salon because of the wall painting, date from 1864.
These parts were not redesigned until 1887-1888, with the outside front on the east going back to the 16th century essentially unchanged, with the exception of the projecting chancel of the castle chapel.
The garden hall was built by Hugo Ernst in the south-east corner, while the three-room library in the east wing was redesigned in baroque revival style.
Around the castle, there was a Baroque ornamental and pleasure garden, of which only the ruins of the theater pavilion and a group of figures of Hercules defeating the bull (today on the road to Grafenwörth, Grafenegger Riese) have survived.
Under Count August Johann and Duke Victor Amadeus, the park was planted with numerous native and exotic conifers in the sense of an arboretum.
[1] The open-air pavilion was designed by the next ENTERprise (Marie-Therese Harnoncourt, Ernst J. Fuchs) and the landscape architects Land insicht.
In 2008, the ensemble was expanded to include the Grafenegg auditorium,[2] which was designed by the architects Schröder Schulte-ladbeck and Dieter Irresberger and sound-designed by the Munich acoustician Karlheinz Müller.
