Location: Tratzberg 1, 6200 Jenbach Map
Constructed: 13th century
Open: Mar
20-Nov 1
Tours: 10am - 4pm daily
Tel. +43 5242 63566
Official site
Tratzberg Castle was first mentioned in the 13th century as a strategic military fortress in Karwendel Alps. Originally medieval Tratzberg Castle was found in the 12th century to hold a strategic mountain overlooking trading routes belowe. Later Tratzberg Castle served as a hunting lodge of Emperor Maximilian I (22 March 1459 – 12 January 1519). He preferred his mansion at an elevation of 100 meters above the valley floor to keep an eye for his enemies. And he had plenty of those. On his free time the emperor enjoyed also fighting Bavarians as well as hunting. Much of the Tratzberg Castle was burned in the 1490/91 and subsequently abandoned by its owner. The emperor gave an honor of reconstruction to two brothers Jacob and Simon Veit-Tänzl who began their work somewhere in the early 1500's. In 1554 the castle was further improved by rich local merchant Georg Knight of Ilsung who acquired this château. While on the outside the castle looks like a military stronghold on the inside it is quiet colorful and looks more like a private residence rather than a fortification. Frescoes of the inside court yard was done to reflect style of the Renaissance Period.
Tratzberg Castle today is owned by Enzenberg family that bought in the 19th century. It is open to the public between March and November. To get the castle you need to take a shuttle that takes you from the parking lot at the bottom of the valley or you can take a short pleasant walk up the hill that will take about fifteen minutes. While he you can explore the premises on your own or by taking a tour. There is also a fairy tale tours available for children as well as a playground on the grounds of the Tratzberg Castle.
In 1296 a castle called Trazperch was mentioned here; it was
destroyed by fire in 1490/91. The later Emperor Maximilian I gave the
ruins to the brothers Veit-Jakob and Simon Tänzl in 1499 in exchange for
Berneck Castle in the Kaunertal with the condition that they be rebuilt.
After 8 years of construction from 1500, a three-story, four-wing
complex with an inner courtyard and stair tower, portals and arcades,
columns, window sills and chimneys in Hagau marble was built. The north
wing was not completed.
In 1553 the heirs of the Tänzl brothers
sold the castle, which has since experienced numerous changes of
ownership and associated changes.
The closing of the vacant lots
in the north and the striking facade painting in the courtyard go back
to the Augsburg knight Georg Ilsung and his family in the second half of
the 16th century. From then on, his children named themselves after
Tratzberg Castle.
In 1589, the castle came to the Augsburg
merchant family Fugger through inheritance, who profited greatly from
the mining of copper and silver in nearby Schwaz. Georg Ilsung's
daughter Anna had Jakob III. Fugger married. Fuggerstube and
Fuggerkammer are reminiscent of the famous patrician family.
The
families Stauber-Imhof, von der Halden and Josef Ignaz Reichsfreiherren
von Tannenberg followed in the 17th and 18th centuries. However, the
castle has not been inhabited since the middle of the 18th century. In
1809, during the coalition wars, Bavarian soldiers plundered the armory
and demolished some of the furniture.
When the Enzenberg family,
who still own the castle today, inherited it in 1847, extensive
restoration work was necessary to make it habitable again. Ulrich
Goëss-Enzenberg and his wife Katrin Goëss-Enzenberg have lived here
since 1991; the last restoration work in 1991-1994 and the tourist
development go back to this generation Enzenberg.
Valuable original furniture from the time of the Tänzl brothers
at the transition from Gothic to Renaissance as well as furnishings
from the Fugger period have been preserved in the rooms open to the
public.
A treasure is the so-called Habsburg Hall, on the
four walls of which the Tänzl brothers had a room-encompassing
family tree of the House of Habsburg painted in homage to their
clients. There are of course the German King and later Emperor
Maximilian I with his two wives (Maria von Burgundy and Bianca Maria
Sforza), King Rudolf I, Duke Rudolf IV and the two Tyrolean princes
Duke Friedrich IV with the empty pocket and Archduke Sigmund the
Rich in Coins.
Significant pieces among the historical
furniture and furnishings in the Fuggerstube and Fuggerkammer are:
a late Gothic South Tyrolean cupboard (around 1460), an exceptional
example in the Alps, with vine leaf relief carvings; he comes from
the Deutschordensburg Reifenstein,
a rare gothic vanity with
attachment, a gothic side table with scissor chair, a gothic post
bed,
two tray tables with inlays around 1520 on twisted column
legs,
a large chest with panel doors; above this chest a late
Gothic chandelier in the form of a mermaid
a painting by Hans
Schäufelein (1509): "Tournament in the Innsbruck Hofburg"
a
green-glazed tiled stove with reliefs and a Crucifixion group;
Another such tiled stove with representations of the 5 senses from
the Nuremberg workshop around Georg Fest (around 1620) is located in
the so-called "Queen's Room" (named after Anna of Bohemia).
The following rooms are still accessible:
A "women's lounge" with
typical household furniture from the 17th century (Renaissance box
bed, cradle, high chair, ladies' washbasin, spinning wheel, laundry
press); Three globes from the 18th century stand on a two-storey
Renaissance facade cabinet.
The hunting room used as a dining
room from the Enzenberg period from the 19th century with carved
animal sculptures of deer, fox and bear; the client, Count Franz
Enzenberg III, sees himself in the center of this room. himself, who
once went hunting with Archduke Franz Joseph in the revolutionary
year of 1848 (group of sculptures).
The chapel with late Gothic
net vaults was built by the Tänzl brothers; some sculptures and
panels date from this period, while the high altar dates from 1750.
It shows the beheading of Catherine of Alexandria, the patron saint
of Tratzberg Castle.
The armory with armor and weapons from the
15th and 16th centuries hardly shows any more of the original
inventory, as it was plundered several times. Today's holdings are
largely a collection of Count Franz Enzenberg III.
Tourism /
access
Parts of the palace – inner courtyard and the rooms on the
1st floor – can be visited on guided tours from the end of March to
the beginning of November.
The tourist infrastructure
includes a shuttle transfer from the parking lot by the river, a
souvenir shop, restaurants and special children's adventure
programs. The ascent on foot takes about a quarter of an hour.
Vicinity
The wooded ridge lies on the slopes of the
Karwendel.
Hiking trails lead to the Abbey of St.
Georgenberg-Fiecht and the Wolfsklamm in two hours. Part of the area
belongs to the protected Alpenpark Karwendel.