Renaissance Castle Schallaburg

The most beautiful Renaissance Castle North of the Alps

Lower Austria: the country of fortresses and castles. No other region in Austria boasts as many fortresses and magnificent castles of past centuries. The Schallaburg, located about 5 kilometers from Melk, ranks among the finest Renaissance castles north of the Alps. A tour of the Schallaburg takes the visitor on a fascinating trip back in time. The tour through the centuries takes you from the Romanesque residential fortress via the Gothic chapel and the old Armoury Hall to the arcaded courtyard with its unique terracotta decoration, giving you a taste of the romantic age of chivalry as well as the art, riches and exuberant joie de vivre of the Renaissance princes.

History of the Renaissance Castle Schallaburg

The core of the fortress, which dates back to the Middle Ages, has survived in the form of the Romanesque residential castle and the Gothic chapel. The Schallaburg castle received today’s characteristic appearance in 1572, when the prosperous Losenstein dynasty established a manor for themselves that was modeled on the Italian palazzo of the time and whose impressive silhouette can still be seen from far away to this day.

The Schallaburg’s generous, picturesque castle courtyard for tournaments with its cantilever stairs testifies to the Losensteiner family’s prosperity and love of art, as do the unique decorative sculptures of the two-storey arcade court. The terracotta mosaic, comprising 1.600 single pieces, depicts a vivid scene of mythological figures, gods, masks and fabulous creatures, all crafted in lavish detail. One of the figures represented is the "Hundefräulein" (a female human figure with a dog’s head), a character based on a Schallaburg-related legend.

Picture Gallery

For a virtual tour through our garden, please visit our flickr picture gallery.