Blühnbach Castle
Description
Schloss Blühnbach is a stately home in the Blühnbach valley in Werfen, Salzburg (state), Austria. Formerly, it was a hunting lodge of the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg and Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, whose assassination in Sarajevo triggered World War I. The estate is privately owned by a charitable foundation, and is not open to the general public.
A hunting lodge existed in the Blühnbach Valley as early as the Middle Ages. After its destruction during the Peasants’ War of 1525/26, it was rebuilt as a simple wooden structure. Between 1603 and 1608, Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau replaced it with a stone hunting lodge, possibly designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi. The castle was completed in 1608, though most planned interior decoration was abandoned after Wolf Dietrich’s fall from power.
Under Prince-Archbishop Paris Lodron, Blühnbach experienced its first peak as an important hunting venue. By the 18th century, its remote location reduced its appeal, though the last Prince-Archbishop, Hieronymus von Colloredo, renovated and expanded it. After Salzburg became part of Austria, the estate passed to the Austrian state and was leased to a noble hunting society. Archduke Franz Ferdinand later took an interest in the property and in 1908 acquired almost the entire valley. He expanded the castle in Neo-Renaissance style, but was assassinated shortly after the renovations were finished.
In 1916, Emperor Franz Joseph sold the estate to industrialist Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. After World War II, American authorities temporarily converted the castle into a refugee home. The property later passed through the Krupp family until much of the surrounding land was sold in the 1970s.
In 1988, the estate was purchased by American collector Frederick R. Koch, who restored the castle extensively. After his death in 2020, it was transferred to a foundation dedicated to preserving its cultural heritage.
Architecturally, Schloss Blühnbach features early-17th-century elements, Neo-Renaissance additions, and a mix of stone and wooden structures. The nearby 18th-century Jägerhaus and the castle chapel—remodeled in neo-Gothic style under Franz Ferdinand—are also part of the estate. The chapel’s crypt contains the tomb of Arndt von Bohlen und Halbach.