Schloss Petersberg, Castle in Silz, Austria

Schloss Petersberg is a hilltop castle on a long rocky ridge at 730 m, only about 70 m above the Inn valley floor west of Silz. Its glacier-smoothed flanks made it hard to storm, and an artificial pond fed by two mountain streams lies beside it. The complex is the centre of the Engelwerk.

The castle was built around 1244 by Count Ulrich of Ulten on older foundations and first recorded as castrum meum novo domus in Intal. In 1263 it appears as castrum in monte sancti petri, and under Meinhard II it became the administrative seat for the Inntal between Roppen and Rietz, the Mieminger Plateau and the Ötztal. In 1893 Emperor Franz Joseph I acquired it and rebuilt it after a fire; since 1979 it has belonged to the Order of the Canons of the Holy Cross.

The castle chapel, dedicated to St. Peter, was first documented in 1299, when the priest of Silz received four Yhren of wine for celebrating Mass there. Since 1979 the castle has been the centre of the Engelwerk, a Catholic community, which gives the site its present religious use.

The castle stands at 730 metres, only about 70 metres above the Inn valley floor, on a rock ridge at a former reservoir. The approach from the valley is short and easy, but the glacier-smoothed flanks are steep and offer little footing. A spring and two mountain streams feed the artificial pond that once drove mills and a sawmill below the castle.

Digging within the castle grounds uncovered pottery pieces from prehistoric times, showing that people used this hilltop across many thousands of years. These finds suggest the location held importance long before the medieval fortress was ever built.