Schloss Auhof, Heritage château in Dornach-Auhof district, Linz, Austria.
Schloss Auhof is a heritage château in the Dornach-Auhof district of Linz that serves today as the administration center of Johannes Kepler University. The building displays two distinct portals from different eras, reflecting the property's complex architectural evolution.
Auhof was first documented on 15 August 1350 as a farm estate, raised to a noble seat between 1350 and 1386. The Walch family held it until their extinction in 1575; the Schallenbergs ran a large Meierhof and a small brewery there. In 1689 debts forced the sale to Count Gundacker von Starhemberg, whose family kept it until 1961, interrupted by forced administration from 1938 to 1952.
The name Auhof refers to a farm by a damp river meadow, not to a family; in the 14th century the estate was often called Au, and Auhof became usual from the second half of the 18th century. The Starhembergs kept a Meierhof and a small brewery here from the late 16th century.
The château sits centrally on the university campus and is easy to spot from outside, but functions primarily as an administrative building in private use. Visitors can freely explore the exterior and the surrounding park with its artworks and pond.
The pond beside the château is rectangular, and the surrounding park covers 110,000 m². When the Starhemberg family sold the estate to the city of Linz in 1961, the price was 8.6 million schillings, roughly 625,000 euros. The park and pond now form the green setting of the Johannes Kepler University campus.
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