Schloss Goldenstein, Heritage castle in Elsbethen, Austria

Schloss Goldenstein is a castle on a rocky ridge above the former Salzach meadows, featuring an eight-story main building with several wings positioned at 438 meters elevation. It contains a courtyard with a fountain bearing the Salzburg coat of arms, and today serves as a private middle school with dormitories and dining facilities in its side buildings.

Hans von Haunsperg is named as the first documented owner in 1417; the estate then changed hands repeatedly until Raimund Anton Meinrad von Rehlingen sold it to St. Peter's Abbey in 1710. The abbey used it as an administrative seat and retreat, renovating it in 1761–1768 and again in 1772, when the painter Franz Xaver König worked in four guest rooms and the dining room. In 1877 nineteen choir sisters and four lay sisters moved in from Rastatt, and a purchase contract of 12 March 1897 settled ownership with the order.

The name Goldenstein is linked to the gold washing once carried out on the upper Salzach, though others call it a typical castle name. Since 1897 the Augustinian Canonesses have used the building as a convent and school; the actress Romy Schneider boarded here from 1949 to 1953. In September 2025 three sisters returned and occupied the convent.

Access to the castle is limited because it operates as a private school with residential facilities and is not open to the public for tours. The best way to view it is from below on the surrounding slopes, where you can see the building's structure and its position on the ridge.

The courtyard fountain has a marble frame bearing Salzburg's coat of arms and the date 1598, older than the castle's documented ownership by St. Peter. In the dining hall hang four watercolours of the castle and its surroundings painted by Louis Walle from Berleburg in 1830.