Moated castle Parz, Medieval castle in Grieskirchen, Austria

Wasserschloss Parz is the smaller of two castles in Parz, a district of Grieskirchen, standing beside the larger Landschloss Parz. The moated building was largely rebuilt around 1800, so only remnants of the original water castle survive. Its gallery rooms are on the first floor, not the ground floor.

A water castle of unknown origin, it was documented in 1220 with Wernhart dem Lehrbühler. It passed from the Lehrbühler family to the Jörger in 1393, then to the Oberhaimer and Pirchinger, before Sigmund Ludwig von Pollheim acquired the estate in 1514 and built the adjacent Landschloss. Around 1800 the castle was largely rebuilt, leaving only remnants of the former water castle.

The gallery, founded in 2007 by goldsmith Jacinta Maria Mössenböck and her brother, metalworker Laurenz Pöttinger, occupies the castle's first floor. It shows artists such as Erwin Wurm, Christian Ludwig Attersee and Franz Josef Altenburg, and sees itself as heir to the artists' centre Hans Hoffmann-Ybbs ran here from the 1960s to 1998.

The gallery rooms are on the first floor of the moated castle, not at ground level; the larger Landschloss stands immediately next door, so the two buildings are easy to confuse. The castle was offered for sale in spring 2010 for 3.2 million euros, and the site also holds the Castelvecchio restaurant, so check access before visiting.

From the 1960s through the 1990s, the castle served as an important art hub under painter Hans Hoffmann-Ybbs, setting the foundation for its transformation into a modern art venue. This artistic chapter left a lasting mark on the location and shaped its current role as a gallery.