Schloss Reideben, Wolfsberg, Renaissance castle in Wolfsberg, Austria
Schloss Reideben is a Renaissance castle on the western slope of the Hartelsberg in Wolfsberg. Three two-storey wings with an attic storey, closed by an east wall, enclose a rectangular courtyard. The four corner towers differ in plan: the north-west one is square, the south-west and south-east ones are octagonal, and the north-east tower is round. The round-arched rusticated portal of 1591 on the south side bears the lion-held coats of arms of Alexander von Freyberg and Anna von Kronegg.
The castle was destroyed during the Turkish wars in 1480, until Alexander von Freyberg acquired it in 1580 and established the current structure. This refounding marked the beginning of Renaissance architecture at the site.
The double coat of arms of the Henckel and Auersperg families above the east gate is held by two lions carved around 1600, brought here from Schloss Himmelau. The Auersperg name entered the castle's history through Hugo Henckel von Donnersmarck's 1846 purchase; the family still owns it today.
The castle stands on the western slope of the Hartelsberg, an offshoot of the Koralpe, in the municipality of Wolfsberg. The three wings and the east wall enclose a rectangular courtyard; the round-arched rusticated portal of 1591 is on the south side, the east gate faces the Bishop's Stone. The building has been owned by the Henckel von Donnersmarck family since 1846 and is not described in the sources as open to visitors.
The Bischofsstein before the east gate is a triangular slab on a stone cylinder bearing three coat-of-arms cartouches and a three-headed stone figure. It shows the arms of Bamberg bishops Johann Georg I. Zobel von Giebelstadt and Martin von Eyb, plus those of vicedom Johann-Friedrich Hoffmann von Grienpichl. It once stood in the Wolfsberg park, where a copy now stands.
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