Rosenstein Castle, Ansitz (noble residence) in Obermais, Merano, Italy

Rosenstein Castle is an Ansitz, a noble residence, not a ruin: two rectangular buildings with hipped roofs meet in a V at the corner of Vergilstraße and Schennastraße in Obermais. A four-storey square tower with a pyramid roof stands at the southwest end; a lithograph of 1860 shows the lost gatehouse and surrounding wall.

Built or remodelled around 1600 for Gregor von Rolandin, whose 1602 portrait once hung on the first floor. The Rosenberg family followed, then the Rolandins again until the male line died out in 1811. The Wenter family gave it the name Wenterschlössl; in 1862 it was auctioned for 14,000 gulden and later reunited with Rottenstein under Archduke Karl Ludwig. Since 1951 it has belonged to the princes of Liechtenstein.

The name Rosenstein comes from the Rolandin family coat of arms granted on 30 July 1600, which added three roses over a double R. Locals long called the building Wenterschlössl after the Wenter family who later owned it. The 1862 auction inventory lists a chapel-free estate of fields, meadows and an oak-beech wood, with water rights from the village fountain.

The Ansitz stands at the corner of Vergilstraße and Schennastraße, where both streets meet at Brunnenplatz, the centre of Obermais. It is a private property owned by the Liechtenstein family since 1951, so the building is viewed from the street. The nearby Ansitz Rottenstein lies about 120 metres to the northeast.

A lithograph with tonal plate made in 1860 by Munich lithographer Alois Flad shows a gatehouse with four battlements and a surrounding wall that no longer exist. The print also documents the successive rebuilds of the complex, including a slender square tower on the west side that was later partly absorbed into the building.