Pfarrhof

Schloss Kapell stands in Niederkappel, a village in the Rohrbach district of Upper Austria. Built around 1280 under Ulrich von Capellen, it began as a castle held as a Passau fief. The Raspen family later took possession, with Ulrich Raspen serving as steward of Liebenstein Castle in 1397. During the Peasants' Wars the building was set alight, then partly demolished and converted into a rectory. In the 17th century Erasmus von Rödern remodelled it in the Baroque style. The present rectangular structure, two storeys high with a hipped roof, sits beside Niederkappel’s parish church. Its rough yellow plaster walls and round-arched passage to former outbuildings give it a plain but dignified appearance. The ground-floor windows are protected by wrought-iron grilles, while both storeys feature varied stucco frames. Inside, simple rooms reflect its long use as a rectory rather than a grand residence. Visitors see a quiet Baroque building unchanged in outline since the 1620s. The church next door, with its modest spire, completes the ensemble. The surrounding village preserves the same rural scale that has endured for centuries.