Schloss Ottenhofen

Schloss Ottenhofen stands in the village of Ottenhofen in the Erding district of Upper Bavaria. It occupies the site of an old Hofmark castle, first mentioned in 1456. The only remnant of the original U-shaped complex is the south wing, a two-storey building with a pitched roof and six window bays. The core dates from around 1700, though much was rebuilt in the 1960s after parts were demolished.

The castle’s history goes back to the 11th century, when the Ottenhofer family held the Hofmark. Their late-Gothic cellar with ribbed and barrel vaults survives beneath the building. After the Thirty Years’ War the site passed to the Rivera family, then to the Perusa counts, who added a Rococo tea pavilion in 1760. In the 19th century the estate changed hands repeatedly, often to brewery owners, and the main building was reduced to its present south wing.

Visitors today see a protected south wing with a small roof turret topped by a bulbous dome. Inside, four flats occupy the ground and first floors, reached by the original 18th-century double doors. The cellar’s vaulted chambers and historic plasterwork remain visible. The surrounding garden once contained a fountain where the heir to the estate drowned in the 19th century.