Weitmoserschlössl

The Weitmoserschlössl stands on the western side of the Gastein valley in the village of Hundsdorf, part of Bad Hofgastein in Salzburg. Built in the 16th century, it is a late-Gothic manor house with a tall, three-storey block and a later 17th-century wing. The older section has a vaulted central passage, while the newer part shows round corner turrets and a circular stair-tower facing the valley. The house is famous for its links with the Weitmoser family, who turned local mining into great wealth. Christoff Weitmoser became the largest gold producer in the Holy Roman Empire, delivering about 300 kg of gold and 1 200 kg of silver each year in the 1550s. His fortune paid for the northern wing after a fire in 1553 and funded the frescoed chapel inside the manor. Today the building houses the Weitmoser restaurant-café. Visitors enter through the older block and pass the marble tablet marking the 1553 blaze. Upstairs, the Weitmoser parlour has pine panelling and a coffered ceiling from the early 1600s. The chapel on the first floor still shows fragments of biblical frescoes painted in 1628 by Ludwig Lindner, while the stair-tower offers views across the valley.