Schloss Gusterheim

Schloss Gusterheim stands in the small village of Gusterheim in the Styrian municipality of Pöls-Oberkurzheim. It is a long, two-storey building with two small internal courtyards and a tower capped by a baroque dome on its eastern side. The castle has never been open to the public inside, for it serves as both home and office for a large forestry business. The house began in the 17th century as the Gusterhof, the largest farm in the area, owned by Appolonia von Landau. Christof Viehhauser turned it into an aristocratic residence and sold it in 1658 to Christian Johann Payrlechner, who renamed it Gusterheim and received permission from Emperor Leopold I to add the new title to his name. The Payrlechners enlarged the building between 1661 and 1663. Later owners included the Fürsten zu Schwarzenberg, who united three neighbouring estates here in 1698. Visitors today walk around the exterior of the long, cream-walled structure and admire the tower with its dark slate dome. Inside the two small courtyards the quiet atmosphere is broken only by the occasional sound of office work. The surrounding landscape is gentle Styrian farmland, dotted with woods managed from the castle. The building itself carries the marks of successive centuries: a baroque tower, 18th-century archive rooms, and 19th-century alterations.