Staudachhof

Schloss Staudachhof stands in the quiet Metnitz valley in Carinthia, a solid three-storey block built in the late 16th century. It rises opposite the small parish church of Staudachhof, its rectangular shape broken by two square towers at opposite corners. The walls are thick and plain, giving the house a fortified look from every angle. Inside, the rooms are arranged around a central staircase that runs straight from ground to attic. Only the second floor still shows the original, smaller windows; elsewhere the openings were widened in the 20th century. The building has belonged to local farmers since the 19th century, so it remains part of everyday village life. The house carries the marks of seven centuries of owners. In 1107 the place was first recorded as Wilar when a noblewoman gave it to her daughter. The Spanheim counts later handed it to St Lambrecht Abbey, whose stewards took the name Herren von Wilaren. By 1315 the Staudach family owned the site and gave it their name; their coat of arms showed a lizard. In 1596 the Murau ironmaster Christoph Schmelzer bought the house, and the Aichelburgs followed him as owners. After 1786 the estate changed hands quickly until it passed into peasant hands in 1869. Visitors walk through the wide farmyard to the main door set in the south wall. The entrance leads straight into the ground-floor hall, where a broad staircase rises to the upper floors. On the first floor a long gallery runs the length of the building, lit by the enlarged windows. The second floor keeps its older window sizes and smaller rooms, giving a sense of the house’s earlier scale. Outside, the Metnitz valley stretches away to wooded hills, and the parish church’s spire rises beside the gate. The whole scene is calm, with only the distant sound of farm work breaking the quiet.