Schloss Lodron, Gmünd

The Neues Schloss stands on the south-east corner of Gmünd’s main square in Carinthia. Built as a residence and administrative seat, it replaced an older castle that had long served the Salzburg archbishops beyond the Katschberg. The Lodron family took possession in the 17th century and completed the three-storey, three-wing structure between 1651 and 1654 under local master Anton Riebeler. The building’s history reflects the shifting power of Salzburg’s church leaders and the Habsburgs. After a fire in 1792 damaged the roof and first-floor murals, master builder Johann Glanner restored the damage. For more than three centuries the Lodrons used it as their hereditary seat until 1932, when Karl Irsa sold it to the town. Today classrooms, sports halls, civic rooms and a public library occupy its rooms. The rectangular courtyard is reached through a pillared hall from the west wing. Two octagonal stair-towers rise at the corners, linked by three-part ground-floor arcades and topped with round-arched windows. Above the north gate the Lodron coat of arms appears in a broken pediment. Stone lions, once placed near Salzburg’s Mirabell garden, now flank the east garden front. A bronze bust of Ferdinand Porsche, who lived in Gmünd until 1950, stands in the park that bears his name.