Architecture, history and setting
Almost nine centuries of history
The well-protected hill at Matzen was settled as early as the Bronze Age. The Roman “Masciacum” fortified the Roman road through the Lower Inn Valley. Schloss Matzen was built here in the Romanesque style in the 12th century and was first documented in 1167, when it belonged to a knight of the Freundsberg family.
Two Romanesque building phases were followed by a Gothic expansion under the Freundsbergs. Ownership changed from 1468 onwards: Matthias Türndl, the Ross family, the Fiegers and, for a time, the Fuggers. The Fiegers gave Matzen its present form and commissioned the picturesque arcaded walkways.
Matthias Pock redesigned the originally late-Gothic chapel in the 17th century. Johann Ferdinand von Yrsch acquired the castle around 1684 and sold it to Josef Ruppert von Pfeiffersberg in 1734. During the Pfeiffersberg period, Matzen burned down and became a ruin.
In 1873, Irish-born Fanny Reade of Mount Heaton-Grohmann purchased the castle and saved this historic treasure from final decay.
Her son, William Adolf Baillie Grohman, was a mountaineer, author and great connoisseur of Tyrol. His books introduced Tyrol to readers in Britain and America. His hunting friends included US President Theodore Roosevelt, who spent considerable time at Schloss Matzen.
During the Second World War, collections from the Tyrolean State Museum Ferdinandeum and the Tyrolean State Library were stored here. In 1957 the castle was sold to American architect Ernest Kump. The present owners acquired it in 2008 and carried out an extensive complete renovation.
A historic jewel of Tyrol
Schloss Matzen is one of Tyrol’s most important historic complexes. Distinctive features include the tapering Romanesque “butter-churn” keep, the crenellated curtain wall and the courtyard with four-storey arcades. Inside are the Gothic chapel with its Baroque altar, the barrel-vaulted Knights’ Hall with open fireplace, and the library with hunting trophies.
Directly adjoining the castle is the 200,000 m² Matzen Park, one of Tyrol’s finest and most valuable natural monuments. Below the castle stands Gut Matzen with its restaurant, café and romantic garden.
