Rohrau Castle

Rohrau Castle - Schloss Rohrau, Rohrau, Lower Austria, Republic of Austria.

The castle, which has grown over the centuries, has experienced a lot and is full of stories that want to be told. Turks and Kurucs besieged it, great master builders and craftsmen left their mark.

The beginnings of the “Veste Rorrow”, built from Roman Stones and first mentioned in 1240, are uncertain. What is certain is that the Rohrau estate came into the possession of the Harrach family in 1524, who built a Renaissance moated castle there. Since that time, the history of the Harrach family has been closely linked to the history of Rohrau. The Counts of Harrach zu Rohrau were among the most important families of the Habsburg monarchy. As friends and advisers of the imperial family, as influential diplomats and princes of the church, one as viceroy of Naples, they helped shape the politics of the law.

At the end of the 18th Century, after various phases of reconstruction, the castle received its current, late Baroque appearance.

Towards the end of the Second World War, the castle was overrun, occupied and devastated by the Red Army. After the end of the war it served on the one hand as accommodation for the many refugees, on the other hand the building and the park put to agricultural use.

In 1966, the plan was made to save the palace from final decay with a generous, general renovation and revitalization and to move the Graf Harrach family collection from the Palais Harrach in Vienna to Rohrau.

Through the determination of Countess Stephanie Harrach  (1917-2011)  this courageous plan was realized.