Historical Timeline

1622 - Zelking
The "New Castle" was built between 1622 and 1630 by Christoph Wilhelm from the art-loving Barons von Zelking family on the site where the Maissauer Hof and winegrowers' houses used to stand. The architect was probably the Krems-based Comaske Cipriano Biasino, who also built the Krems parish church.

The property passed to Heinrich von Zinzendorf and Pottendorf through marriage in 1634.


1663 - Zinzendorfer
The Counts of Zinzendorf and Pottendorf were an ancient Lower Austrian family who, like almost all of the nobility in Lower Austria, had converted to Protestantism. In the course of the Counter-Reformation, these families left their old homeland and the Zinzendorfs also found a new home in Dresden.


A grandson, Nikolaus Ludwig, became the founder of the Herrnhut Society, which is still active worldwide today.


In 1663 they sold the castle to Conrad Balthasar, Count of Starhemberg.


1683 - Starhembergs
Unlike its previous owners, the castle did not serve as the Starhembergs' residence, but was only occasionally used for visits to the winery and hunting. A notable event was September 1683, when Emperor Leopold I, who was stationed near Durnstein with a small flotilla and staying in the castle, received news of the liberation of Vienna from the Turks.


1937 - Thiery Family
In 1937, Raimund Thiery bought the castle from Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg. The conversion into a hotel, which he had begun, was continued by his son Johann Thiery and his wife Rosemarie, the current senior partners. Year after year, the building has been remodeled, expanded, and improved, and almost every winter still goes by without renovations.

His son, Johannes Christian Thiery, has taken over management and runs the business together with his sister, Maria-Katharina Thiery-Schroll.