Artstetten Castle is an Austrian castle located in Lower Austria, near the town of Artstetten-Pöbring. Currently the castle is privately owned by the Hohenberg family, but since 1977 it has been officially open to the public and since 1982 it has hosted the "Archduke Francesco Ferdinando" museum which traces the fundamental stages of the archduke's personal, historical and political life.
Schloss Artstetten History
The first registration of the name Artstetten dates back to the middle of the 13th century. Soon the medieval fortress became a castle that had a rapid succession of different owners, until the Emperor Francis I acquired it in 1823.
Archduke Carlo Ludovico (brother of Emperor Franz Joseph) extensively redesigned the house inside and out from 1861 onwards.
In 1889, Archduke Carl Ludwig donated the Schloss Artstetten to his eldest son, Franz Ferdinand von Österreich-Este, who had it renovated according to his own ideas.
In 1914, after the attack in Sarajevo, the eldest son of the heir to the throne, Maximilian Duke of Hohenberg, inherited the castle, which was then 12 years old. With the law on the repeal of the nobility of 1919, the nobility in the Republic of Austria lost their naming rights. After the “Anschluss” of 1938 Maximilian Hohenberg was expropriated and one of the first Austrians to be deported to the Dachau concentration camp with his brother Ernst Hohenberg. The expropriated family assets came to the Republic of Austria after the era of National Socialism.
In 1949 the castle was returned by the Republic of Austria to Maximilian Hohenberg, who bequeathed it to his son Franz in 1962.
After Franz Hohenberg's death in 1977, his widow, Elisabeth von Luxemburg, handed over the Artstetten estate, including the castle, museum, forestry and agriculture, to his eldest daughter Anita, who was archduke with her husband, the French Count de La Poeze d'Harambure, in 1982 -Franz-Ferdinand-Museum and renovated the castle. Of this marriage four children were born who are now committed to the historical legacy. The castle and all the lands have been owned by the Anita Hohenberg Foundation since 2003.