Schloss Hornegg

Schloss Hornegg stands in the rolling hills between the Sausal wine road and the Stainz Schilcherland in western Styria. A four-wing building with an inner courtyard and arcaded walks, it rises above the old marshlands of Tobis. The core dates from the 16th century, and the main gate bears the date 1557. After 1875 Daniel von Lapp remodelled the castle in the style of Erzherzog Johann, adding dormers, balconies and sculpted façades. A 2018 fresco by Bernhard Wolf now covers the north wall.

The estate is recognised for its sustainable freshwater fish farm, begun in the Baroque era and still producing native species. Carp, pike and zander swim in nearly thirty ponds that also shelter rare birds and insects. The family Holler, descendants of the Brigl industrialists who bought the property in 1940, run the farm and let holiday flats in the castle wings. A 2012 cookbook by Dirk Stermann and Christiane Kada celebrates the fish varieties raised here.

Visitors walk through the arcades and climb the new staircase in the north tower. The first upper floor still shows Baroque stucco from the time the Augustinian canons of Stainz owned the castle. Outside, a park shelters Veit Königer’s mid-18th-century statue of the Virgin and Child. In summer the courtyard hosts chamber-music concerts by young European musicians in the Colluvio festival led by Meinhard Holler.