Schloss Pragstein Castle

The Mauthausen Castle Pragstein Local History and Museum Association is dedicated to researching, documenting and communicating the thousand-year-old history of Mauthausen. The results are presented to visitors in a vivid form in the local history museum. The development of rural pharmacies is comprehensively presented in the pharmacy museum. This specialised museum is unique in its form and scope throughout Austria.

One of the oldest villages in Upper Austria was also home to one of the few fortifications built directly in the Danube in Austria. As late as 1860, a few years before the major regulation of the Danube, Pragstein Castle was located on a rocky island near Mauthausen, connected to the riverbank only by a bridge. This also explains its keel-shaped construction. The castle had to withstand a number of floods, so care was taken during construction to create a streamlined floor plan. In addition, the building has a wedge-shaped tip on the west side facing the river, which served as a breakwater. The four-storey, rectangular building is crowned by a mighty hipped roof. On the upstream west side, the roof shows a cross created by the type of shingles. Directly below the hipped roof is a surrounding arched frieze on corbels. One of these stands out in particular. On the north side facing the riverbank is the large iron-bound gate with a one-man hole, above which is a flat bay window on stepped consoles on the 2nd floor. There was a sally port on the opposite side of the river, but this no longer exists. The stone coat of arms of the barons of Prague can still be seen above it today. The windows and light openings on the lower storeys are rather plain. On the upper two floors, however, the window jambs from the time of construction are richly moulded. The entire building has strong corner ashlars. The interior is dominated by Gothic elements, barrel vaults with Renaissance stucco frames from around 1600. The castle is entered through the gate on the market side with a one-man hole. Directly behind the gate is a small vaulted vestibule supported by stone pillars. Down here there are several cellar rooms as well as the usable horse stable. The upper floors are reached via a relatively simple staircase. On each floor, the staircase leads into a hall-like central corridor. This corridor leads to the large rooms, some with beautiful wooden Riemling ceilings. On the second upper floor, the cut-off remains of a star-ribbed vault have been preserved in the corridor, which is vaulted with a spire. There was probably once a chapel with a polygonal apse here.