Schloss Prielau was officially documented for the first time in 1425. The former princely-episcopal castle, as we know it today, was erected in 1560. In 1598, Dietrich Kuen-Belasy Freiherr von Chiemsee bought the estate. However, it remained in princely-episcopal possession until 1811. The emblem of the last prince-bishop, Sigmund Christoph Graf Waldburg-Zeil, still ornaments the portal of the castle. In 1811, the sacristan Franz Neumayer purchased the castle for 182 Gulden lizitando (the currency of that time) after the diocese Chiemsee had been abandoned by the Bavarians. Neumayer’s family had already administered the nearby castle as well as the chamber of commerce in Maishofen as tenants and finally, in 1812, they had the opportunity to buy them in an auction. Alois Neumayer, later a member of the Reichsrat, descends from the same family. Gerty von Hofmannsthal, widow of the in Rodnau near Vienna in 1929 deceased author and poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal, purchased the estate in 1936 and started to restore it in the following years. The family Hugo von Hofmannsthal was expropriated in 1938 and emigrated to England. After WWII, the family could resume its position as the owners of the castle. However, henceforth, the estate was not regularly inhabited. Finally, the Porsche family bought the castle in 1987. In the course of a three year renovation, the castle was turned into a small luxury hotel. |
