Burg Freundsberg

Burg Freundsberg sits enthroned high above Schwaz on a hill and can be seen for miles around. Documents dating from 1122 reveal that it was the ancestral home of the Herren von Freundsberg who, as ministry officials for the Count of Andechs and later Tirol sovereigns, soon attained power and prestige.

The keep (tower) of Burg Freundsberg, whose oldest wall remains date to the 12th century, was the only part of the original building to be maintained.  The oldest Romanesque sections of the building were added to during re-building in 1230. In 1467 the castle was exchanged, and acquired by Siegmund des Münzreichen, who converted the building into a hunting lodge between 1472 to 1475. There was a fundamental change to the castle building in 1630, when the palace and the chapel were converted into a new Renaissance style castle church. In 1812, when there was Bavarian rule in Tirol, Burg Freundsberg was left by King Ludwig 1st of Bavaria to the district of Schwaz as a gift. Today the tower in the castle houses the museum for the town of Schwaz.

In 1176 the consecration of the first castle chapel was made thanks to the legacy of Archbishop Konrad von Mainz, the ‘Römischen Stuhles’. There is still a fresco today created by Siemund von Tirol in the consecrated castle church which was renovated in 1477, which shows the fourteen Holy Helpers – a rare memorial of the Renaissance in Tirol. Since the last comprehensive renovation and the ensuing re-consecration of the castle church in 1977, it is used for religious (e.g. weddings, masses, devotions) and also for cultural (theatre, concerts, lectures) events.

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