Itter Castle
| Itter Castle | |
|---|---|
| Schloss Itter | |
| Itter, Tyrol, Austria | |
Itter Castle, view from south, February 2010
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 Schloss Itter
Shown within Austria
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| Coordinates | 47°28′14″N 12°8′23″E / 47.47056°N 12.13972°ECoordinates: 47°28′14″N 12°8′23″E / 47.47056°N 12.13972°E |
| Type | Castle |
| Site information | |
| Owner | Privately owned |
| Open to the public |
No |
Itter Castle (German: Schloss Itter) is a 19th century castle in Itter, a village in Tyrol, Austria. During World War II, it was turned into a Nazi prison for French VIPs and was the site of an extraordinary instance of the U.S. Army, German Wehrmacht, Austrian Resistance, and the prisoners themselves fighting side-by-side against the Waffen SS in the Battle for Castle Itter.
The hill castle is located atop a 666-metre (2,185 ft) knoll at the entrance to the Brixental valley, about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) south of Wörgl and 20 kilometres (12 mi) west of Kitzbühel.
A fortress at the site was first mentioned in a 1241 deed, previous constructions may have existed since the 10th century. The Brixental originally was a possession of the Prince-Bishops of Regensburg; the castle was an administrative seat of the Counts of Ortenburg in their capacity as Vogt bailiffs, it also served to protect the Regensburg estates from incursions undertaken by the neighbouring Archbishops of Salzburg. Nevertheless, the Brixental was acquired by Salzburg in 1312 and in 1380 the Regensburg bishops finally sold Itter to Archbishop Pilgrim II of Salzburg.
Within the Burgfrieden jurisdiction of Itter, feuds and breach of the public peace were banned, nevertheless the castle was devastated during the German Peasants' War in 1526. In the 17th century, the seat of the local administration was moved to Hopfgarten, whereafter the premises decayed. The Brixental belonged to Salzburg until it fell to the newly established Kingdom of Bavaria in 1805; the Bavarian government left the castle ruin to the Itter citizens who used it as a quarry. Upon the Final Act of the Vienna Congress the valley became part of the Austrian crown land of Tyrol in 1816.
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Wikipedia