Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / Austria / Reith im Alpbachtal / Schloss Matzen
Schloss Matzen
Reith im Alpbachtal, Austria · Independent · Near Luxury
Theodore Roosevelt hunted at Schloss Matzen with William Baillie-Grohman, whose Irish mother, Fanny Reade, had bought the burned castle out of ruin in 1873. Guest rooms are named for the families who held it, and the Fieger arcades still stitch the courtyards together. There is no lift, so you climb the old stairs to a spa in the round keep, a tapering tower the house calls unique in northern Tyrol, and then sleep in about a dozen rooms.
- 12 rooms
- Opened 2008
About Schloss Matzen
- During the Second World War the vaults held stores from the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum and the Tyrolean library, kept here until the collections could go home.
- The Baillie-Grohman family used Matzen as a summer house until 1957, when the California architect Ernest Kump bought it. The Rueter family took over in 2008, renovated, and reopened a breakfast-only hotel.
- Inside are a Gothic chapel with a baroque altar, a barrel-vaulted knight's hall, and a library of old hunting trophies. The Matzenpark, about 200,000 square metres with a pond, is open to walkers. The castle rooms are for guests.
History
Schloss Matzen is a Romanesque castle above the Inn, later gothicised, with arcades the Fieger added when they and the Fugger turned it into a residence. It burned under the Pfeiffersberg family and was a ruin until Fanny Reade of Mount Heaton bought it in 1873. Her son William Baillie-Grohman wrote Tyrol into English, and the castle's own history says his hunting friend Theodore Roosevelt spent long stretches here. Captain Tom Michael Baillie-Grohman sold it in 1957 to the California architect Ernest Kump. The Rueter family took over in 2008, renovated, and opened a small hotel garni without a lift. The hotel dates a first written mention to 1167. A provenance study of the wartime Ferdinandeum stores says 1278. The pitch leaves the year out.
The setting
Matzen 5, 6235 Reith im Alpbachtal, on a small hill where the Alpbachtal meets the Inn, a short way from Brixlegg. The Matzenpark and its pond wrap the castle and are open to the public. The castle interior is for hotel guests. Gut Matzen below the castle has the restaurant and café. Reith im Alpbachtal matches the address.
Open Schloss Matzen in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.