Owl’s castle

The Owl Castle was built in the early 19th century in the Classicist style and belonged to the manor houses. It was built by Ján Karol Esterházy, the owner of the manor, and originally served as a teacher’s house. F. Schubert (1824) also lived here during one of his stays here.

Just 125 meters east of Esterházy Manor, there is a nicely formed classicist building, generally known as the Owl Castle since 1822. It was established on the instructions of the then owner of the local manor house and surrounding farms, Count Ján Karol Esterházy de Galanth (1777 – 1834). The need for the local count to own this type of building was conditioned by the fact that, for the second time, the teacher of two Count’s daughters, in the person of Franz Schubert, was expected from Vienna again. The two girls were no longer chanting children, as was the case in 1818, when Schubert taught here in the manor house during his first stay in Želiezovce, because two beautiful girls had already grown out of children. At that time, it was not compatible with strict ethics for a young teacher from Vienna to live in a common building as his pupils, so in 1822 they built this mansion, separate from the mansion, for teachers as well as for any other native guests. F. Schubert’s four-month stay in 1824 in the upper room of the Iron Owl Castle was inextricably given this building a timeless musical atmosphere and unusualness.

On the ground floor of the building, in the kitchen of the time, in the years 1842 – 1943 there was also a chef and world-famous confectioner from Vienna Franz Sacher, who during these years, at the invitation of the widow Ján Karol Esterházy, namely Countess Rozina Esterházy de Galantha (1784 – 1854), he also worked as a kitchen chef in a nearby local mansion. The owl’s castle got its name after the still visible depiction of the owl as a sign of wisdom, on the front of the castle. At present, the owl castle is used as a museum, where the visitor can see exhibits from the Neolithic period, the time of the Roman Empire, II. World War II and the near past. Upstairs is the memorial room of Franz Schubert with his personal belongings and private correspondence.

The most up-to-date information about the exhibition can be found HERE