| Schloss Emsburg is a Baroque palace at Hellbrunner Allee 52. It is private property and not open to the general public; alternative names of Schloss Emsburg are Kreuzhof, Ritterhof or Lambergschloss. The palace is built with an elevated ground floor and various terraces; a quite characteristic design for Salzburg.
Note the large outdoor staircase, which was altered with pillars at the main entrance in the 19th century. The Meierei, the administrative building of the palace, can be found on the opposite side of the Hellbrunner Allee. It is rather a manor by itself and also dates back to the early 17th century.
Schloss Emsburg was built soon after Schloss Hellbrunn for the head of the personal guard of Prince Archbishop Markus Sittikus, called Johann Sigmund von Mabon - sort of a four star general of Baroque Salzburg. The construction period lasted from 1619 to 1620, relatively short if you consider that the palace was built alongside with extensive gardens, a mill, bridge and administrative buildings.
Emsburg as Knight Headquarter & Nunnery
Through marriage, Schloss Emsburg became the property of the Knights von Rehlingen in the mid-17th century. In 1701, Prince Archbishop Johann Ernst von Thun und Hohenstein purchased the palace to give it to a newly created knight order, the Rupertiorden. This order had the objective of rewarding successful military leaders and to foster the ties between the Prince Archbishop and his military. Schloss Emsburg became part of its endowment, alongside with the nearby palace of Schloss Lasserhof.
After 1701, the cross as the symbol of the Rupertiorden was painted at all windows and doors of Schloss Emsburg - the origin of the name "Kreuzhof" ("Cross Court") for the building. With the secularisation of Salzburg, the Rupertiorden was dissolved in 1811. The property of the order went to the monastery of Stift St. Peter. The abbey sold Schloss Emsburg to the governor of Salzburg (now a duchy in the Habsburg Empire), Count Hugo von Lamberg.
The palace was altered slightly in various steps throughout the 19th century. Schloss Emsburg changed owners a few more times before it was sold to an order again in 1948. This time it was a "conventional" and not a knight order, the Franciscan nuns of Halleiner Schulschwestern. The nuns of this community work mostly in education and operate private schools. After 1948, several of the side-buildings of Schloss Emsburg were modernised and got an additional floor, which severely altered the Baroque ensemble from the original plans. |