McKenney Middle School Visits Castle Porcia

Castle Porcia
Spittal, Austria
written by a group of 17 year old students from the "College for Economics and Tourism", who study English as a second language.

The Renaissance Castle Porcia is in the center of Spittal. When you arrive at Spittal by train you can simply walk there in a few minutes. From the station you walk straight ahead along "Bahnhofstrasse" (Station Road). After about 5min you can see a large park on your right. There are a children's playground and a big fountain. Cross this park, when you arrive at the fountain, you can see the castle in front of you.

Here's some history of the castle Porcia:

In 1524 the count "Gabriel of Salamanca" got the county Orthenburg, the area of today's Spittal, fromthe archduke Ferdinand.
Gabriel started to build the castle in 1533, and after 60 years the castle, which was designed and plannedby an Italian architect, who is also responsible for the Italianate style courtyard with its arcades, was finished.
After the Dukes of Salamanca, who managed the county until 1639, the wealthy burgher family Widmann took over the county Orthenburg and the castle.
In 1662 the Princes of Porcia bought the castle, that´s why it is called Castle Porcia today. They managed the county sucessfully until the end of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy in 1918. In the 18th century the Porcias added many new baroque elements to the facade and the interior of the castle.
In 1918 the Prince of Porcia sold the castle to "Baron Klinger of Klingerstoff", who the had to sell the valuable inventory to make money. Only few historic pieces have remained. You can see them in the"Fürstenzimmer" (Prince's Chamber).
In 1930 the community Spittal bought the park to the west of the castle, and since 1951 the municipality Spittal has also been the owner of the castle.

Of course, there's a ghost haunting the castle. It's the ghost of duchess Salamanca, who killed one of her employees with her shoe. Today the Castle Porcia offers a variety of facilities and venues for a lot of events. The inner courtyard is the venue for classical comedy performances in summer There's an art gallery presenting works of contemporary art, the "Ortenburger Keller", a venue for presentations of literature and readings of poetry, the banqueting hall, a venue for concerts, and festive events like balls.

Two major events are the International Choir Competition which takes place ever year in July, and the Salamanca Festival, a historic festival, which takes place every two years. On the 2nd and 3rd floor of the castle there's the renowned museum of local history and alpine folk-culture showing a variety of interesting exhibits of what life was like in the alpine region of Upper Carinthia in former times.

After you have seen the castle and its fascinating museum and artgallery, you can have some coffee and delicious pastry like "Apfelstrudel" or a fancy cake like "Sachertorte", a rich chocolate cake with whipped cream, in the popular pastry-cafe "Schlosscafe" in the castle.

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