House & Garden 
(which we shall reach 
in a following paper) 
the Castle of Schwan- 
burgis almost modern, 
and it is this tactwhich 
has doubtless given 
it little renown in so 
history-loving a 
country as the Tyrol. 
'I' h e courtyard of 
Schloss Furstenburg 
in the Upper Vintsch- 
gau reveals the severe 
Gothic aspect of many 
of the Tyrolese inte¬ 
riors. H ere the ex¬ 
ternal walls ot the 
buildings are equally 
severe ; but in other 
examples a grouping 
of high gables and 
towers connected by 
low wings is so richly 
picturesque from 
without that o n e is 
surprised at the lack 
of elaboration within. The Castle of Chur- 
burg, a little farther down the valley, near 
the village of Schluderns, has just such an 
interesting facade when seen from the neigh¬ 
boring vine-covered hillsides. But the inte¬ 
riors are of plainly plastered walls adorned 
with rude paintings placed without regard 
to window and door openings. I n a beamed 
and paneled ceiling in some of the rooms 
consists the only structural elaboration. 
Little is known of the history of Chur- 
burg save that it dates from the XIII Cen¬ 
tury. The tower, as well as the adjoining 
north wing,—provided with so-called Long- 
obardian pinnacles,—and a section which 
overlooked the valley of the Matsch probably 
constituted the old pallas and was the earliest 
portion of the present beautiful group. The 
remains of the chapel consecrated in 1334 
can still be seen. The enlargement of the 
castle took place in the XV Century in which 
state it remained unchanged until 1889, 
when one of the former additions was changed 
into a vaulted hall 
serving now as an 
anns-room. 
The Castle of 
Fischburg, at St. 
Christina in the Grod- 
nerthal, was so named 
by its founder F'mgel- 
hard Theodor von 
Wolkenstein on ac¬ 
count of the numerous 
fish ponds which sur¬ 
rounded it. A Latin 
inscription upon a 
great marble slab in 
one of the walls states 
that the outer build¬ 
ings were finished in 
1641 and another 
inscription tells of a 
restoration in 1750. A 
bold severity without 
and a not unsuccessful 
attempt at grace within 
is displayed by this 
castle. An excellent 
effect has been obtained by plastering the 
rough body of the walls and leaving the 
quoins exposed. In the courtyard the steep 
roof and ~a ponderous balustrade have a 
northern air about them, while a supporting 
arcade of light—almost Italian—proportions 
makes a curious contrast. Fragments of 
decorations straying over the light plas¬ 
tered walls, and a porphry column richly 
decorated with stucco, still standing in the 
chapel, point to a grandeur completely 
past, for Fischburg now shelters only a 
neglected poorhouse. Only a few rooms,— 
their paneled ceilings brown with age,—are 
still habitable in the Castle of Taufers,—now 
in picturesque decay. The dilapidated court¬ 
yard is a playground for village children and 
wild-growing vines and shrubbery fill the 
crevices of crumbling masonry. But the im¬ 
agination can easily recall a past complete¬ 
ness and can transform broken outlines and 
roofless towers into dignity and grandeur. 
Herbert C. JVise. 
COURTYARD OF FISCHBURG 
3 1 
