Großau Castle

Großau Castle (Schloss Großau) is a Renaissance moated castle located in the southeastern village of Großau within the Raabs an der Thaya municipality in Lower Austria. The original castle on this site dates to 1204, and though it fell into decay by the sixteenth century, a Renaissance water castle was subsequently constructed in the village proper. In 1856, it became the location of Lower Austria's first agricultural school, established in its outbuildings by Baron Ludwig von Villa-Secca. The earlier castle ruins remain on site, heavily overgrown but freely accessible to visitors exploring this layered history of medieval and Renaissance architecture.