Hohenwerfen Castle

Hohenwerfen Castle, known in German as Festung Hohenwerfen, is a medieval fortress overlooking the town of Werfen in the Salzach Valley, around 40 kilometres south of Salzburg, Austria. The castle stands on a 155-metre-high rock and was founded under Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg in 1077 during the Investiture Controversy, at roughly the same time as Hohensalzburg Fortress. The original fortification was considerably smaller than the present complex and was repeatedly enlarged over the following centuries, reaching approximately the size of the modern main castle by the 15th century. During the Salzburg Peasants’ War, rebels occupied Hohenwerfen in 1525 and parts of the fortress were destroyed during fighting the following year. It was rebuilt and strengthened with new bastions and defensive structures influenced by Italian fortress design. During the 17th and 18th centuries it was used largely as a prison, before falling into decline after the secularisation of Salzburg in 1803. Archduke Johann restored the castle between 1824 and 1833, and Archduke Eugen later turned it into a residence with major art and weapons collections. A devastating fire destroyed much of the main building in 1931, but it was rebuilt soon afterwards. During the Nazi period the fortress was used as a training centre, and from 1945 until 1987 it served the Salzburg Gendarmerie. Today Hohenwerfen is open to the public as a museum and historic attraction, with exhibitions, a falconry centre and regular displays by birds of prey.

Hohenwerfen Castle has appeared in The Sound of Music (1965), Where Eagles Dare (1968), Kinderarzt Dr. Fröhlich (1972), Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1983–1987), Frankenstein’s Aunt (1986–1987), The 10th Kingdom (2000), The Man in the High Castle (2015–2019) and The Magic Flute (2022). The fortress has been remarkably adaptable on screen, becoming a Nazi stronghold, a children’s home, Frankenstein’s castle, a fantasy prison, Adolf Hitler’s Alpine headquarters and a prestigious music boarding school. The Sound of Music (1965) is slightly different from the others: filming did not take place inside the castle, but Hohenwerfen is clearly visible in the background of one of the film’s best-known musical sequences.

In The Sound of Music (1965), Hohenwerfen Castle appears in the background during part of the “Do-Re-Mi” sequence. Maria and the von Trapp children are shown picnicking and singing on the Gschwandtanger meadow above Werfen, with the town and the fortress clearly visible in the valley behind them. The sequence was filmed in 1964 and forms part of the musical montage in which Maria teaches the children the notes of the scale while taking them through the countryside around Salzburg. Hohenwerfen is therefore not itself the filming location in the strictest sense, but its unmistakable silhouette is an important part of the composition and one of the reasons the Werfen section of the montage is so recognisable.

In Where Eagles Dare (1968), Hohenwerfen Castle becomes Schloss Adler, the seemingly impregnable mountaintop fortress at the centre of the story. Major John Smith and Lieutenant Morris Schaffer lead a small team of Allied commandos into the German Alps after an American general is captured and taken to the castle, where German intelligence intends to interrogate him about plans for the Second Front. Hohenwerfen provides the exterior, courtyards and other parts of Schloss Adler as Smith and Schaffer infiltrate the fortress and gradually reveal that the rescue mission is actually part of a much more complicated British intelligence operation. The castle dominates much of the film and is particularly memorable during the infiltration and escape sequences. Despite appearances, Hohenwerfen has no cable car: the famous cable-car scenes were filmed at the Feuerkogel lift in Ebensee, while shots combining the castle and cable car also made use of models. The real fortress was filmed in January 1968 and remains so closely associated with Where Eagles Dare that the castle today includes material relating to the production.

In Kinderarzt Dr. Fröhlich (1972), Hohenwerfen Castle is transformed into a children’s home. Roy Black plays Dr. Hannes Fröhlich, a young paediatrician whose professional and romantic life becomes increasingly complicated after he begins working with children and becomes involved with Eva Holm. The film uses both Werfen and the surrounding countryside, with Hohenwerfen serving as the imposing home for the children. The contrast between the huge medieval fortress and the much lighter tone of the musical comedy gives the castle a very different screen identity from the military stronghold it had represented only a few years earlier in Where Eagles Dare (1968).

In Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1983–1987), Hohenwerfen Castle appears in the season-two episode “The Legend of Das Geisterschloss” (1984). Lee Stetson and Amanda King travel to Austria after British agent Emily Farnsworth disappears while investigating a secret listening operation. Before being captured, Emily leaves behind a sketchbook containing drawings of local landmarks that provide clues to her location. Hohenwerfen becomes the mysterious “Geisterschloss” at the centre of the case, and the production makes extensive use of the real fortress. Lee and Amanda move through the entrance gates, steep internal stairways, courtyard and other parts of the complex while searching for Emily and uncovering the espionage operation hidden there. The Wallerturm near the main entrance is also used as the place where Emily and Colonel Metzger are held captive. Unlike productions that use only a distant exterior, the episode takes advantage of several recognisable areas within the actual castle.

In Frankenstein’s Aunt (1986–1987), Hohenwerfen Castle becomes Frankenstein Castle, the home of Baron Henry Frankenstein and the collection of monsters surrounding him. The European fantasy series, based on Allan Rune Pettersson’s novel, follows young Max as he encounters Frankenstein’s eccentric aunt Hanna and a household populated by figures including Count Dracula, a werewolf, a water spirit and Frankenstein’s creation Albert. Hohenwerfen’s towers, courtyards and heavy defensive architecture provide the exterior identity of Frankenstein Castle, giving the otherwise comic family series a genuinely imposing Gothic setting. The fortress is used throughout the production rather than merely appearing as a short establishing view, making it one of the more extensive screen transformations of Hohenwerfen.

In The 10th Kingdom (2000), Hohenwerfen Castle becomes the Snow White Memorial Prison in the fantasy world of the Nine Kingdoms. The prison is introduced early in the miniseries as the place where the Evil Queen has been confined after murdering Prince Wendell’s parents. Wendell visits the prison shortly before his coronation, allowing the Queen to put her plan into motion: using a magic mirror and a transformed dog, she escapes while Wendell himself becomes trapped in canine form. The fortress later remains important as other characters are imprisoned there, including Wolf and Tony Lewis. Hohenwerfen supplies the imposing exterior of the Snow White Memorial Prison, its isolated position high above the valley making it especially convincing as a seemingly inescapable fairy-tale fortress.

In The Man in the High Castle (2015–2019), Hohenwerfen Castle is used as Adolf Hitler’s Alpine headquarters in the season-one finale, “A Way Out” (2015). The series takes place in an alternate 1962 in which Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan won the Second World War and divided much of the United States between them. Rudolph Wegener travels to Hitler’s heavily guarded mountain retreat after being pressured by Reinhard Heydrich to assassinate the Führer. Hohenwerfen is introduced with swastika banners hanging from the walls and dramatic aerial views emphasising its isolation in the Austrian Alps. Once inside, Wegener confronts Hitler but learns that killing him could trigger an immediate Nazi attack on Japan and potentially a catastrophic war. Unable to carry out the assassination, Wegener instead takes his own life. The production filmed at Hohenwerfen on 15 September 2015, including helicopter footage around the fortress, making this one of the rare occasions when the real Austrian castle was once again dressed as a Nazi stronghold almost half a century after Where Eagles Dare.

In The Magic Flute (2022), Hohenwerfen Castle becomes the exterior of the fictional Mozart International School, the prestigious boarding school attended by 17-year-old Tim Walker. Tim travels from London to the Austrian Alps after winning a singing scholarship and soon discovers that the school contains a mysterious portal leading into the magical world of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. The castle is repeatedly used to establish the school, with its towers, walls and dramatic mountain setting giving the academy the appearance of a centuries-old institution isolated in the Alps. The interior of the school was largely filmed elsewhere, particularly at Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, while Hohenwerfen provides the recognisable exterior. The production filmed at the fortress in 2021, and the castle is one of the film’s principal Austrian locations.

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