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Mentioned in 799 for the first time in a Passau document, the history of the castle and its use has proven eventful. After extensive changes in the 1480's, Friedrich III. made it the seat of his old age and collected a court of muses consisting of scholars and poets there.
The “Friedrichstor” making up the main entrance through the west defence wall is still present as a relict from that time.
Due to the continuing Turkish menace (the first siege of Vienna was in 1529), Ferdinand I. preferred to live in the Linz Castle, which he transformed into a modern living castle with chapel. In 1604 Emperor Rudolf II. began construction “of a new castle building”, in which he intended to reside. Construction was not complete till 1672, however, with completion of the new chapel by Domenico and Martino Carlone.
In the French Revolutionary Wars the castle served as a military hospital; a devastating fire destroyed the southern and chapel tracts in 1800. The only provisionally repaired building then served as the imperial-royal provincial prison house, and afterwards as barracks for Upper Austria's regiment, the “Imperial-royal Infantry Regiment No. 14 Grand Duke of Hessen and by the Rhine” and for the constabulary.
In 1952 the city of Linz and province of Upper Austria decided to dedicate the castle to cultural purposes and in 1959 designated it to be used exclusively by the Upper Austrian Provincial Museum. The first partial opening took place in 1963; in 1966 the complete opening finally followed.
The cultural history of the province from the Neolithic to beginning of the 20th century was presented in 37 stately show areas, whereby corridors and stairwells as well as inner courtyards were also included. In 1965 already a part of the first Upper Austrian Provincial Exposition, “The Art of the Danube School from 1490 to 1540”, took place in the castle; in 1976 followed “The Upper Austrian Peasants’ War of 1626” and in 1990 the Provincial Exposition “Man and Cosmos”. The conception of special exhibits and the generous donation of the Walther Kastner collection in 1975 made restructuring and separating of various collections necessary (e.g. the transportation hall in 1975 and changing the entire ground floor into a special exhibit area in 1987). This resulted in the possibility of organizing and designing large international exhibitions such as the “Rise and Fall of Old Mexico” in 1987, the “Incas in Peru” in 1991, “Living with the Rainforest” in 1992, “Indonesia” in 1999, “Africa” in 1996 and 2000, and “Gothic Treasures of Upper Austria” in 2002.
With the extension of the basement, space for presenting ancient and early history as well as the Roman Empire and early Christianity was created; in 2003 the redesign under the framework of a large-scale project for presenting the archaeology of Upper Austria was opened.
In 2002 renewal of the heating system, installation of the elevator, and renewal of the electricity and fuse systems began – work that meant a partial closing of the building, especially of the permanent exhibit area.
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