Schloss Schallaburg

The Renaissance courtyard at Schallaburg outside Melk has something you will not see anywhere else in Austria: arcaded galleries decorated with thousands of terracotta figures, faces, monsters, and mythological scenes. The figures were fired in the 1570s and cover every surface of the two-story arcade.

Schloss Schallaburg near Melk is a sixteenth-century Renaissance castle with one of the most unusual courtyards in Central Europe: two-story arcaded galleries covered in thousands of hand-fired terracotta figures, faces, and mythological scenes from the 1570s. Nothing quite like this decoration survives anywhere else in Austria. The castle also operates as a serious cultural exhibition venue, running major annual exhibitions on history and culture from April to November. Open daily during the season; combine with Stift Melk for a full-day Wachau cultural visit. Car from Vienna takes 90 minutes; bus connections from Melk available.