Originally the castle was the summer residence of an archbishop of Salzburg (Leopold Anton Eleutherius Freiherr von Firmian, who reigned from 1727 to 1744). Built in 1736 and surrounded by a seven-hectare park, the palace is situated on an idyllic pond with a magnificent view of the mountains and the Hohensalzburg Fortress.
After 1760, the castle was rebuilt in classicist style, the tower including the mansard roof was demolished and replaced by an attic storey. Among the many owners was King Ludwig I of Bavaria. He lived there temporarily after his abdication.
Other owners followed until Max Reinhardt, director and co-founder of the Salzburg Festival bought the castle in 1918. He lived in Leopoldskron until the expropriation of his Salzburg property on April 16, 1938. Stephanie von Hohenlohe, who as "Hitler's spy" had succeeded in using the "Aryanized" palace for her own purposes, generously redesigned it and planned a meeting place for festival guests. For a short time, however, the well-known, politically opportunistic conductor Clemens Krauss occasionally occupied the castle, until after 1945, in the Republic of Austria, which was reestablished after the end of the Nazi regime, the heirs of Max Reinhardt returned it, who later sold it.
Today it is a hotel.
Fortress Hohensalzburg seen from Leopoldskron
At the southern end of the big pond there is a statue of Saint Nepomuk
