Schloss Leopoldskron was commissioned as a family estate in 1736 by the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg, Leopold Anton Freiherr von Firmian (1679-1744). The Scottish Benedictine monk, Bernhard Stuart, is regarded as Leopoldskron's master builder. In addition, Johann Kleber's stucco work on the ceilings throughout the Schloss is described as “the best example of rococo stucco the land can offer”.
Leopold Firmian was a great lover of science and the arts, but is most remembered for his role in the expulsion of more than 22,000 Protestants from the Archbishopric of Salzburg. Leopold’s harsh actions were noticed all over Europe and both Salzburg’s economy and the reputation of the Firmian family suffered severely as a result. The commission of Schloss Leopoldskron was, in part, an attempt by the Archbishop to rescue the social standing of his family.
A special law made the property a private possession of the family. In May 1744, Leopold deeded the completed Schloss over to his nephew, Count Laktanz Firmian. After his death later in the same year, the Archbishop’s body was buried in Salzburg’s cathedral, but his heart remains below the Chapel in the Schloss, which, as is inscribed on the chapel floor, he “loved so dearly.”
Count Laktanz, a collector of art and an artist himself, enriched Schloss Leopoldskron with the largest collection of paintings Salzburg had ever known, including works of artists such as Rembrandt, Rubens, Dürer, and Titian. The Count was one of the first sponsors of Leopold Mozart and his son, Wolfgang Amadeus.
Count Laktanz von Firmian held a high-ranking position at the archepiscopal court since 1736, as chief chamberlain and music director. He was a talented artist in his own right whose passion for the arts not only made him a patron of the Mozart family, but also led to the expansion of the palace in order for it to house what was then the most important art collection in Salzburg. In 1810 this collection was valued at the enormous sum of 60,000 gulden.
The archbishopric, which was secularized in 1803, was ceded to Bavaria in 1809 and the Leopoldskron entail was annulled in accordance with Bavarian law in 1812. When Laktanz died in 1786, his son started selling the famous paintings and Leopoldskron experienced a time of decline. Leopold Anton (1737–1828), the eldest son and heir of Franz Laktanz, then sold the substantial shares he had inherited in the Berchtesgaden saltworks.
“He was a carefree old man whose very great kindness was often abused. Under his watch, the collections began to decline. Many people approached him with requests to borrow paintings for copying, which the count always granted. Very often the paintings were not returned to him at all, or instead of the originals he received worthless copies covered with dirty varnish.”
In 1815, the entire estate was officially appraised. The palace was valued at 4,000 gulden, the Meierhof at 600 gulden, the park at 300 gulden, all the fields and meadows at 8,228 gulden, and the Leopoldskroner Weiher at 960 gulden.
Leopold Anton died in 1828 at the age of 91. His heirs were his eldest son Leopold Maximilian von Firmian (1766–1831), the Prince-Archbishop of Vienna, and the Count von Wolkenstein-Trostburg, who was the husband of his daughter Maria Anna. Leopold Maximilian received the former princely fiefdom, i.e. the lake, the Mooshölzl and Lazaretthölzl woods, as well as a larger area of moorland, while Wolkenstein-Trostburg was given the palace and its land.The latter sold his share of the inheritance to the Salzburg shooting gallery owner Georg Zierer in 1837. Under Zierer's ownership, the collections were dismantled and most of the remaining valuable paintings, etchings, and sculptures were removed. During the 19th century, the Schloss passed through various hands, among them Bavarian King Ludwig I and Carl Spängler, a well-known banker and two waiters who attempted to turn it into a hotel.