The Bogenhofen Castle
Bogenhofen was an old mansion on old Bavarian soil before the Innviertel fell to Upper Austria in 1779. The castle was already flourishing in the 15th century: in 1438, the influential Bavarian chancellor Andreas Loder acquired it. In 1541, Duke Ludwig of Niederbayern received the title "Hofmarkenfreiheit und Gerechtigkeit" ("Court Courtesy and Justice"), but the town was already documented as a Puben- or Pogenhofen centuries ago.
The castle remained in possession of various noblemen of Bavarian and Austrian origin. The present building dates back to 1834. It was acquired by the Seventh-day Adventist church in 1949 and expanded into a school.
The beginnings of the school Bogenhofen
At the request of many young Seventh-Day Adventists in Austria and Switzerland, who wanted their own training facilities, the church leadership acquired the somewhat decamped Schloss Bogenhofen in the Innviertel in 1949, together with a stable building. On 30th November 1949, the teaching of the new "Missionary School" began with 22 pupils and 2 teachers, and the number of pupils had already doubled to 44 in the second year of schooling. The course offered three years of "Missionslehrgang" (later on a four-year program) The nursing school (until 1960) and a one-year general training course (until 1974).
Training in change
1951 followed the establishment of a so-called commercial course, which was passed from 1980 to 1989 as state-approved two-year "office and administrative school".
In addition to the Austrian Union of the Church of the Seventh-Day Adventists in 1953, the German-Swiss Association of the Free Church of the Seventh-Day Adventists was added as an additional scholar. Thus Bogenhofen became the theological training center of the Adventists in Austria and the German Switzerland.
The language course "German as a Foreign Language" has existed since 1951. In 1962, this language course was divided into the consortium of Adventist Colleges in America and overseas (Adventist Colleges Abroad - ACA), as part of the legal recognition of the Theological Seminary Theological Seminars, in which both the acquisition of the German language and the Biblical languages are made possible.
The Maturale course, which took place as an externalist course from 1959, was extended to four years starting in 1968. In 1984, it received the state recognition as a "Upper Intermediate Gymnasium with Instrumental Lessons", which has since become the European-recognized school leaving certificate.
In 1975 began a one-year Bible study course. This has been supplemented since 2011 by the plant Academy, a one-year practice-oriented training with a focus on mission and community growth.
In 1992, the theological education was again restructured and matched by an American "senior college program." Since 1997, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church has been entitled to award a degree recognized in the church after a successfully completed four-year theology program , Which is equivalent to a "Bachelor of Theology".
In 1997, the first two-year, later one-year Newstart® program focused on health and prevention. In 2009 an attempt was made to expand this training in cooperation with a massage training center, thereby enabling a state-recognized degree. However, this course is currently being discontinued.
The outward appearance of the school has changed fundamentally in the over 65 years of its existence. Today, there is a modern community center with an affiliated school, as well as dormitories with comfortable rooms, small apartments for student families, a cafeteria with outdoor terrace, a small gym, a sports field, a beach volleyball court, a funcourt and a sauna.
