Kaja Castle

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Kaja castle ruins
Castle ruins Kaja in the National Park Thayatal (Lower Austria)

Castle ruins Kaja in the National Park Thayatal (Lower Austria)

Alternative name (s): Chýje
Creation time : before 1196
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Standing position : Ministerials
Place: Merkersdorf
Geographical location 48 ° 49 '36 "  N , 15 ° 53' 17"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 49 '36 "  N , 15 ° 53' 17"  E
Kaja Castle (Lower Austria)
Kaja Castle

The castle ruin Kaja (Czech Chýje ) is the ruin of a hilltop castle north of the village of Merkersdorf a little away from the border river Thaya on the Kajabach in the Waldviertel , but belongs to the Hollabrunn district in the Weinviertel . It is located in the Thayatal National Park .

history

The Kaja fortress was named as the family seat of the Lords of Chiowe. In 1196, Duke Friedrich I sealed numerous documents here in front of 30 nobles and 24 knights as witnesses. In 1360 Niklas von Kaja sold the castle to Duke Rudolf IV , but in 1376 it was given to the Counts of Maidburg-Hardegg as pledge. Around this time, Count Burkhard II died on Kaja, the chancellor of Emperor Karl IV. At the end of the 14th century, Johann and Heinrich von Leipa conquered the Kaja fortress. They turned their conquest into a robber baron's castle and spread fear and horror in the surrounding villages.

Knight's hall of the Kaja castle ruins

The next conquest followed by the Hussites in the years 1425 to 1427 . A few years later, around 1430, Ulrich von Eyczing (also von Eitzing) received the castle for loyal service and appeared for the first time in Lower Austria . The chronological order of the conquest and handover of the castle is unclear, however. The court in Vienna supported Ulrich von Eyczing in rebuilding the castle, which was then heavily fortified. At the beginning of the 16th century, the Eyczingers moved their residence to Niederfladnitz Castle , which also belonged to the Kaja rule. In 1546 Erasmus I Baron von Eyczing died at Kaja Castle.

In 1588, Burg and Herrschaft Kaja as well as the Niederfladnitz rule passed to the Trautson family via a daughter of the Eyczinger family . In 1781 the Auersperg family became the owners of the Kaja fortress, and in 1945 the ruins went to the Counts of Waldstein -Wartenberg .

Surroundings

Neighboring Castles are the Hardegg Castle , Schloss Karlslust at Niederfladnitz and Niederfladnitz castle itself and in the Czech Republic, the ruins Neuhausl (Novy Hradek) in podyjí national park .

literature

  • DEHIO Lower Austria - north of the Danube ISBN 3-7031-0652-2 (1990)
  • Jiří Kacetl, Petr Lazárek, David Molík: Hrady a zámky moravsko-rakouského Podyjí slovem / Castles of the Austro-Moravian Thaya Valley in words. South Moravian Museum in Znojmo in cooperation with the Retz City Museum, Znojmo 2013, ISBN 978-80-86974-12-5 ( PDF on znojmuz.cz; German and Czech).

Web links

Commons : Burg Kaja  - Collection of images, videos and audio files