Kienburg Castle

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Kienburg Castle
Kienburg - Kienburg castle ruins.jpg
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Construction: Quarry stone
Place: Sankt Johann im Walde
Geographical location 46 ° 55 ′ 9 ″  N , 12 ° 36 ′ 0 ″  E Coordinates: 46 ° 55 ′ 9 ″  N , 12 ° 36 ′ 0 ″  E
Kienburg Castle (Tyrol)
Kienburg Castle

The Kienburg (derived from the old German word kühn ) is the ruin of a hilltop castle in East Tyrol on the southern edge of the Isel valley and is located between Huben and Sankt Johann im Walde in the village of Kienburg , about halfway from Lienz to Matrei on a rocky hill.

history

The castle was first mentioned around the year 1000. The owners were the Counts of Lechsgemünd . In 1212 it came to the Salzburg monastery . Ownership and interests brought war and devastation to the castle in the middle of the 13th century. Philipp von Spanheim , Archbishop of Salzburg , was in conflict with Emperor Friedrich II. As he feared his troops would invade the Ennstal , the Archbishop took the imperial castles as a preventive measure. Count Meinhard III. von Gorizia , who was on the emperor's side, attacked Matrei and Virgen three times and plundered the villages. In 1252 the conflict was finally settled by the Peace of Lieserhofen , through which the fortress Virgen went to Salzburg and Schloss Matrei had to be returned. However, the Kienburg remained controversial in the following years and kept changing hands.

The castle existed until 1579. Around this time a fire destroyed the robber baron's castle, after which it was uninhabitable and abandoned by the last knight (Count Christoph von Kienburg). The area later became Austrian territory until it passed into the private ownership of the Wanner family in 1825 and finally, on October 1, 1936, into the ownership of the Stocker family. At the end of the Second World War , a bomb dropped by an American plane fell on the castle ruins in 1945 and destroyed the main part of the castle including the tower. The ruin is currently being renovated to stop its deterioration.

nature

The floor plan of the Kienburg consists of a courtyard surrounded by a circular wall in the south and the residential wing protruding from the Bering in the north. The wall itself consists of laid quarry stone with inserted opus spicatum layers. It most likely dates from the 12th century.

Todays use

The property is privately owned by the Stocker family. Forestry is mainly carried out on the approximately 103 hectare area . In addition to the castle ruins on a hill, there are five other buildings and a natural pond. Below the buildings is the so-called hay bath, a wellness facility designed by Ferdinand Stocker sen. is operated.

literature

  • Beatrix Pinzer, Egon Pinzer: castles, palaces, ruins in North and East Tyrol . Edition Löwenzahn, Innsbruck 1996, ISBN 3-7066-2122-3

Web links