Lockenhaus Castle
| Lockenhaus Castle | ||
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 Aerial view of Lockenhaus Castle |
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| Alternative name (s): | Leuca | |
| Creation time : | around 1200 | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | Received or received substantial parts | |
| Standing position : | Count | |
| Place: | Lockenhaus | |
| Geographical location | 47 ° 24 '14.5 " N , 16 ° 25' 28.5" E | |
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The Lockenhaus Castle is a hilltop castle in the middle Burgenland in Austria . It stands in the Günser Mountains in the cross-border nature park Geschrittenstein-Írottkő on the outskirts of the village of Lockenhaus on a rock ledge on the Günsbach and thus belongs to the hill castle type.
history
Lockenhaus Castle was first mentioned in a document in 1242. It was built around 1200 and was initially called "Leuca". The oldest parts are the keep and the ring wall of the inner castle . The chapel tower and the two-aisled Gothic columned hall of the knight's hall are a little younger . In the reveals of the window niches of the castle chapel there are fragments of frescoes from the 13th century. These are the oldest frescoes on a fortification or secular building in Burgenland.
From 1270 to 1337 the Counts of Güssing ( Johann I. von Héder ) are named as owners. Between the 14th and 17th centuries it belonged to the Kanizsay (1390 to 1535) and Nádasdy (1535 to 1672) families . After the killing of Franz III. Nádasdy , the castle was mortgaged to Nikolaus Draskovich. In 1676 it passed into the possession of the Esterházy family , who remained the lords of the castle until 1968.
In 1968 Paul Anton Keller and his wife bought the castle complex, which at the time was in very poor condition. Using all their private fortune, the family began its renovation, which was continued after the death of Paul Anton Keller in 1976 by the Prof. Paul Anton Keller Foundation-Castle Lockenhaus . A total of eleven million Austrian schillings have been invested in the renovation of the buildings since 1968 .
Templar castle or not?
The controversy is connected with Lockenhaus Castle as to whether it could originally have been an order castle of the Knights Templar . While numerous historians deny the work of this order in Austria, the book author Gerhard Volfing has collected evidence that speaks in favor of the theory of a Templar castle. Stonemasons' marks can be found on the ceiling of the so-called cult room , which can also be found in this type in Templar castles in Spain and Portugal. The keystone in the cult room can also be found in a chapel in England. Volfing also thinks he can recognize a patriarch and a Knight Templar in the frescoes in the castle chapel .
Contrary to Volfing's representation, other castle researchers interpret the cult area under the castle courtyard as the former cistern of the complex. It is one of the most elaborate that Romanesque architecture has produced in Central Europe. The small hall may also have served as a lower church, treasury or prison.
description
Lockenhaus Castle consists of an outer bailey and a core bailey behind it . A comprehensive research of the building fabric has not taken place until today. In addition to the chapel tower from the late Romanesque period, the keep near the gate to the main castle from the early construction period has also been preserved.
Southwest view
Northeast view
West view
East view
Knight hall
tour
Inner courtyard with a fountain
chapel
Cult room
Watercolor from the lower courtyard 1969
View from Lockenhaus to the ruinous stronghold (around 1900)
Detailed study of a window above the knight's hall
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See also
literature
- Heide Berger: Studies at Lockenhaus Castle. Diploma thesis, University of Vienna, Vienna 2001.
- Paul Anton Keller: Lockenhaus Castle. Landscape and history. Self-published, Lockenhaus im Burgenland 1969.
- Franz Theuer : Lockenhaus Castle. 10 years "Prof. Paul Anton Cellar Foundation Castle Lockenhaus ”. Lockenhaus Castle Administration in Burgenland, Lockenhaus 1990.
- Franz Theuer: Knight's Castle Lockenhaus in history, legend and literature. Roetzer, Eisenstadt 1981, ISBN 3-85374-082-0 .
- Gerhard Volfing: On the trail of the Templars in Austria. In documents and legends. Weishaupt, Gnas 2001, ISBN 3-7059-0129-X .
- Hans Waltenberg: Architectural and astronomical secrets of Lockenhaus Castle in Burgenland. In: Burgenland homeland sheets . Volume 35, 1973, pp. 171-184, PDF (983 kB) on ZOBODAT
Web links
- Site of the castle
- Entry via Castle Lockenhaus to Burgen-Austria
- Photo gallery Castle Lockenhaus
References and comments
- ↑ According to Gerhard Volfing, however, there are no documents that prove the Güssing family to be the castle owners.
- ↑ Ritterburg Lockenhaus ( Memento from January 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Entry on Castle Lockenhaus on Burgen-Austria , as of January 6, 2009.