Pfannberg Castle

Pfannberg Castle
Alternative name (s):	Alt-Pfannberg Castle
Creation time :	Beginning of the 13th century
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	ruin
Standing position :	High free
Construction:	Quarry stone masonry
Place:	Frohnleiten
Geographical location	47 ° 15 ′ 17 ″  N , 15 ° 19 ′ 46 ″  E Coordinates: 47 ° 15 ′ 17 ″  N , 15 ° 19 ′ 46 ″  E

The castle ruin Pfannberg , also called Alt-Pfannberg , is the ruin of a hilltop castle in the municipality of Frohnleiten in Styria. Its history goes back to the early 13th century. It was one of the most important castles in the Murtal .

location

The castle ruin is located southeast of Frohnleiten in the cadastral community of Pfannberg . It stands on a hilltop in the Trötsch high settlement area . The castle was accessed via a saddle in the south, where the Meierhof used to be .

history

The castle was probably built at the beginning of the 13th century by the high freemen of Peggau , who therefore became known as the Counts of Pfannberg . A knight Wichart de Phannenberch is known from the year 1214 . In 1250 the castle was called castrum .

After the last male Pfannberger died in 1362, the castle came into the possession of the Bregenz line of the Vorarlberg Counts of Montfort , who expanded it further and then called themselves Montfort-Bregenz-Pfannberg . They owned the rule until 1524, when they moved to Peggau (Beckach) . In the year 1599 the facility is described as dilapidated. The final decline did not begin until the 17th century.

Since 1952 there have been repeated maintenance and restoration measures.

description

Pfannberg Castle 1681

The facility is surrounded by a ring wall that follows the edge of the site. The heptagonal keep in the southern part of the castle stood on a boulder and dates from the 13th century. It was blown up in the second half of the 20th century and is now just a pile of rubble. Only on the northern side are there a few remains of massive stone masonry .

In the north there is a three-storey palace from the turn of the 14th to the 15th century placed in the curtain wall . It was divided into three main parts, each separated by walls. The spacious courtyard was previously divided in two by a barrier wall with a gate. In the eastern part are the remains of the castle chapel . Today only part of the apse wall is preserved. On the northern wall of the chapel there was a fresco from the second quarter of the 15th century. It shows the coronation of Mary and Hugo von Montfort, who died in 1423, with his family. It was removed in 1954 and is now in the Universalmuseum Joanneum in Graz . The pointed arch portal with sandstone walls through which the palace was entered is in the south. It extends to the second floor. The arched niches with square windows, some of which are made of bricks, are from a later renovation.

At the southern entrance to the castle are the remains of the defenses. To the south of the keep is a barbican that secured access. To the west of the tower is a gate that is now blocked by fallen pieces of wall. It originally led to the kennel . A gate tower , which is still partially preserved today and which led into the inner courtyard, is attached to this kennel . The inner gate has a semicircular, bastion- like porch that encompasses the outer gate. This porch was probably built later than the inner gate , as indicated by the keyhole notches. Both gates have a Gothic stone wall. The gate chamber, which collapsed today, was connected to the palace and the donjon by a battlement that ran over the parapet of the curtain wall. The defense gallery probably dates from the 15th or 16th century, as indicated by the loopholes. These alternate with the rectangular windows.

Opposite the gate tower is a tower-like building attached to the curtain wall, which at least in the lower part dates from the 13th century and was probably the old hall. After the construction of the new hall, the old one was presumably partially demolished and added to. To the north of this building are the remains of a residential building from the 13th century.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Federal Monuments Office (Ed.): Dehio Graz . 2nd Edition. Berger, Horn / Vienna 1979, ISBN 3-7031-0475-9 , pp. 358 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Werner Murgg: Castle ruins of Styria . Ed .: Federal Monuments Office (=  B . Band 2 ). Ferdinand Berger & Sons Ges.mbH, 2009, ISSN  1993-1263 , p. 50-51 .
3. ^ Karl Heinz Burmeister: Count Georg III. from Montfort-Bregenz-Pfannberg (approx. 1475/80 - 1544). A biographical sketch. In: Montfort. Quarterly journal for the past and present of Vorarlberg vol. 61, issue 1, 2009, ISBN 978-3-85430-344-2 , p. 7 (article p. 7–24; article, pdf ( memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , vorarlberg.at, p. 4) 

Web links

• Entry via Castle Pfannberg to Burgen-Austria