Hardegg castle ruins

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Hardegg castle ruins
Hardegg castle ruins, seen from Eberdorf

Hardegg castle ruins, seen from Eberdorf

Creation time : before 1134
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Place: Liebenfels
Geographical location 46 ° 43 '2 "  N , 14 ° 15' 29"  E Coordinates: 46 ° 43 '2 "  N , 14 ° 15' 29"  E
Hardegg castle ruins (Carinthia)
Hardegg castle ruins

The Hardegg castle ruins are located near Zweikirchen, southwest of the main town of the Liebenfels community in Carinthia . The remains of the main castle of the former complex are listed .

history

The castle was a small Romanesque twin castle on a wooded hill north of the village of Zweikirchen. Nearby are the Liebenfels castle ruins , the Gradenegg castle ruins and the Liemberg castle ruins , which, together with Hardegg, are among the main castles of the ring of castles that surrounded the ducal capital St. Veit .

Hardenegg was first mentioned in a document in 1134, when Mengotus de Hardeche et filius eius Gotpoldus was mentioned. His family died out with Hertwig von Hardegg , a ministerial of the Duke of Carinthia, as early as 1176. Seifried von Mahrenberg, a later owner of Hardegg, redeemed it in 1264 as a donation for the bishop of Bamberg to build a Cistercian monastery. The construction of the monastery did not materialize, however, because Seifried died soon afterwards, but the castle remained in Bamberg style until it returned to the possession of the Carinthian dukes at the beginning of the 14th century. In 1346 it was awarded by Duke Albrecht of Austria to Friedrich and Konrad von Auffenstein , followed by the Khevenhüller family , and at the beginning of the 16th century the Leininger brothers were masters of the castle. In 1527 it came to the Carinthian mint master Hieronymus Puecher as a fief. This was followed by a quick change of ownership, in the course of which the castle fell into disrepair from the 17th century. Possibly the decay was accelerated by the roof tax introduced in the 18th century .

The area on which the ruin is located is now private farm property, entering the ruin is prohibited due to the acute danger of collapse and the constantly loosening stones.

Building description

Main castle

The listed complex, which was last rebuilt and expanded during the Renaissance , originally consisted of two mighty Romanesque towers that had been connected to one another by residential buildings over the years and with them formed a small courtyard. Strong-walled remains of the north-eastern tower have been preserved, the south-western one has crashed. The tower square was already occupied in prehistoric times, as relevant finds prove. The forecourt with the drawbridge gate south of the castle is still recognizable.

From the upper floors of the castle, there is visual contact at all "four mountains" ( Magdalensberg , Ulrichsberg , Veitsberg , Lorenziberg ) as well as some military buildings (u. A. Schloss Hohenstein , Castle Taggenbrunn , castle Liemberg , Castle Karlsberg ).

  • Hardegg castle ruins (2009)

  • Hardegg castle ruins. The interior shows Romanesque round and Gothic pointed arches.

  • Hardegg castle ruins, wall breakthrough with a view towards St. Veit

Watchtower and chapel

On a hilltop with a rampart almost 200 meters south of the main castle there is a Romanesque round watchtower (drop tower) with a high entrance and remains of a round chapel with a semicircular apse above a ditch. During a restoration from 1978, late Gothic, ornamental wall painting fragments were uncovered; but nothing of it can be seen in the meantime.

  • Romanesque watchtower

  • Ruins of a Romanesque chapel

See also

literature

  • Dehio Carinthia 2001 . Verlag Anton Schroll & Co., Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-7031-0712-X , p. 277 f.
  • Siegfried Hartwagner : Carinthia. The district of St. Veit an der Glan (= Austrian art monograph, Volume VIII). Verlag St. Peter, Salzburg 1977, ISBN 3-900173-22-2 , p. 98.
  • Hugo Henckel-Donnersmarck: Castles and palaces in Carinthia . Verlag Joh. Leon sen., Klagenfurt 1964.
  • Franz Xaver Kohla, Gustav Adolf von Metnitz, Gotbert Moro: Carinthian Castle Studies Part One - Carinthia's castles, mansions and fortified sites . History Association for Carinthia, Klagenfurt 1973.

Web links

Commons : Ruine Hardegg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files