Steinbach castle ruins

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Steinbach castle ruins
Steinbach castle ruins today

Steinbach castle ruins today

Alternative name (s): Steinpekch
Creation time : 1278 (first documented mention)
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Place: Community Niederwaldkirchen
Geographical location 48 ° 28 '19.7 "  N , 14 ° 5' 42.2"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 28 '19.7 "  N , 14 ° 5' 42.2"  E
Height: 570  m above sea level A.
Steinbach castle ruins (Upper Austria)
Steinbach castle ruins

The Steinbach castle ruins are the ruins of a hilltop castle at 570  m above sea level. A. in the district of the same name in the Niederwaldkirchen municipality in the Rohrbach district of Upper Austria .

history

It was first mentioned in 1278 with Otto the Steinpekch, who is considered the progenitor of a family that has existed for over 250 years. Duke Albrecht III. gives Heinrich Steinpkch the following fiefs: Steinbach, Uttendorf, Lasserdorf, Pruhof, Rodlmühle and Kitzmühle. Siegmund Steinpekch was the owner from 1455 to 1459. In 1503 the daughter of Christoph Steinpekch, named Magdalena, sold the property to the brothers Wolf and Georg von Bergheim (Perkheimer). They were followed in 1524 by Kaspar von Schallenberg , who shortly afterwards sold the castle to Niklas Rabenhaupt. Christoph Höritzer bought this castle in 1535.

Steinbach Castle after an engraving by Georg Matthäus Vischer from 1674

At the end of the 16th century, Jodok Schmidtauer acquired Steinbach from Achatz Höritzer. The next owner is Johann Adam von Hoheneck, who held Steinbach until 1657. He was followed by Seifrit Hager from St. Veit Castle in the Mühlkreis. He sold Steinbach in 1696 to Count Georg Ehrenreich von Spiller. Steinbach stayed with this family for the next 100 years. At the end of the 18th century Steinbach was then sold to the Peßler. In 1816 Gabriele Peßler sold the castle, which was already in ruins, to a farmer. The grounds belonging to the castle had already been sold off by her beforehand.

Steinbach castle ruins today

The former castle gave the town of Steinbach its name. As can be seen in the engraving by Georg Matthäus Vischer , the castle was surrounded by a wall with supporting pillars. In the palace area there was a church and a fortified commercial wing. The main building appears to have been laid out in an L-shape, with a covered staircase leading to the rooms on the first floor.

  • Steinbach castle ruins
  • Steinbach castle ruins, behind it new building
  • Steinbach castle ruins

The palace construction has been left to decay since the beginning of the 19th century. A farm that looked like a foreign body was added to the castle building. Only a retaining wall and a wall on the east side remain of the castle. Hardly anything is left of the stone and earthworks that used to exist. A new building has been erected in the palace area. The so-called choir staircase of the castle church is today in the former castle tavern (today Gasthaus Aumüller, Steinbach 1). A double coat of arms of the Hager with the year 1658 is attached above the entrance portal under a count's crown. The castle ruins are not listed.

literature