Waldstein castle ruins

Waldstein Castle
Alternative name (s):	Alt-Waldstein Castle
Creation time :	before 1152
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	ruin
Construction:	In stock, irregular quarry stone masonry and irregular quarry stone masonry
Place:	Deutschfeistritz
Geographical location	47 ° 13 '50.2 "  N , 15 ° 17' 4.8"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 13 '50.2 "  N , 15 ° 17' 4.8"  E

The Castle Waldstein , even Burg Alt-Waldstein called, is one in German Feistritz in Styria castle ruin. Its history goes back to the 12th century. It was left to decay in the first half of the 16th century.

location

The ruins of the Höhenburg stand on an extension of the Schankkogel north of the cadastral community of Waldstein, which belongs to Deutschfeistritz , and runs from east to west in the direction of the Arzwaldgraben . The foothills drop almost vertically to the north and less steeply to the east and south. The entrance to the castle is coming from the west, south below the castle. The castle secured the transition from the Gleinalpe to the Upper Murtal .

history

Waldstein Castle was probably built towards the end of the 11th century by the high freed from St. Dionyses. The first written mention as "castrum waldstein" comes from the year 1152. From 1190 to 1305 the castle was owned by the Lords of Wildon . These were followed by the lords of Walsee as lords of the castle, who built the castle into a fortress. In 1363, the Walseers handed over the property to the Counts of Cilli , who stayed at the castle until 1436. After them, the fortification went to the von Pranckh family until 1468 . After 1468, the Windisch-Graetz lords of the castle were on Waldstein, who expanded and modernized the castle. After the construction of Waldstein Castle began in the first quarter of the 16th century, the castle lost its importance and was left to decay.

The first part of the castle complex was probably built in the 12th or 13th century in the elevated north-eastern part. This was amended by the 14th century castle keep , the chapel , the palace and the surrounding wall extended. The kennels date from the 15th and 16th centuries.

layout

Along the former access path to the castle there are two gates that are now only partially preserved. In the south-eastern part of the castle, this entrance leads into an approximately rectangular courtyard open to the west. In the southeast part of this courtyard there is a round tower with keyhole notches . A little below the courtyard are extensive kennels which can be reached through a gate. To the north of it there is a rectangular flanking tower protruding from the wall, and to the south the remains of a former farm building. The entrance turns in the courtyard and leads over a brick ramp and a drawbridge that is no longer preserved to another, third gate. Only the support stones of the drawbridge have been preserved. On the eastern and southern slopes of the castle hill there used to be extensive porches .

The main castle is surrounded in the north, east and south by a ring wall that partially runs along the edge of the plateau, while the triangular keep forms the end in the west. In the east of the northern section of the curtain wall, a three-part building was probably added in the second half of the 15th century. Piles of rubble in this area likely came from buildings dating back to the 12th century. To the west are the remains of the castle chapel attached to the curtain wall with the east-facing Romanesque apse vaulted by a semi-dome and illuminated by three arched windows . Its Gothic pointed arch portal with shell limestone cladding still stands today. On the north and south walls of the chapel, a narrow, arched slit window has been preserved in a poorly bricked arched niche. In the west, a one-room structure is attached to the chapel and in the east there is a staircase via which the upper floor of the chapel and that of the attached structure could be reached.

The sharp edge of the triangular, five-story keep in the west of the complex has a 2 meter thick wall and points outwards, in the direction of the attackers. It has an irregular quarry stone masonry in stock, which points to an emergence in the 14th century and served as a pure defense structure. The former access to the tower was in the eastern part of the second floor and was via the castle courtyard. One floor below there was a gate which is now walled up. On the ground floor there is now a wall eruption, probably from a more recent period, through which the keep can be entered. Each of the floors is illuminated by narrow slits of light and used to be connected by ladders or wooden stairs. None of the false ceilings has been preserved.

There is a cistern in the small courtyard . East of the keep is located three-story, asked at the southern perimeter wall hall building which probably the Palas was. There are three wide windows with side seats on the south wall of the first floor. The northern, western and eastern walls are 40 to 60 centimeters thick, which indicates a former wooden plank room or block work chamber. The large, rectangular windows of the building could previously be closed with wooden sliding shutters.

A little away from the actual castle is the square residential tower , which is also known as the " Hunger Tower ", and a circular wall surrounding it. This can be seen as a bailey .

swell

• Werner Murgg: Castle ruins in Styria . Ed .: Federal Monuments Office (=  B . Band 2 ). Ferdinand Berger & Sons, 2009, ISSN  1993-1263 , p. 58-59 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Werner Murgg: Castle ruins of Styria . Ed .: Federal Monuments Office (=  B . Band 2 ). Ferdinand Berger & Sons Ges.mbH, 2009, ISSN  1993-1263 , p. 58-59 .
2. ↑ ^{a b} Waldstein. www.steirischer-burgenverein.at, accessed on August 15, 2012 .  
3. ^ Aquilin Julius Caesar , Description of the Duchy of Steyermark, Volume 2, p. 97
4. ^ Aquilin Julius Caesar, State and Church History of the Duchy of Steyermark, Volume 3, p. 182
5. ↑ ^{a b} Waldstein, castle ruins. www.austria-lexikon.at, accessed on August 15, 2012 .