Kraiger locks

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Ruins Hochkraig and Niederkraig (2015)

The ruins of Hochkraig and Niederkraig (Neukraig) in the municipality of Frauenstein in Carinthia are called Kraiger castles . The oldest parts of the complex date from the early 12th century. Today's listed buildings have not been inhabited since the 17th and 18th centuries.

location

The Kraiger castles are part of a chain of castles that surrounded the old ducal town of St. Veit . The ruins are north of the city, far away from today's road network on the southern slope of the Kraiger Berg above the small settlement of Grassen between Schloss Frauenstein and the village of Kraig .

history

Owner story

The earliest documented mention of the Lords of Kraig (Kreig, Kreigh) dates back to 1091, when a Dietricus de Kriwig was named, who is considered to be the progenitor of the family. The Kraiger were fiefs of the Duke of Carinthia and are among the oldest and most important ministerial families in the country. From 1249 they provided the chief sess of the sovereign, in the late 14th (Konrad I. von Kraig from 1385) and in the 15th century provincial governors of Carinthia . In 1466 the Lords of Kraig were raised to the baron status.

The Kraiger castles in a depiction by Valvasor (around 1680)

In 1564 the Carinthian branch of the family died with Konrad von Kraig - long before that part of the family had emigrated to Bohemia - in the male line. The castles came to Johann Graf von Hardegg through the marriage of Barbara, the sister of the last Kraiger . Their daughter Elisabeth married Georg Graf von Nogaroll, who paid off the other two heirs around 1566 and became the sole owner of the estate after the death of his wife. In 1570 Archduke Karl sold the Kraiger lordship to Georg von Khevenhüller , who left Count Nogaroll as a fief. After the Protestant Khevenhüller were forced to give up their Carinthian estates and to emigrate in 1628, Paul Khevenhüller sold the property to Baron Ludwig Grotta von Grottenegg. In the following decades ownership changed between several families, since 1822 the property with the surrounding forests has belonged to the Goëss family .

Hochkraig was no longer inhabited by the middle of the 17th century, and employees of the owner families lived in Niederkraig until the end of the 18th century. Since then, the two castles have been in a state of disrepair. The ruins are now a listed building and are not accessible for safety reasons. The buildings and the surrounding forests are designated as the Carinthian landscape protection area Kraiger Schlösser (LSG.046).

Swastika on the tower of Hochkraig

Bergfried Hochkraig with swastika and "Heil Hitler" inscription
Swastika defaced (2020)

In 1934, in the year of the failed coup attempt by the Austrian National Socialists ( July Putsch ), an 8 × 8 meter swastika was worked into the outer masonry of the keep of Hochkraig , which had been the symbol of the NSDAP since the early 1920s . After the Second World War, on the initiative of the owner, it was largely overpainted, but was largely forgotten for decades until trees were felled in the course of renovation measures on the ruin in 2011 and the swastika, which had not survived overpainted, was again widely visible. A few meters below, parts of an inscription “Heil Hitler” could also be seen. According to the Badge Act , which prohibits the display of the signs and symbols of forbidden organizations, especially National Socialist organizations, it should have been removed or made unrecognizable. According to statements from the owner and the lessee, this was not possible or only at risk for the executors and the building due to the risk of collapse. The Federal Monuments Office shared these fears and suggested as an alternative to thematize the history of the swastika as part of an art project and to set up an explanatory plaque, which the owner opposed, who did not like "pilgrims [...] with neither right nor left ideas" . He had already blocked access to the ruin because of the dilapidation. After nothing had been done for several years, the Carinthian state curator Gorazd Živkovič suggested in 2014 that a memorial be erected in the valley in the line of sight of the tower. In 2014, the Mauthausen Committee Austria called for the swastika to be removed. In 2017, the state curator Gorazd Živkovič raised 60,000 euros from the federal government and the state for a project in which the tower was to be secured with scaffolding and the graphics removed. Lord of the castle Peter Goess declined to contribute 5,000 euros and referred to the idea of ​​a company to carry out the cleaning with a sandblaster with the help of a balloon. This is more cost-effective because then no scaffolding would be necessary. After an agreement between the state of Carinthia and the owner that the state and the federal government should share the costs, the swastika was redesigned in 2019 and the words "Heil Hitler" painted over.

Building description

Hochkraig ruin
Niederkraig ruins
Tower castle
Aqueduct in the valley between the Kraiger castles

The smaller Hochkraig and the extended Niederkraig were probably created almost simultaneously at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries.

Hochkraig was built on a rugged rock that towers almost 100 meters above the valley floor. Access was via the northwest side, where there is a flat fore area, from which the castle is separated by a ten-meter-wide neck ditch . A steep path leads through a narrow rock cut around the east side of the defensive wall to the castle gate on the north side; the facility is difficult to access today. Large parts of the thick-walled, Romanesque keep with strikingly rounded corners are still preserved from the castle, which was surrounded by a six-meter-high quarry stone wall with a battlement at a distance of only one to two meters. Hochkraig was probably initially only as Vorwerk designed by Niederkraig, only in the 14th century by building a was Palas living space created. The lower chapel also dates from the time it was built. Remains of the fortress wall, Gothic residential and farm buildings and the Gothic castle chapel are still preserved. About 200 meters north of Hochkraig there is a tower castle on a rock needle , which was built before the two castles in the 11th century and which is also said to have served as a fall tower (prison tower).

The main castle Niederkraig, which is much better preserved than Hochkraig, comprises a much larger group of buildings, most of which date from the late 14th century. The north of the two square keep of Niederkraig has funnel-shaped slots for signaling purposes. Gothic additions from the 14th and 15th centuries are grouped around the southern, five-story keep, which was presumably built together with Hochkraig. Only a few remains of the wall remain from the original three-storey palace from the 16th century. The renaissance window frames made of white marble indicate an elaborate design.

A round tower standing south of this complex on a protruding rock was set up as a chapel in 1730 and is dedicated to St. John Nepomuk . It was affiliated to the parish church of Kraig as a branch church and served as a pilgrimage chapel long after the two castles had fallen into disrepair. There are numerous Roman spoils and reliefs on or in it . The altar from the 17th century is decorated with tendrils and carved figures from the 18th century.

A special feature of the entire complex is the 40 meter long and ten meter high arched aqueduct that connects Hoch- and Niederkraig. It was built in the 15th or 16th century. Its four arches bridge the narrow valley through which the Roman road once ran.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Ruins of the Kraiger Schlösser  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ With a swastika, the tower of the historic castle could fall ( Memento from April 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), kleinezeitung.at , April 15, 2014.
  2. ↑ Swastika on the tower of ruins causes a stir , kaernten.orf.at , April 14, 2014, accessed on June 8, 2019.
  3. ↑ Carinthian contaminated sites , profile 16/2014, April 14, 2014 p. 12
  4. ↑ Swastika still on the castle ruins of Hochkraig: Mauthausen Committee demands immediate removal! , mkoe.at , April 14, 2014, accessed June 8, 2019.
  5. ↑ Swastika on castle ruins is removed. , kaernten.orf.at, June 8, 2019, accessed June 8, 2019.
  6. ↑ Hochkraig castle ruins (Carinthia) - the swastika was made unrecognizable. bda.gv.at , June 24, 2019, accessed on July 9, 2020 .

Coordinates: 46 ° 47 ′ 50.6 "  N , 14 ° 20 ′ 46.2"  E