Aggstein castle ruins

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Aggstein castle ruins
Aggstein castle ruins

Aggstein castle ruins

Creation time : before 1181
Castle type : Höhenburg, spur location
Conservation status: ruin
Place: Schönbühel-Aggsbach
Geographical location 48 ° 18 '52 "  N , 15 ° 25' 18"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 18 '52 "  N , 15 ° 25' 18"  E
Aggstein castle ruins (Lower Austria)
Aggstein castle ruins

The Aggstein castle ruins are the ruins of a spur castle on the right bank of the Danube in the Wachau , the origins of which go back to the 12th century. The castle ruins are about 300 meters above the right bank of the Danube on a rock spur that runs in an east-west direction . It is about 150 meters long and has a rock structure at both ends. The ruin is located in the municipality of Schönbühel-Aggsbach in the Melk district of Lower Austria .

history

The main castle of Aggstein Castle over the Danube

Presumably the castle was built by Manegold III at the beginning of the 12th century. built by Acchispach (Aggsbach). In 1181 it came into the possession of the Kuenringer von Aggsbach-Gansbach. During the uprising of the Kuenringer under Hadmar III. and his vassals against Duke Friedrich II , it was besieged and conquered in 1230/31. In the disputes about the succession of Friedrich II., During the "rulerless time", the Kuenringer changed sides several times. So it happened that Leutold I of Kuenring-Dürnstein in the uprising of the Austrian nobility against Duke Albrecht I excelled. The castle was then again besieged and conquered from 1295 to 1296. As the last Kuenringer, Leutold II owned the castle from 1348 to 1355. After that, it increasingly fell into disrepair.

1429 withdrew Duke Albrecht V the Ministerialengeschlecht corn Auer Castle and enfeoffed them to his chamberlain (Georg) Jörg check from the forest . He obliged him to rebuild the ruined castle to secure navigation on the Danube. In 1438 Scheck von Wald was granted toll rights for ships traveling upstream. In return, he had to ensure the maintenance of the towpaths on which the ships were pulled upriver. To this end, he built a toll house on the riverbank, which today serves as a forester's house. Over time, he became a robber baron by robbing the ships on the Danube. This is where the name of the "horror forest" comes from, which is said to have been given to him by the population because of his cruelty. In 1463 the castle was besieged by another robber baron, Georg von Stain . He defeated Scheck von Wald and took over the castle as pledge, since the duke is said to have owed him money. In 1476 he was expelled by Ulrich Freiherr von Graveneck (Grafenegg, Grafeneck), who ruled the castle from 1476 to 1477, until he too was forced to give up the castle.

In 1477 Duke Leopold III took over . the castle itself and occupied it with tenants and carers in order to end the looting. In 1529 the castle was burned down by a group of Ottomans during the first Turkish siege of Vienna . It was rebuilt and provided with loopholes for defense with the help of artillery .

In 1606, Anna Freiin von Polheim and Parz, the widow of the last tenant, bought the castle. After her death the castle was badly neglected. In 1685 it passed into the possession of Count Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg together with Schönbühel Palace . Ludwig Josef Gregor von Starhemberg sold the property to Count Franz von Beroldingen in 1819. It remained in the possession of the Beroldingen until 1930, when Gut Schönbühel and the ruins of Aggstein were sold to Count Oswald von Seilern- Aspang, whose descendants it still belongs to.

Hadmar III. von Kuenring is said to have considered the castle impregnable. In fact, there is no evidence that the castle was ever stormed. Presumably other measures, such as starvation, led to the conquest of the castle.

Today the Aggstein castle ruins are one of the most popular sights in Lower Austria, with around 55,000 visitors annually.

Building history

View from the Aggstein castle ruins

Built at the beginning of the 12th century, the castle was successfully besieged and destroyed at least twice during the time of the Kuenringer. Only a few foundations on the so-called Bürgel , a rock spur in the east, and on Stein , a rock structure on the west side of the castle, date from this time . In 1429 it was described as dilapidated and rebuilt by Jörg Scheck von Wald. Thereupon the castle was rebuilt and enlarged in the period from 1429 to 1436 by the population of the area through compulsory labor. Most of the surviving parts, such as the remains of the three-story woman's tower, the palace and the Gothic castle chapel , go back to this reconstruction. The famous rose garden was also set up at this time .

After the arson by the Ottomans, the castle was converted into an artillery defense and equipped with loopholes .

Under Anna Freiin von Polheim and Parz , the castle was renovated after 1606 and the central castle was provided with renaissance-style chancellery buildings . After her death, the decay of the castle could not be stopped. Stones and parts of the entablature were used to build the nearby Servite monastery in Maria Langegg . The first safety measures to preserve the ruins were carried out under the Berolders and completed under Oswald von Seilern. From 2003 to 2004 the project to make the Aggstein castle ruins more attractive was implemented with a total of 49,630 euros from funds from the state of Lower Austria and the EU's EAGGF fund . Damaged masonry was renovated, the sewer system, water pipes and building services were repaired, the entrance area redesigned and a knight's hall redesigned.

Say about Aggstein

Chapel in the Aggstein castle ruins

Hadmar and the iron chain

Hadmar III. von Kuenring is said to have captured ships traveling downstream by means of an iron chain that was stretched across the Danube. When this became too much for Duke Friederich, he wanted to storm the castle. But this resisted all attacks. So he used a ruse. A merchant named Rüdiger from Vienna has been attacked several times by Hadmar. This was sent to Regensburg . There he equipped a strong ship. At the top with valuable cargo, at the bottom with heavily armed soldiers, it drove down the Danube. A ship with a heavy load was reported to Aggstein from Schönbühel on the Danube . The ship was stopped. The rich cargo lured Hadmar to the ship himself. When he entered, the soldiers overpowered him. Thereupon the ship cast off immediately and drove with the prisoner to Vienna to the Duke. The abandoned castle was soon taken. The Duke gave Hadmar his life and freedom, but he was obliged to return all stolen goods and to make good any damage. A few years later he is said to have died on a pilgrimage to Passau in a small village on the upper Danube.

Jörg Scheck von Wald and the Rose Garden

The best-known legend is that of the rose garden . It was about Jörg Scheck locking his prisoners out on the stone slab that protruded from the castle as a balcony, so that they could only starve to death or jump to their death. Scheck always reminded those locked out of roses, from which the name rose garden comes from. Twice, however, prisoners were able to save themselves by jumping into the surrounding treetops. The second time the bells from the valley began to ring so loudly that Scheck went mad and could easily be defeated by Georg von Stain.

On his journey through the Wachau , Joseph Victor von Scheffel wrote a poem about this square, which is best known for its illustrated ending on KISELAK :

By Werner Aggstein.png
Now the first larks rose
and heaven laughs kindly
I too have to fly again
I opened up gladly.
It's yours today, Kuenringer Veste,
Aggstein, weather-brown and red
the same as a vulture
threatened down on the Wachau.
It is easy to gain entry
no gun breaks the path
and not a horn blow from the battlements
reports that a wanderer is approaching.
Tapped into mild spring air
The castle stables stand in rows of ruins
and Jerg Schreckenwald's comrades
no longer ride out and in.
A little gate slips high inside
out onto the rock
and an eerily narrow place
surprised with rigid horror.
It's called the rose garden,
but the word sounds ambiguous,
only the wild, thorny whites
Death roses bloom there.
Some stood pushed out
steep edge on the hilltop
until him storm and roaring weather
and hunger overwhelmed.
Some to shorten his torment,
preferred the leap to the deep,
where shattered in a sudden fall
soon his bones were lost.
I look at the wild with great indignation
Monument to wild people.
See - there be a forgiving, mild wave
also a greeting from the present:
Dizzy from the shivers of the abyss
the highest gable rises the peak,
and at the top of the wall
emblazoned the name - KISELAK!
Of course , KYSELAK writes its name itself. Illustration by Anton von Werner to the poem by Scheffels

Others

On November 30, 1973, the Austrian Post issued a definitive stamp of the series Landscapes from Austria for this motif for five schillings.

literature

  • Falko Daim , Karin Kühtreiber, Thomas Kühtreiber : Castles - Waldviertel, Wachau, Moravian Thayatal . 2nd edition, Verlag Freytag & Berndt, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-7079-1273-9 , pp. 463-468.
  • Castles, pens and chateaus in the Waldviertel, Danube region, South Bohemia, Vysočina, South Moravia regions. ISBN 978-3-9502262-2-5 , p. 10 ff.
  • Aggstein Castle in the Wachau. After an artistic recording by Konrad Heller. In: Reclam's universe. Illustrated weekly publication 32.1 (1916), between pp. 528 and 529.

Web links

Commons : Burgruine Aggstein  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Aggstein Castle on "German Castles" accessed on March 29, 2013
  2. ↑ History of ownership of “German Castles” accessed on March 29, 2013
  3. ↑ Building history on “German Castles” accessed on March 29, 2013