Karlstein Castle (Lower Austria)
The Karlstejn castle or Karlstejn Castle is located on a steep cliff in Karlstein an der Thaya in Lower Austria.
Karlstein is first mentioned as Chadelstain in 1112. As a feudal castle of various noble families, Karlstein belonged to the respective sovereign. For a short time it became a center of the Reformation under the Puchheim from 1576 .
Since it was not owned by one family for a long time either, it was continuously rebuilt and expanded. There is practically nothing left of the original castle. The preserved castle chapel dates back to the 16th century.
Usage also changed over the centuries. It was previously used as a noble residence, but from 1880 it was also a watch factory. The castle also served as a prison for a while. The peasant leader Georg Schrembser was probably held prisoner until his execution from 1597.
Although the castle owned by Count van der Straten was uninhabitable in 1914, an internment camp was set up here during the First World War . The Montenegrin General Staff was also held here.
After the war, the Hungarian communist leader Béla Kun was interned here.
The castle was later also used as a youth hostel, and in the 1960s as a boarding house.
literature
- Reichhalter / Kühtreiber: Castles - Waldviertel and Wachau , 2001
- Franz Eppel: The Waldviertel , 1966
- Evelyn Benesch, Bernd Euler-Rolle , Claudia Haas, Renate Holzschuh-Hofer, Wolfgang Huber, Katharina Packpfeifer, Eva Maria Vancsa-Tironiek, Wolfgang Vogg: Lower Austria north of the Danube (= Dehio-Handbuch . Die Kunstdenkmäler Österreichs ). Anton Schroll & Co, Vienna et al. 1990, ISBN 3-7031-0652-2 , p. 486-487 .
- The Castles and Palaces of Lower Austria , Volume 2, 1925
- Hellmut Bornemann: Land on the Thaya , 2001
- Georg Clam Martinic: Austrian Burgenlexikon , 1992
- Laurin Luchner: Castles in Austria I , 1978
- Gerhard Stenzel: From Castle to Castle in Austria , 1973
- Gerhard Stenzel: From Castle to Castle in Austria , 1976
Web links
- Entry for Karlstein Castle in the database of the state's memory of the history of Lower Austria ( Museum Niederösterreich )
- Entry about Karlstein Castle on Lower Austria Castles online - Institute for Reality Studies of the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times, University of Salzburg
- Entry via Karlstein on Burgen-Austria
- Palaces, castles, ruins and desolation in the Waldviertel
Coordinates: 48 ° 52 '54.2 " N , 15 ° 24' 5.8" E