Hungerturm: Ruined Gothic Tower Castle in Austria
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 2.9
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Austria
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Duchy of Styria, Habsburg, Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page6 sections
History
Hungerturm is the ruin of a Gothic tower castle at Waldstein in the municipality of Deutschfeistritz, Styria, Austria. The present castle probably dates from the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century and may have served as an outer bailey of Waldstein Castle, with both sites probably forming one property-historical unit.
Earlier fortification
A wooden fortification may have stood here during the eleventh or twelfth century. Several ditches and an oval mound northeast of the later castle are probably associated with this predecessor. The earlier site was a motte castle, a fortification centered on a raised earthen mound, and the complex is also classified as a hilltop castle.
The Gothic castle
The wooden structure was probably replaced by the present stone castle in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. Later defensive changes included the insertion of gun loopholes into the enclosing wall. The complex survives as a ruin, retaining evidence of both its medieval tower-castle arrangement and its earlier fortified landscape.
Remains
Hungerturm stands on the summit of Schneiderkogel, south of Waldstein Castle. The hill descends moderately steeply toward the north, south, and west, while a narrow projection extends eastward. The surviving complex consists of a nearly square residential tower surrounded by a freestanding polygonal curtain wall, the enclosing defensive wall of a castle. A neck ditch, cut across a narrow approach or projecting ridge, lies northwest of the castle, while further ditches and the oval mound northeast of the complex probably relate to the earlier motte.
Residential tower
The four-storey tower is about 15 metres high. Its north side measures approximately 9.6 metres, while the other three sides are each about 10.2 metres wide. Roughly coursed, partly irregular rubble masonry forms the structure. The walls are around 2.3 metres thick at ground level and become thinner above. Horizontal leveling courses appear at intervals of 50 to 60 centimetres and correspond to corner blocks carved from tuff, a stone formed from compacted volcanic ash.
The original entrance was an elevated doorway on the east side, about 5 metres above ground. Its partly preserved Gothic pointed-arch portal is made of dressed stone. The consoles and rebate for the former lifting drawbridge remain visible, together with the standing bridge piers. A footbridge probably ran from these piers to the northern part of the castle wall. The tower is now also accessible through a widened light slit in the basement, and a massive masonry pier supports its southern side.
The storey behind the former entrance contained a ribbed cross-vault, a vaulted ceiling supported by intersecting masonry ribs. Beam sockets above it indicate an earlier or later beam ceiling, although the relationship between the two arrangements is uncertain. A staircase probably ran along the northern side of the storey and led to the upper floors. Each storey has a light slit on all four sides. A doorway above the entrance once opened onto an oriel, a projecting upper-storey window or chamber, but that opening is now blocked.
Enclosing defenses
The curtain wall is approximately 1 metre thick and forms a slightly irregular oval made from straight sections. Its entrance is on the northeast side and formerly had a bascule bridge, a drawbridge that pivots upward to close an entrance. The stone pivot bearing survives. Four buttresses reinforce the northern wall, and five later gun loopholes with flat-arched niches were inserted into it. Some retain the timber supports used for muskets. A separate light slit with a stone lintel and dressed-stone surround remains visible in the northern section.
A short internal wall and gate divided the courtyard into two parts. The wall joined the residential tower at its northeastern corner and survives only in fragments, including portions of its shoulder-arched portal. A wooden wall-walk, meaning a passage along the top of a defensive wall, probably stood above it and was reached from the main gate by a staircase.
