Windegg Castle Ruin: A Romanesque Hilltop Castle in Austria
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Austria
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Duchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page14 sections
History
Windegg Castle Ruin, also called Windeck, is a Romanesque hilltop castle ruin in Austria, about 3 kilometres north of Schwertberg. Its origins lie broadly in the late twelfth or thirteenth century, and Otto IV of Lengenbach may have built it around 1170 to 1180. The castle formed part of the Lengenbach family’s network of authority in the Duchy of Austria.
The Lengenbach and Kuenring periods
Windegg was first mentioned in 1208, when it was administered by Dietricus de Windeke, a ministerial. Ministerials were medieval administrative and military servants who could hold offices, property, or castles for a ruler or noble lord. The Lengenbach family served as ecclesiastical advocates for the Regensburg prince-bishopric’s possessions in Austria. An ecclesiastical advocate was a secular official who protected and administered a church institution’s temporal property. The family was based at Neulengbach Castle.
The last Lengenbach died while fighting Duke Frederick II in 1236, and the fief reverted to its overlord. Ottokar II Přemysl, the medieval Bohemian king and duke of Austria, then granted the Regensburg possessions to his supporters Albero V and Heinrich II of Kuenring, who also built Schwertberg Castle. The Lords of Windegg continued as ministerials at Windegg, with Herword of Windegg the last recorded member in 1270. The castle’s wardenship later passed temporarily to the Knights of Oeder, who belonged to the Kuenring retinue.
Transfers between noble families
Albero of Kuenring was castle lord around 1300. In 1354, Leuthold III of Kuenring sold the lordship to Ulrich and Eberhard of Kapellen. The Lords of Wallsee claimed parts of the lordship and forced the Kapellens to renounce them. The Wallsees consequently acquired Windegg in 1410.
After Reinprecht of Wallsee died in 1422, the castle passed to his sons Wolfgang and Reinprecht. Wolfgang’s death in 1483 brought it to his daughter Barbara. Through her marriage to Count Siegmund of Schaunburg, Windegg entered the Schaunburg family, and Siegmund’s successor was Eustach of Scherffenberg. Christoph von Tschernembl purchased the castle from Scherffenberg in 1557. When Christoph’s son Hanns von Tschernembl also acquired Schwertberg Castle, the two lordships were united.
Confessional conflict and later decline
Windegg served as a refuge castle for local inhabitants in 1594, during the threat posed by the Ottoman Empire. In 1605, Georg Erasmus von Tschernembl bought the castle from its Regensburg owners for 1,500 gulden and held it as a freehold.
During the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church’s response to the spread of Protestantism, Georg Erasmus von Tschernembl fled in 1620. The imperial chief steward, Count Leonhard Helfried von Meggau, then took possession of the castle. His daughter married Count Heinrich Wilhelm von Starhemberg in 1644. Count Heinrich Lobgott Kuefstein inherited Windegg in 1675, but the castle soon declined after being used only for storage. Marriage transferred it to the Thürheim family in 1724, which retained the property until 1899. Baroness Therese von Schwitter then owned it, and Count Alexander Hoyos purchased it in 1911. The property remains with his family.
Rescue and reconstruction
By 1980, the ruin had deteriorated so severely that falling stones endangered residents and passers-by, and demolition by blasting was planned. A Windegg working group formed at the last moment, bringing together about 200 volunteers to secure and rebuild the remains. Since then, a local castle association has renovated the site, substantially rebuilding the keep and large sections of the enclosing walls. The ruin now functions as an event venue, while the keep houses annual art exhibitions in the “Gallery in the Tower.”
Remains
Layout and construction
Windegg occupies a rocky spur at 315 metres above sea level, rising from the valley of the Windeggerbach. The main castle covers about 1,042 square metres, while the largely vanished outer ward covered approximately 3,518 square metres. The surviving fabric is Romanesque and uses bossed ashlar masonry, in which regularly cut stone blocks have deliberately projecting faces that create a strongly textured wall surface. This construction style is rare in Upper Austria.
Defensive structures
The keep
The keep, the principal defensive tower of the medieval castle, rises approximately 25 metres and measures 10 by 10 metres. Its walls are 2.20 to 2.50 metres thick. The original elevated entrance survives on the first upper storey of the front facing the courtyard. The tower was substantially rebuilt during the renovation work that began in 1980.
The curtain wall and gate
The east side and the curtain wall, the enclosing defensive wall of the castle, have been restored since 1980. The wall reaches 8 metres in height and is up to 2 metres thick. Its castle gate forms part of the surviving defensive enclosure.
Residential and religious buildings
The palas
Only the original walls of the palas survive. The palas was the castle’s principal residential and representative building. Dating from the foundation period, it contains slit windows that belong to the early fabric of Windegg.
The chapel and other residences
Only a few remains survive from the other residential buildings. The castle chapel stood in front of the main castle and once helped secure access to the castle gate.
The cellar vault
The vault above the original cellar in the castle courtyard has been reconstructed and rebuilt. Together with the tower gallery, it forms part of the ruin’s current spaces for events and exhibitions.
