Falkenstein Castle (Niederfalkenstein)

Last updated

Niederfalkenstein Castle
Burg Niederfalkenstein
Obervellach, Carinthia, Austria
Obervellach Leutschach Schloss Niederfalkenstein 08042007 04.jpg
Niederfalkenstein Castle and Falkenstein Bridge
Type Spur castle
Site information
OwnerPrivate
Open to
the public
Yes
ConditionPreserved
Site history
Built12th century
Built byLords of Falkenstein

Niederfalkenstein Castle is a medieval castle near Obervellach in Carinthia, Austria. It is part of the larger Falkenstein fortification complex; while the main fortress of Oberfalkenstein today is a ruin, the lower barbican of Niederfalkenstein is largely preserved.

Contents

Location

View from Tauern Railway line over Moll valley The World Factbook - Austria - Flickr - The Central Intelligence Agency (8).jpg
View from Tauern Railway line over Möll valley

The fortification was erected on a rocky promontory on the southwestern slopes of the Reisseck Group in the Hohe Tauern mountain range, overlooking the Möll valley east of Obervellach. Niederfalkenstein is 843 metres (2,766 ft) above sea level. [1]

The Tauern Railway line, opened in 1909, initially passed under the rock in a 67-metre (220 ft) long tunnel. In the course of the double-tracked expansion carried out from 1971 to 1973, the rail tunnel was replaced by a wide arch bridge, the present-day Falkenstein Bridge passing between Ober- and Niederfalkenstein, with 396 metres (1,299 ft) the longest of the line and one of the longest in Austria.

The ruins of Oberfalkenstein comprise a Bergfried keep with surrounding moats and the foundations of a Romanesque palas. A chapel dedicated to John the Baptist was first mentioned in 1246, significantly enlarged in a Baroque style in 1772 and is still in use.

History

Niederfalkenstein Niederfalkenstein in winter.jpg
Niederfalkenstein
Niederfalkenstein Castle Niederfalkenstein 01.jpg
Niederfalkenstein Castle

The fortification was first mentioned as Valchenstain Castle in an 1164 deed. The name may be derived from Proto-Germanic walhaz (foreigner, stranger; Romance/Celtic-speaker) in terms of a Romance (Italian) settlement, referring to descendants of the former Roman city of Teurnia, who had migrated to the remote valley during the Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps about 600.

The first documented ministerialis Gumpoldus de Valchenstein was a liensmen of Count Engelbert II of Gorizia (Görz), scion of the Meinhardiner dynasty. The Counts of Gorizia also held the office of a Vogt of the Benedictine Millstatt Abbey, and the Lord of Falkenstein established close ties to the monastery.

The Falkenstein dynasty became extinct about 1300, soon after two castles, 'Upper' and 'Lower' Falkenstein were mentioned, enfeoffed by the Counts of Gorizia to several local nobles. On 24 June 1394 Count Henry VI gave the upper castle in pawn to the Habsburg duke Albert III of Austria. It was finally seized by Albert's nephew Emperor Frederick III in 1460, after he had defeated Count John II of Gorizia in the conflict over the heritage of the extinct Counts of Celje. The lower castle was temporarily held by the Carinthian knight Andreas von Graben, who sold it in 1462.

In 1504 Frederick's son and successor Emperor Maximilian I again pawned the castle to Count Julian of Lodron, by his wife Apollonia brother-in-law of the Salzburg archbishop Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg. It was acquired by Apollonia's second husband Christoph Frankopan after Lodron's death in 1510. The countess donated an altarpiece by Jan van Scorel in the Obervellach parish church, depicting Saint Christopher, herself and her castle. At the same time, large funds had to be raised in order to restore the dilapidated premises. Afterwards, several nobles held the castle, among them the descendants of Gabriel von Salamanca-Ortenburg and the Khevenhüller dynasty, while the premises decayed. When the Austrian mountaineer Joseph Kyselak visited the site in 1825, it largely laid in ruins.

Rebuilt from 1905, the Unterfalkenstein palas burnt down after a burglary in 1969 and had to be restored again. Up to today the castle is a private property, but can be visited in summer.

See also

Related Research Articles

Falkenstein or Falckenstein may refer to:

Kaprun Place in Salzburg, Austria

Kaprun is a municipality in the Zell am See District in the state of Salzburg, Austria. The town is a tourist destination known as "Zell am See-Kaprun" with the neighbouring Zell am See and known for the glacier Kitzsteinhorn.

Spittal an der Drau Place in Carinthia, Austria

Spittal an der Drau is a town in the western part of the Austrian federal state of Carinthia. It is the administrative centre of Spittal an der Drau District, Austria's second largest district (Bezirk) by area.

The House of Auersperg is an Austrian princely family, which held estates in Austria and Tengen. The princely family of Auersperg was a junior branch of the house of Counts of Auersperg from Carniola, one of the hereditary Habsburg duchies in what is now Slovenia. It rose to princely status in 1653 and after acquiring Tengen, they became immediate Princes of the Holy Roman Empire. The princes of Auersperg also held at various times the duchies of Münsterberg and Gottschee. Their territories were mediatised by Austria and Baden in 1806. The family is counted as high nobility.

Nassau Castle

Nassau Castle, located in Nassau, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, was the original seat of the House of Nassau. The ruins of the castle are situated on a rock outcropping about 120 m (390 ft) above the Lahn River. The House of Nassau was an aristocratic dynasty among whose descendants are the present-day monarchy of the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Seeboden Place in Carinthia, Austria

Seeboden am Millstätter See is a market town in Spittal an der Drau District in Carinthia, Austria.

County of Gorizia

The County of Gorizia, from 1365 Princely County of Gorizia, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. Originally mediate Vogts of the Patriarchs of Aquileia, the Counts of Gorizia (Meinhardiner) ruled over several fiefs in the area of Lienz and in the Friuli region of northeastern Italy with their residence at Gorizia (Görz).

House of Gorizia Noble family in the Holy Roman Empire

The Counts of Gorizia, also known as the Meinhardiner, were a comital and ducal dynasty in the Holy Roman Empire. Named after Gorizia Castle in Gorizia, they were originally "advocates" (Vogts) in the Patriarchate of Aquileia who ruled the County of Gorizia (Görz) from the early 12th century until the year 1500. Staunch supporters of the Emperors against the papacy, they reached the height of their power in the aftermath of the battle of Marchfeld between the 1280s and 1310s, when they controlled most of contemporary Slovenia, western and south-western Austria and north-eastern Italy. After 1335, they began a steady decline until their territories shrunk back to the original County of Gorizia by the mid 1370s. Their remaining lands were inherited by the Habsburg ruler Maximilian I.

Greifenburg Place in Carinthia, Austria

Greifenburg is a market town in the district of Spittal an der Drau in the Austrian state of Carinthia.

Mallnitz Place in Carinthia, Austria

Mallnitz is a municipality in the Spittal an der Drau District in Carinthia, Austria.

Obervellach Place in Carinthia, Austria

Obervellach is a market town in the district of Spittal an der Drau, in the Austrian state of Carinthia.

Reißeck Place in Carinthia, Austria

Reißeck is a municipality in the district of Spittal an der Drau in Carinthia, Austria.

Counts of Ortenburg

The Counts of Ortenburg were a comital family in the mediaeval Duchy of Carinthia. Though they had roots in Bavarian nobility, an affiliation with the Imperial Counts of Ortenburg, a branch line of the Rhenish Franconian House of Sponheim, is not established.

Falkenburg Castle (Palatinate)

Falkenburg Castle is a castle ruin overlooking the village of Wilgartswiesen in the Palatinate Forest in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Like almost all castles in this region it was built on sandstone.

Burgruine Hohenburg auf Rosenberg

Burgruine Hohenburg auf Rosenberg is a ruined medieval castle near Spittal an der Drau in Carinthia, Austria. It is located high above the Drava Valley on the southern slope of the Ankogel Group, part of the Hohe Tauern mountain range.

Landskron Castle (Carinthia)

Landskron Castle is a medieval hill castle northeast of Villach in the state of Carinthia, Austria. Dating to the early 14th century, the castle ruins are located on a rock cone of the Ossiach Tauern range, at an elevation of 658 metres (2,159 ft) above sea level. Today Landskron Castle, its falconry centre conducting regular flying demonstrations, and the nearby macaque enclosure are major tourist destinations.

Burgruine Ortenburg

Ortenburg Castle is a ruined mediaeval castle located in Baldramsdorf, in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is located on the northern slope of Mt. Goldeck, part of the Gailtal Alps, above the Drava valley at a height of 740 m (2,430 ft).

Burg Sommeregg

Sommeregg is a medieval castle near Seeboden in the Austrian state of Carinthia, Austria. It is situated in the foothills of the Nock Mountains at an altitude of 749 m.

Anhalt Castle

Anhalt Castle is a ruined medieval fortification near the town of Harzgerode in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

Vilsegg Castle

Vilsegg Castle is a former fortification in the Austrian state of Tyrol that stands about a kilometre northwest of the little town of Vils, between Pfronten and Füssen, a few hundred metres away from the Austro-German border.

References

Coordinates: 46°55′20″N13°14′25″E / 46.9223333333°N 13.2401527778°E / 46.9223333333; 13.2401527778