Bernstein Castle

Bernstein is a medieval castle that held out against Ottoman sieges in 1529 and 1532 and was rebuilt in baroque form after a gunpowder explosion in 1617; Gustav Batthyány sold it in 1864 to his steward Edward O'Egan, whose heirs sold it in 1892 to Eduard von Almásy, and the family have held it since - among them László Almásy, the desert explorer and cartographer whose life supplied the loose basis for the novel and film The English Patient, born here in 1895. The family run the castle as a small hotel, so most of the building is in that use, with the vaulted knights' hall and the terraces open to guests and restaurant visitors rather than as a museum. The village around it is the centre of Austrian nephrite working: a green serpentine stone, sometimes sold as Bernstein jade, is quarried and cut locally, and the Felsenmuseum in the village shows the mining and stonework.

History

In 860 the region belonged to the Archbishopric of Salzburg, and the old Slavic name of the nearby hamlet of Grodnau, the village belonging to the castle, points to an early castle here. From 1199 Bernstein was part of Hungary, Béla IV took it in 1236 and gave it in 1260 to Count Henry I Kőszegi, it passed to the Kanizsai family in 1388, and in 1487 Emperor Frederick III gave it to Hans von Königsberg; it held out against Ottoman sieges in 1529 and 1532, when the ring of bastions was built, and against another in 1604. After a gunpowder store exploded, Ludwig Königsberg had the Gothic inner castle rebuilt in baroque style in 1617, the Batthyány family bought it in 1644, Gustav Batthyány sold it in 1864 to his steward Edward O'Egan, whose heirs sold it to Eduard von Almásy, and part of it became a hotel and restaurant in 1953 (Wikipedia, Bernstein Castle).

The main sights

• A family-held castle - in the same hands since 1892, run as a hotel.
• The Almásy connection - László Almásy, the desert explorer, born here in 1895.
• A vaulted knights' hall - the main interior, used by the hotel.
• Nephrite working - the local green stone quarried and cut in the village.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Before you go

This is a working hotel, not a museum - casual visiting is limited and depends on bookings. The Almásy of the film is a fictionalised version of a more complicated real person.

Nearby

The Felsenmuseum is in the village; Lockenhaus and Stadtschlaining are close.

Key facts