Riegersburg Castle

Riegersburg stands on a basalt plug left by an old volcano, which gives it walls that continue straight into cliff. The approach is a walled ramp of about a kilometre climbing through a sequence of gates, or a lift bored up through the rock for those who would rather not walk. At the top the castle keeps painted rooms, a well shaft driven deep into the basalt, displays on the women who ran the estate in the seventeenth century, and a museum on local folklore and the witch trials of that era. Birds of prey are flown from the bastion below the walls.

History

People have lived around Riegersburg for thousands of years, with a large village of some 300 people in the 9th century BC, and the region was Roman from 15 BC to 476 AD. The castle's history begins in 1122, its first known knight was Rudiger von Hohenberg, the Wallsee family who later owned it feuded with the ruler of Styria in 1415, and its most important owner was Baroness Katharina Elisabeth von Wechsler, known as the Gallerin, who between 1637 and 1653 finished it as one of the largest and strongest castles in the land, with 3 kilometres of walls, five gates, two ditches and 108 rooms (Wikipedia, Riegersburg Castle).

Highlights

• The walled ramp - the long fortified approach climbing through successive gates to the summit.
• The rock lift - the shaft cut up through the basalt for a quick way in and out.
• The painted state rooms - the seventeenth-century chambers with carved ceilings and tiled stoves.
• The birds of prey flights - the falconry displays given from the bastion below the walls.

When to go

Castle, lift and falconry all run from spring into autumn and shut for the winter. Displays are usually late morning and mid afternoon, and the schedule depends on weather. Eastern Styria is warm in summer, so climb the ramp early in the day. Autumn adds the vineyards and pumpkin fields below.

Practical notes

The walk up is a solid twenty to thirty minutes in the open, and the lift is a separate ticket that does not include castle entry. Several attractions on the site are priced individually, so a family visit adds up fast. The interiors are decent but not exceptional, and the place markets itself hard to day trippers.

Nearby

The Styrian volcanic hills, thermal spas and pumpkin seed oil farms surround the castle.

Key facts