Rosenburg Castle

Rosenburg stands on a rock above the Kamp in the Waldviertel, medieval in origin and rebuilt in the sixteenth century by the Grabner family into a Renaissance residence with arcaded courts. Its distinguishing feature is the Turnierhof, a jousting courtyard surrounded by galleries from which spectators watched - one of very few such courtyards surviving anywhere in this state, since most were demolished when tournaments went out of fashion. The castle burned in 1800 and was rebuilt in the nineteenth century in historicist manner by the Hoyos family, who still own it. Falconry displays are run in the Turnierhof several times a day in season with eagles, vultures and owls flying over the audience, and they are the main draw for most visitors alongside the state rooms.

History

Rosenburg is first recorded in 1175, and of its Romanesque castle only foundations remain in the base of the keep; the Hussites razed it in 1433, Count Kaspar von Rogendorf rebuilt it on a large scale in Gothic style in 1476, and in 1487 it was sold to the Grabner family. Their Protestant descendants made it a centre of the Reformation in Lower Austria, with a printing press for Protestant books, and Sebastian II Grabner rebuilt it in Renaissance style with 13 towers between 1593 and 1597; Cardinal Franz von Dietrichstein took it over in 1611 and added the tournament courtyard and its 46 arcades in 1614, and the castle passed to the Sprinzenstein family and by a marriage of 1681 to the Hoyos-Sprinzenstein, who still own it. After fires in 1721, 1751 and 1800 it stood almost unused for some 60 years, until Count Ernst Karl von Hoyos-Sprinzenstein rebuilt it between 1859 and 1889 (Wikipedia, Rosenburg).

Highlights

• A surviving jousting courtyard - the Turnierhof with its spectator galleries.
• Renaissance arcaded courts - the sixteenth-century Grabner rebuilding.
• Daily falconry - eagles, vultures and owls flown in the tournament yard.
• A position over the Kamp - the castle rock above the river valley.

When to go

April to October; falconry runs to a daily timetable. Half a day.

Practical notes

Closed over winter. Falconry shows run at set times - miss them and the visit is much thinner. The interior is seen by guided tour. It is privately owned, with areas closed.

Nearby

Horn and Altenburg Abbey are north; the Kamptal wine country runs south.

Key facts