Ruine Klingenberg

The ruins of Klingenberg Castle are located 707 metres above sea level on a steep rocky outcrop.
It is thanks to a private initiative that the ruins have been secured and partially restored since 2013. The castle is built on three levels: From the outer kennel with stables, you can access the outer bailey via an arched gate or the pedestrian gate. The former 62 fathoms or 118 metres deep well has been cleared to a depth of 12 metres. The stronghold comprises the imposing south curtain wall, the 24 metre high keep, which is half collapsed and secured with a wooden structure. The massive corbels of a defence corridor and a staircase on the palas are remarkable.


History:
Klingenberg Castle was built and inhabited by the noble Perg-Machländer family in the 11th century. The castle was then inherited by the Clam-Velburg family, whose last heir, Count Ulrich, did not return from the crusade in 1217, after which Klingenberg passed to Duke Leopold VI. Klingenberg initially remained in ducal possession and thus passed via the Babenbergs and Ottokar Přemysl to the Habsburgs, who pledged it to the Lords of Walsee, who owned the castle until 1358.

The pledge was honoured that year by Duke Albrecht II, but the castle was pledged to Hans von Traun shortly afterwards. In 1395, Duke Albrecht III gave Klingenberg to the brothers Wenzel and Ernst Preuhafen as a lifelong pledge in exchange for other goods and the obligation to maintain the castle. The pledged property later passed to several noble families. In 1630, Klingenberg and the market town of Münzbach were sold to the canon monastery of Waldhausen. After the abolition of the Waldhausen monastery by Emperor Joseph II, the lordship, castle and Meierhof zu Klingenberg as well as the associated forest went to the Linz Cathedral Chapter, which still owns Klingenberg today.