Schaunberg Castle

Schaunberg Castle, locally known as Burg Schaunberg, lies on a forested ridge, southwest of the town of Hartkirchen in the province of Upper Austria in Austria.

Schaunberg Castle was built around 1150 by the Schaunberg family. They were local noblemen who had gotten rich because Frederick I (Barbarossa), Holy Roman Emperor, had given them the right to levy toll on the Danube river at Aschach-an-der-Donau.

In 1380, Albert II, Duke of Austria, ordered his vassal Reinprecht II von Wallsee to attack all the possessions of Heinrich von Schaunberg. In the beginning of the period of the Schaunberg Feud, Reinprecht then took all of Heinrich's castles along the Danube but besieged Schaunberg Castle for months without success. Heinrich then turned to the House of Habsburg for help. But in 1390 he was forced to swear an oath to end the feud.

Schaunberg Castle was used to imprison Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia in 1402 by Sigismund of Luxembourg.

In the beginning of the 16th century the Schaunberger family left the castle and changed their residence to the more comfortable Eferding Castle. From then on the castle would only be inhabited by their servants. In 1559 the Schaunberger's died out and the castle was inherited by the Starhemberg family. At present they still own the castle ruin.

Schaunberg Castle fell into dilapidation in the first half of the 19th century due to a lack of maintenance. It slowly fell to ruin and in 1825 half of the, 32 m high, keep collapsed, which also damaged other structures around it. Only in the second part of the 20th century the castle ruin was consolidated in earnest but this could not prevent the collapse of part of the ring wall in the winter of 2002/2003.

At present the ruins of Schaunberg Castle can freely be visited during daytime. A great castle ruin where you can climb the mighty keep and explore subterranean rooms.

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