Description of the attraction
The ruins of Raueneck Castle are located 2.5 kilometers west of the historic center of the Austrian city of Baden. Previously, there was a powerful medieval fortress.
The first mention of a fortified structure on this hill dates back to 1130. Until 1384, this building was owned by a noble family of knights Rauenek, in whose honor the castle got its name. He then passed on to the von Walseer family, originally from Swabia, a region in southwestern Germany.
The castle was an important vantage point - it towered over the trade route towards Vienna, overlooking the valley of St. Helen (Helenental) and the rivers Tristing and Schwechat. Together with the Rauenstein castle located opposite, now also destroyed, and the neighboring Scharfeneck castle, Rauenack formed a single network of defensive fortifications.
It is known that the fortress was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, but was never able to recover from the fatal blow inflicted by the Serbian army of the Hungarian king Matthias Corvin, who seized Vienna in 1485. Rauenack Castle itself was taken by storm in 1477. And in 1529 the already dilapidated fortress was finally destroyed by the Ottoman Turks.
In 1810, Raueneck Castle passed to new owners, who were engaged in the restoration of the medieval building. From that moment on, the ruins were cleaned up and opened to the public. In 1961 the fortress was taken over by the municipal authorities of the city of Baden.
Now the castle consists of the main tower - bergfried, reaching 25 meters in height, a separate hall for receptions, living quarters and a chapel. All this is surrounded by a deep moat, through which an old wooden bridge was built, and a fortress wall 5 meters high. Some parts of the fortress, for example, the chapel, were erected only later - in the XIV century.
It is believed that Rauenek Castle is inhabited by ghosts - among the ruins the unfortunate spirit of one of the builders of this fortress still wanders.
