Description of the attraction
Schlaining Castle is located on the outskirts of Stadtschlaining in Burgenland. Initially, the fortress was located on a trade route that led from north to south through Bernstein. The castle was first mentioned in the annals of 1271. The castle received its current name only in 1786, after several phonetic transformations of the original name Zloynuk.
Presumably, the first owners of the castle were the von Jak dynasty. In 1271, the fortress was already in the possession of von Hussinger, who lost it in 1327 in the fight against King Robert I of Anjou. After his victory, the Hungarian king handed the castle over to the Kanizai family, who remained the owners of Schlaining until 1371. In 1397 the castle was taken over by Georg Tompek and his brother Johann. The brothers owned the castle for a long time, until 1445, when Emperor Frederick III, having conquered the lands of Schlaining, transferred the castle to Andreas Baumkirche. The new owner bought 30 surrounding villages, thereby significantly expanding the property.
In the middle of the 16th century, King Ferdinand donated Schlaining Castle to the Battyani dynasty. The fortress has been in the hands of the family for many years. The last of the Battyani family was the Hungarian Prime Minister, Ludwig Battyany. After his execution in 1849, the castle became the property of the Hungarian government.
In 1980, the castle was transferred to the Austrian federal state of Burgenland, namely the center for the study of peace and conflict resolution. The headquarters of the center was located in the Schlaining castle, international conferences were held, and in 2000 the European Peace Museum was opened. The museum has an exhibition dedicated to the history of wars and armed conflicts. The museum chose the words of Alfred Nobel as its motto: “If you need peace, you need to prepare it”. The exposition is located on two floors.
