Altgrafenstein Castle

Altgrafenstein Castle (also: Lerchenau Castle) is a medieval castle ruin south of Grafenstein in the Klagenfurt-Land district in Carinthia. It was the ancestral castle of the Grafenstein family and thus the core of the later development of the town of Grafenstein.

The dilapidated Romanesque-type complex lies on the northern slope of the Skarbin, the easternmost spur of the Sattnitz, south of the town of Grafenstein in the Klagenfurt Basin. The ruin is located on a rock cone about 20 m high, and is only accessible from one side.

The first documented mention of Altgrafenstein Castle dates back to 1158. On June 20 of that year, Bishop Roman I of Gurk enfeoffed the Carinthian sovereign, Heinrich V from the Spanheim family, with the estate and the Gravindorf court. The castle belonging to the place also appears in the enfeoffment document as castrum gravenstaine. However, since it had no strategic importance, Heinrich in turn occupied it with vassals: first with Heinrich von Truchsen, who was later succeeded by his sons Gottfried and Adalbert/Albert as burgraves.

From the Trixen comital family emerged the Grafenstein family in the course of the 12th century, who named themselves after their ancestral castle. The most important descendants of this line were Heinrich von Grafenstein, who competed in a tournament in St. Veit in 1227 and was defeated by the minnesinger Ulrich von Liechtenstein, and Rudolf von Grafenstein, whose seal was elevated to the municipal coat of arms in 1954. It shows a griffin, or wolf, rising from a five-pointed crown.

After the rapid rise of the hamlet belonging to the castle to forum Gravenstein, and the extinction of the comital family of Grafenstein, the castle was pledged in the 14th century, which by then no longer met defensive requirements nor was able to maintain its position as the economic and judicial center of the town. Thus, it changed owners in quick succession: in 1330 it went to Hans Liebenberg, in 1351 to the Kraiger family.

The great earthquake of 1348, in which the Dobratsch massif collapsed, is likely to have also meant the end of the castle, because after 1348 it is only referred to as a castle site in documents.

Over the following three centuries, the castle completely lost its importance and fell into such disrepair that its character as a noble residence and military bastion could no longer be maintained. After many changes of ownership, Johann Andreas von Rosenberg acquired the Grafenstein lordship including the ruin on July 30, 1629, which was now to be forgotten and became the subject of legend; the small Grafenstein castle thus retrospectively became the legendary Lerchenau Castle.