Kühnring Castle

The former Kühnring Castle in the market town of Burgschleinitz-Kühnring was the ancestral castle of the Kuenringer family.

At the site where the parish church of Kühnring stands today, Hadmar I built the ancestral castle of the Kuenringers in the first half of the 12th century, after his grandfather Azzo von Gobatsburg had already erected a chapel here at the end of the 11th century, which was consecrated by Bishop Altmann of Passau and later served as the castle chapel. After the destruction of the castle, it was rededicated as a parish church and significantly rebuilt several times. During the reconstruction in 1660, it finally received its present appearance.

Destruction of the Castle

In the 13th century, the castle was documented as being in the possession of Eufemia von Kuenring-Pottendorf. Georg von Kuenring was a marshal around 1460 and had to fight against the troops of Gamareth Fronauer, who resided in Orth an der Donau and waged war against Emperor Frederick. One of Gamareth Fronauer's wildest partisans, Johann Götzesdorfer, entrenched himself in the Kühnring Castle, which had been neglected for many years, overwintered there, and from there plundered the surrounding area with about a thousand former mercenaries. The administrator of Eggenburg, Wolfgang Kadawer, drove out Götzesdorfer and destroyed Kühnring Castle. In 1463, the Emperor allowed him to possess and use the village of Kühnring. This is a sign that the castle was destroyed and lay desolate.

How the castle could have been destroyed in such a way that parts of the wall several meters thick were hurled away and rotated by 90 degrees, while the former castle chapel and current church right next to it remained intact, is still a mystery today. It is suspected that the walls were drilled into and wooden beams were driven into the resulting holes, which were then submerged in water, thus bursting the walls. Only a few large sections of the wall, as well as part of the castle moat, still bear witness to the former castle complex today.