Rabenstein Castle

Rabenstein Castle was the starting point for the German settlement of the upper Pielach Valley. It was first mentioned in a document in 1136 with Willehalmus de Raeminstein.

In 1327, the Rabensteiner family branch living here died out, and the ministeriales of Winkel were enfeoffed with the castle, which had by then become a princely domain. Thereafter, the dukes predominantly appointed administrators. For example, around 1339, Berthold von Losenstein was the administrator of Rabenstein. In 1494, Kaspar Kling was enfeoffed with the castle. Four years later, however, he only appears as an administrator, as Emperor Maximilian I enfeoffed his seneschal Alber von Wolfstein with Rabenstein. From the Wolfstein family, the castle passed to Dr. Johann Ulrich Cäsy in 1569.

From 1590, Nikolaus Gienger von Grünbüchl was the lord of the castle. In 1660, Baron Johann Reichardt von Kunitz bought the complex, which passed to Count Hans Carl von Sinzendorf in 1672. In 1708, Ercole Giuseppe Ludovico Turinetti, Marchese de Prie, became the lord of the castle. His son Johann Anton sold it in 1750 to Baron Johann Georg Grechtler.

The seat of power was moved to Fridau, causing Rabenstein to fall into ruin. The property came to Antonia von Waldstätten as an inheritance. In 1869, Count Ferdinand Trauttmannsdorf-Weinsberg acquired the lordship. Between 1910 and 1913, Prince Johann II of Liechtenstein was the owner. In the next twenty years, Rudolf von Isbary was the owner. In 1964, Aloisia von Isbary designated her forest master Wilhelm Limberger as her sole heir. After a lengthy inheritance dispute with her daughter, Rabenstein remained with the Limberger family. Since 1989, a local castle association has been working on the renovation of the ruin.