Scharfeneck Castle

The ruin of Scharfeneck Castle, like the castle ruin Rauhenstein, lies on the river Schwechat, in the municipal area of Baden bei Wien.

Archaeological investigations have determined that the castle was inhabited around 1100 and was abandoned again by the 13th century at the latest. It is uncertain whether the castle bore the name Veste Wolfsberg at that time. It is considered certain that the small castle lacked the economic basis to assert itself against its powerful neighbor Rauheneck. Scharfeneck, in contrast to Rauheneck, lies only a few hundred meters above the trade routes that formerly ran through the Helenental. A breach several meters wide in a side wall suggests a deliberate demolition of the castle.

The current name of the castle only came into being around 1470 – a certain Ulrich Kamper separated the then ruin from the Rauhenstein property complex, which allowed him, as Ulrich Kamper zu Scharfeneck, to rise into the ranks of the landed gentry. Even though the castle ruin was no longer inhabited at this time and returned to the possession of the Rauhensteiners in 1517, the name Scharfeneck Castle remained.