Schwarzenbach Castle

Schwarzenbach Castle (Hungarian: Feketevár vára), in the preserved state of a ruin, is located in the market town of Schwarzenbach in Lower Austria. The ruin of the hilltop castle stands almost one kilometer northwest of the market town of Schwarzenbach on the Schlossberg, at the beginning of the Schwarzenbach valley.

The ruin is freely accessible, but overgrown with bushes, and the inner courtyard is filled meters high with rubble and wall remains. A sign at the entrance warns of the danger of collapse.

The castle was probably built towards the end of the 12th century or at the beginning of the 13th century. It was first mentioned in a document in 1254 as castrum Suarchumpah, when it was awarded to the Hungarians in the Peace Treaty of Ofen between Béla IV of Hungary and King Ottokar II of Bohemia.

In September 1337, a Hungarian army led by Leustachius, the ispán of Eisenburg and Ödenburg, besieged Schwarzenbach Castle (Hungarian: Feketevár vára) on the Schwarzenbach Schlossberg ("... in campo ante castrum Swerczenpach ...") and captured it before October 4, 1337. Leustachius was appointed "castellanus de Sverczenpach" ("Et si dominus noster rex predictus in castellania pretacta nos mutare disponeret, antequam predictum castrum ad antedictorum ducum manus perveniret, non debemus predictum castrum Sverczenpach alicui alteri castellano assignare ...").

In 1337, according to the Peace of Pressburg, Schwarzenbach was to be exchanged for Anchenstein Castle (near Pettau) in Lower Styria, in present-day Slovenia. Anchenstein went from Austria to Hungary - but Schwarzenbach did not go from Hungary to Austria. It was not until 1362 that Schwarzenbach was handed over to Austria by the Peace of Ofen.

In the first third of the 16th century, the chapel was built in the castle courtyard. The facade of this building facing the courtyard has pointed arched window openings (later partially walled up) for tracery windows. Access to the gallery was via stair turrets, which are still recognizable at a height of 12 meters. Inside the chapel, there are beginnings of the groin vault. At the end of the 16th century, a large-scale conversion of the castle into a palace took place, retaining the old foundation walls. In 1680, the castle was acquired by the Esterházys, in whose possession it still remains. Around 1800, the castle complex was abandoned as the official residence of the Esterházys, and the once magnificent building gradually fell into disrepair.