Aichberg Castle

Aichberg Castle is located in the municipality of Eichberg near Rohrbach an der Lafnitz in Styria.

After military conflicts with Hungary, the border between the Holy Roman Empire and Hungary was established on the Lafnitz around 1043, and a belt of castles was built at the end of the 12th century.

In 1250, Konrad von Aichberg was mentioned for the first time in a document. He presumably also founded Kleinschlag (Khuenschlag = clearing of Kuono/Konrad), the (today's Eichberg district) named after him.

Aichberg Castle was first mentioned in 1374. In 1378, Wulfing von Aichberg had the stone castle chapel, today's parish church, built.

At the beginning of the 15th century, Aichberg came into the possession of the Welzer family through the daughter of the last Aichberger, who sold it to Seyfried Steinpeiß in 1412. It remained their ancestral seat until 1772. After the death of Karl Joseph Count von Steinpeiß, the dominion passed by will to his cousin, Maximilian Baron von Waidmannsdorf. This was followed by rapid changes of ownership and the decline of the castle and the dominion.

In the course of its eventful history, Aichberg Castle was rebuilt or renovated nine times. The current state of construction dates from 1669 and was designed by a master builder from the Carlone school.

During the First World War, Galician refugees were housed in the castle, who used the wood of the roof truss as firewood. In the Second World War, it was quarters for the German Wehrmacht.