Arnfels Castle

In the 11th century, Arnfels belonged to the Counts of Sponheim. The tower standing here was managed by one of their vassals. After the death of Count Bernhard of Sponheim, Arnfels passed to the regional prince in 1147. However, it was soon granted to the Lords of Mureck.

At the beginning of the 13th century, the castle on the rock above the valley was rebuilt. At that time, it was called castrum Arenuels. In 1242, the Styrian Duke seized the escheated fief. After 1246, Arnfels came into the possession of the Archbishopric of Salzburg. The Archbishop enfeoffed the regional prince with the lordship, who in turn passed it on as a sub-fief to the Heunburgers. Through Agnes of Heunburg, who was married to a Pfannberger, Arnfels came to this family.

Since Count Ulrich of Pfannberg was involved in a noble conspiracy against Duke Albrecht I in 1293, he had to surrender his castle to the regional prince, who in turn passed it on to Leutold of Dürnstein. In 1318, the lordship came to the Archbishop of Salzburg. In 1352, Arnfels came as a Salzburg fief to Friedrich III of Wallsee-Graz. Thereafter, mostly episcopal administrators were appointed. At the beginning of the 15th century, the castle burned down. It was handed over to Koloman Windischgrätz in 1424 with the condition that he rebuild it within four years. In 1426, another fire occurred. Since the castle was still not renovated in 1433, it was assigned to the brothers Wilhelm and Hans Reisperger.

Emperor Friedrich III endeavored to gain control of the strategically important castle, which he succeeded in doing in 1458. Now, regional princely administrators were again appointed. From 1479 to 1490, Arnfels was occupied by the Hungarians. In 1515, Emperor Maximilian I pledged the castle to Sigmund von Dietrichstein. In 1523, Hans Freiherr von Thurn was the pledge holder. He began the modern expansion of Arnstein and created the outer bailey. The brothers Wilhelm and Erasmus I of Gera took over the castle in 1555 and continued the expansion. In 1604, the already heavily indebted Arnfels was sold to Hans Friedrich von Mersperg. His granddaughters sold the lordship in 1651 to Hans Jakob Freiherr von Galler. The again heavily indebted lordship was taken over by the Mersperg family in 1666.

In 1669, it was sold to Carl Gottfried Graf Breuner. The next owners were Prince-Bishop Peter Philipp (1681) and Otto Graf von Dernbach (1687). The latter had the castle expanded in Baroque style. His widow married Franz Erwein von Schönborn. His descendants kept the lordship as a fideicommiss until 1912. Then the Czerweny-Arland family acquired it. The castle was extensively restored in 1976. It is still in private ownership today and is inhabited.