Therasburg Castle

Therasburg Castle in Lower Austria is located west of the municipality of Pulkau in the cadastral community of Theras on a ridge above the Therasburger-Bach on the left side of the western Pulkau valley.

13th to 15th Century

The first known documentary mention is in 1327 as Ortlieb Zvendel von Teraczpurch. At the end of the 14th century, the castle fell directly to the Counts of Hardegg-Plain. It was the property of Berthold II, Burkhard III, and Johann II. In 1430, Jan von Fladnitz is attested as the castle warden for the Counts of Hardegg. The robber knight Kratzer used it from 1473 for raids, including on the nearby Rittsteig.

16th to 18th Century

In 1523, the castle was conquered by imperial forces. In 1574, the knight Jakob von Raming, a colonel, converted it into a Renaissance castle. In 1645, during the Thirty Years' War, it was destroyed by Swedish troops under General Lennart Count Torstensson. In 1674, Georg Julius Freiherr von Gilleis, also owner of the lordships of Missingdort and Kattau, came into possession of Therasburg.

19th to 20th Century

In 1823, Joseph Count von Gilleis is listed as the owner. The last of the Gilleis family, Julius von Gilleis, leased and later sold Therasburg to his son-in-law, Imperial Count Hermann von Attems, Baron von Heiligenkreuz. In 1842, the castle, which had been uninhabited for about 150 years, was restored. During the redesign, Hermann Eduard Count von Attems-Heiligenkreuz had the tower re-roofed and the 2nd floor of the main building removed. In 1893, it was restored by Maximilian Count von Attems-Gilleis, with a new bay window and a newly built second castle tower. On July 6, 1903, an excursion of the Lower Austrian Forestry Association took place at the forest house. During the Second World War, the holdings of the University Library of the University of Vienna, as well as the important reference works from the catalog room of the Austrian National Library – the remaining books distributed to eight other locations – were housed here, as well as in Horn Castle, Rosenburg Castle, and more than ten other places.