Weißenburg Castle

The castle rock was probably fortified as early as the early Middle Ages. Wichard von Rabenstein already held princely fiefs in Frankenfels before 1230. In 1267, a branch of the Rabensteiner family already called themselves after Weissenberg. Leopold, the last Weissenberger, probably died between 1365 and 1381.

His inheritance was disputed between the families Liechtenstein, Pottendorf, and Wallsee. Duke Albrecht II decided in 1388 that 1/3 of the castle belonged to Hans von Liechtenstein and 2/3 to Friedrich and Albrecht von Pottendorf. Since only one third was a princely fief and the rest was free property, the ownership conditions became somewhat confusing in the 15th century. However, the Lords of Kling managed to acquire sole ownership of the castle by 1494.

After 1526, Weissenberg came to the Losensteiner family, and in 1592 to the South Tyrolean knights of Concin. In 1613, the lordship fell to Siegmund von Malenthein zu Plankenstein and in 1635 to the Counts of Tattenbach. Gotthard Graf von Tattenbach had the last major expansion of the castle and its defensive structures carried out around 1648. He sold Weissenberg in 1655 to Baron Johann von Kunitz.

Since the castle had lost its military significance, it was probably left to decay from the second half of the 18th century. The Lords of Kunitz remained the owners of Weissenberg until 1932. They sold it to the Austrian Federal Forests, from whom Dipl. Ing. Dr. Stefan Zapotocky acquired the ruin in 1975. He had the existing parts of the building renovated and partly supplemented or made habitable again.