Aggstein Castle

Aggstein, Austria, Austria

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Aggstein Castle is a large, well-preserved ruined fortress perched about 300 meters above the right bank of the Danube in the heart of the Wachau Valley in Lower Austria, near the settlements of Aggstein and Schönbühel-Aggsbach.

The castle was probably founded in the early 12th century by Manegold of Aggsbach and the Kuenringer family, who used it to control trade and transit on one of Europe’s most important river routes, and its layout and most of its current appearance were established in the 15th century during major rebuilding under the notorious robber knight Jörg Scheck von Wald.

Because of its position on a narrow, three-sided rocky ridge that runs east–west and is about 150 meters long, the fortress was extremely difficult to attack and could command the entire Danube corridor, and over the centuries it became famous for its “robber baron” owners who used the castle to hold travelers and rivals for ransom, intimidating people by threatening to throw prisoners from a narrow 4‑by‑10 meter rock ledge onto the stones below.