Burgruine Hohenwart

Köstenberg, Austria, Austria

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Burgruine Hohenwart (also called Hohenwart or, in Slovene, Črni Grad, meaning “Black Castle”) is a medieval hill castle ruin on the rocky, partly wooded summit of the Kleine Sternberg at 802 meters above sea level, south of the village of Köstenberg in the municipality of Velden am Wörthersee, Carinthia, Austria.

First mentioned in 1144/1149, the castle was probably built in the first half of the 12th century and originally belonged to the local nobility, then passed to the Dukes of Carinthia; in the mid-12th century Duke Heinrich V received the castle from Pilgrim von Pozzuolo, and his brother Duke Hermann sold it in 1162 to Bishop Roman I of Gurk, who kept it as a church estate for centuries.

In 1365 the bishops of Gurk granted the castle to the Counts of Ortenburg, who were followed by the Counts of Cilli; after the Cilli line died out, the castle came under the control of Emperor Friedrich III in 1456 and was either destroyed at that time or in the 16th century, becoming ruinous by the early 16th century.

The castle complex is divided into three successive courtyards, ranging from an old core (Altburg) from the first half of the 12th century to later 13th-century structures in the northeastern outer court, where a substantial square tower (bergfried) from the second half of the 13th century still stands, partly integrated into the outer wall, with a pointed-arched entrance on the first upper storey and traces of a corbelled oriel on the fourth storey.