Burgruine Straßfried

Arnoldstein, Austria, Austria

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Burgruine Straßfried is the ruined hilltop castle located near the Austrian–Italian border beside the municipality of Arnoldstein in Carinthia, Austria.

Its name literally means “ruins of Straßfried castle,” and it stood on a forested hill at the key junction where the road from Italy meets the road coming from the Gail valley, giving it major strategic importance as a guard point on important trade routes.

The castle was first mentioned in writing in 1279 as “castrum strazvrid,” when it passed from the Carinthian dukes to the Habsburg king Rudolf, and it had been built in the first half of the 13th century by the Bishop of Bamberg to control this crossing. In the 13th century it was expanded as a road fortress, and originally featured a twin Bergfried (tower) arrangement, of which only the eastern tower, built of rubble stone with ashlar corner blocks, still survives.

The ring wall around the roughly 50‑meter‑long and 15‑meter‑wide castle courtyard is still substantial, while the residential palace (Palas) and one of the former towers have almost completely disappeared, leaving mainly foundations and low fragments.