Dürnstein Castle

Dürnstein, Austria, Austria

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Dürnstein Castle (German: Burgruine Dürnstein) is a medieval rock castle ruin perched about 312 meters above the Danube in the village of Dürnstein, in Lower Austria’s famous Wachau Valley, one of the most scenic wine and river landscapes of central Europe.

The fortress was built between roughly 1140 and 1145 by Hadmar I of the Kuenring family on a commanding rocky outcrop that gives the place its name “dry stone” (dürre Stein), and it was designed to overlook and control this key stretch of the Danube, linking military defense with trade route control.

Its most famous historical association is with King Richard I of England, known as Richard the Lionheart, who was captured near Vienna on his return from the Third Crusade and held in Dürnstein Castle from December 1192 until March 1193, before being transferred to another castle and eventually released after a huge ransom of 150,000 silver marks was paid.

The legend that Richard was discovered by his faithful troubadour Blondel, who sang a song outside the castle walls and heard Richard’s voice answering from within a tower, is closely tied to Dürnstein and has made the site a well-known symbol of medieval romance and captivity in Central Europe.