Forchtenstein Castle

Forchtenstein, Austria, Austria

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Forchtenstein Castle (German: Burg Forchtenstein; Hungarian: Fraknó vára; Croatian: Fortnavski grad) is a large medieval fortress on a 511-meter hill in northern Burgenland, Austria, south of Mattersburg and above the Wulka valley, near the town of Forchtenstein.

The oldest core of the castle, including a 50-meter-high donjon (keep), was built in the early 15th century by the Lords of Mattersdorf, who later became known as the Lords of Forchtenstein, and the complex later acquired the so-called “Black Tower,” which houses a 12-meter-deep pit prison once used for condemned prisoners.

After the Forchtenstein line died out around 1450, the castle passed to the Habsburg dynasty and remained under imperial control for 170 years, before being given in 1622 to Nikolaus Esterházy, founder of the western Hungarian branch of the Esterházy family, who was made Count and whose descendants still own the castle today.

Forchtenstein is famous as the only fortress in the region that was never captured during the Turkish wars, and because of this secure position it became the main treasury and stronghold of the Esterházy princes, where they stored family treasures, artworks, weapons, and other valuables, many of which are still displayed in the castle’s museum collections.