Neulengbach Castle

Neulengbach, Austria, Austria

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Neulengbach Castle (Burg Neulengbach) is a prominent hill castle and later residential palace perched on a 80‑meter‑high rock above the town of Neulengbach in Lower Austria, about 25 minutes west of Vienna, and is one of the last completely preserved medieval defensive structures in the region, with its original fortification walls still intact.

It was founded around 1189–1191 by the Hochfreien (free nobles) of Lengenbach, who used it as the centre of their local rule and who were among the most powerful noble families in Austria, owning 20 castles and adopting blue and yellow as their colours, which later became the official colours of Lower Austria.

After the Lengenbacher line died out in 1236 the castle came into the possession of the Babenberg family, and in the late Middle Ages it served as a seat for regional governors and Pfleger (landesherrliche officials), and it was repeatedly pledged or transferred but never successfully conquered.

In the 16th and early 17th centuries, under the order of Count Khuen at the beginning of the 17th century, the castle was extensively rebuilt and expanded into a late‑Renaissance residential palace, creating today’s three‑storey, roughly square building with a double defensive ring and eight round towers, a magnificent Renaissance portal on the outer forebuilding, and an inner courtyard with Tuscan double columns and a stone fountain basin.