Kreuzenstein Castle is a show or museum castle in the market
town of Leobendorf in the district of Korneuburg in Lower
Austria.
The originally medieval castle complex was
destroyed during the Thirty Years' War and then largely removed
as building material. Under Count Johann Nepomuk Wilczek, the
castle was rebuilt from 1874 to 1906 as a museum for his
extensive art collections. The Schauburg that was created in
this way is today, supplemented by numerous reused medieval
components and after partial repair of the fire damage of 1915
and the war damage of 1945, a popular tourist destination north
of Vienna.
Location: Lower Austria Map
Constructed: 1115
rebuilt in 19th century by Wilczek family
Open: 10am- 4pm Apr- Oct
|
Adults |
€9 |
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Children |
€5 |
|
Person (group) |
€8 |
Official site
The hilltop castle is located north of the Danube on
a hill in the Rohrwald, just north of the village of Leobendorf and
between the towns of Korneuburg and Stockerau. The sea level is 266
m above sea level. A., the height above the Danube about 100 m.
The Burgberg is not far from the Danube bend at the Vienna Gate,
so that it allows a wide view of the course of the river and the
upstream Korneuburg Basin. Approximately opposite, on the southern
bank of the Danube, is Greifenstein Castle.
The medieval castle of the Habsburgs
The origins of Kreuzenstein
Castle, like most castles in Lower Austria, go back to the 12th century.
Built by the Formbachers, it came into the possession of the Counts of
Wasserburg through marriage. The castle came into the possession of the
Habsburgs in 1278 via Ottokar II of Bohemia.
The Anabaptist
preacher Balthasar Hubmaier, arrested under the pretext of the riot in
Nikolsburg (Moravia), was transferred to Kreuzenstein Castle in July
1527 and interrogated there. Since he refused to revoke his sentence, he
was sentenced to death and burned in Vienna on March 10, 1528.
Until the Thirty Years' War in 1645, the original Kreuzenstein Castle
had never been conquered. However, when the Swedes occupied large parts
of Lower Austria in the final phase of the war and advanced as far as
Vienna, Colonel Lukas Spicker, the commander of Kreuzenstein Castle and
Korneuburg Fortress, was ordered on April 4, 1645 to hand over both
fortified sites. In view of the small number of troops at his disposal,
Spicker immediately complied with the demand and handed over the castle
and town to the Swedish troops commanded by Field Marshal Lennart
Torstensson on April 5 without a fight. When the main Swedish force
began to retreat to Moravia at the end of September 1645, Torstensson
ordered Kreuzenstein Castle to be blown up, which was carried out in
three – some sources also speak of four – locations. After that, the
castle was just a ruin, the remains of the walls of which served the
local farmers as a source of material for building projects.
Reconstruction under the Counts of Wilczek
In the 18th century, the
castle ruins came into the possession of the Counts Wilczek, who had
acquired a large fortune through their coal mines in Silesia. From 1874,
Count Johann Nepomuk Wilczek, who became known as a polar explorer,
began to build a show castle step by step at the same place, which in no
way corresponds in appearance to the former castle ("Romanesque-Gothic
model castle"), but the existing remains of the medieval castle
(especially parts the curtain wall, hull of the east tower and parts of
the chapel) into the design. With a little practiced eye, the remains of
the medieval building can be easily distinguished from the masonry of
the 19th century components. The architect Carl Gangolf Kayser was in
charge of construction management until his death in 1895, followed by
his successor Humbert Walcher von Molthein and the artist Egon
Rheinberger. A family tomb was built under the chapel. Wilczek himself
also found his final resting place here. The entire castle was built on
the one hand from or on the remains of the medieval castle and on the
other hand from a large number of original components - so-called spolia
- that Wilczek had collected from all over Europe. The largest
contiguous of these spoils is the so-called Kaschauer Gang ― the tracery
arcade spanning the courtyard was built around 1450 and originally
formed the west gallery of the cathedral in Košice (German: Kaschau) in
Slovakia. In 1895, during the renovation of the cathedral, Count Wilczek
was able to purchase the original stones at a reasonable price - today
there is an almost identical reconstruction in the cathedral itself. In
addition, the castle was furnished with a large collection of medieval
furnishings and artefacts, e.g. B. with one of the oldest surviving
medieval slingshots, which was purchased from Hohensalzburg Fortress.
The work lasted 30 years – the German Emperor Wilhelm II, among others,
was present at the official reopening on June 6, 1906. In 1915, part of
the archive and library wing burned out after a lightning strike.
Kreuzenstein Castle today
During the fighting in 1945 between the
German Wehrmacht and the Red Army, some of the rooms were badly damaged
and many items from the collection were stolen. Many of the manuscripts
from the Wilczek Collection are now in the Austrian National Library.
Today the castle is a popular destination for excursions in the
Vienna area and can be visited as a museum. At the end of June every
year the classic castle serenade took place directly in the castle
courtyard. At the request of the lord of the castle, however, this no
longer exists. Also on the hill are the Kreuzenstein eagle station,
which also organizes public bird of prey shows, and the newly designed
Kreuzenstein castle tavern, which revived a medieval tavern from 2013 to
2019.
exterior description
Kreuzenstein Castle is a neo-Romantic
building intended as a "model castle" that was laid out in a ring
around a courtyard on top of the floor plan of the medieval castle.
It has towers of different heights, residential buildings, a moat
and a defensive wall. The effect of the castle is determined by the
wings of different heights and the numerous towers with hipped
roofs. The castle was built entirely of stone, and some of the
reused building material from the Middle Ages can also be
recognized. The western front of the castle is narrow and features a
polygonal north-west tower. This is followed by the gable front of
the chapel with tracery windows. Below is a crucifix from around
1520. To the side is a polygonal bell tower decorated with crabs and
pinnacles. At the top of the bell tower stands a 16th-century bronze
figure of St. Michael. The wings, sword and shield were added in the
19th century.
Western access is via a high arched brick
bridge and a drawbridge to the gatehouse. The gatehouse is provided
with a pitcher. Next to it is the kennel.
The fact that Kreuzenstein is a so-called Schauburg has repeatedly
drawn filmmakers' attention to this gem. Films and TV series have been
produced on Kreuzenstein for over 100 years.
One of the earliest
examples is Das Mirakel, partially realized here by Max Reinhardt in
1912 – as one of the first films ever to be shot on real locations and
not exclusively in the studio. In the same year, the short documentary
Die Burg Kreuzenstein near Vienna by the Austrian film pioneer Sascha
Kolowrat was made. Other silent films followed: 1917 The King Amusing
himself by Jakob Fleck and Luise Kolm, 1920 The Brave Little Tailor by
Rudolf Walter, 1921 Gevatter Tod by Heinz Hanus, 1922 Asmodi, the
limping devil by Albert Heine, 1924 Jiskor by Sidney M. Goldin and 1925
The second mother of Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers.
Kreuzenstein also
remained a popular location for talkies. The Austrian director Willi
Forst shot some scenes of his homeland film Kaiserjäger here in 1956, as
did Franz Antel in 1957 Four girls from the Wachau, Michael Curtiz in
1960 Princess Olympia (after Olympia by Ferenc Molnar), Kurt Hoffmann in
1967 the medieval episode of his fantasy SF comedy Glorious times in the
Spessart, as well as Adrian Hoven also in 1967 the horror film In the
Castle of Bloody Desire.
More horror films followed in the 1970s
– e.g. B. the Italian horror film Baron Blood by Mario Bava (1972) and
the German vampire comedies Bitten is only at night - the happening of
the vampires by Freddie Francis (1970) and Lady Dracula by Franz Josef
Gottlieb (1978) - as well as the soft porn flick Die Stossburg - Wenn
chastity belts rattling at night by Franz Marischka.
In 1979
parts of the film The Mystery of the Iron Mask (with Beau Bridges, Rex
Harrison, Sylvia Kristel) were produced at the castle. Also in 1979,
Kreuzenstein served as the setting for the eponymous Castle Zenda in The
Prisoner of Zenda, starring Peter Sellers. In 1985 the vampire episode
of the German comedy Die Einsteiger was filmed here with Thomas
Gottschalk and Mike Krüger. Part of the Disney film The Three Musketeers
(1993) was filmed at the castle.
In 2004 part of the film Shadow
of the Sword - The Executioner was filmed here and in 2006 a music DVD
of the German Gregorian pop group Gregorian was recorded. The castle was
also the setting for two Tom Turbo episodes (2003/2006). In 2008,
Kreuzenstein Castle was used again as a film set for the 2011 American
production The Last Knight Templar starring Nicolas Cage.
In the
German-Canadian multi-part television film The Pillars of the Earth, Ken
Follett's novel of the same name served as a template and the castle as
a backdrop. Filming began here in 2009, starring Rufus Sewell, Matthew
Macfadyen, Ian McShane and Donald Sutherland in a supporting role. The
sequel series Die Tore der Welt (2012) was also partially created on
Kreuzenstein.
In 2014, Kreuzenstein Castle served as the backdrop
for the ABC reality show The Quest.
In 2015, parts of the ORF/ZDF
TV film Maximilian - The Game of Power and Love and in early 2017 parts
of the children's film Witch Lilli saves Christmas were shot at the
castle.
In 2019, some scenes of the Netflix series The Witcher
were filmed there.