Altburg Schwanberg

Bad Schwanberg

Explore interesting traces of a fortification of the medieval market town of Schwanberg with the castle complex that was expanded into a fortress under Emperor Frederick III. The exposed parts of the fortification can be visited at any time.

You can reach the fortification on foot in 2 minutes from Schwanberg Castle.

The area around Bad Schwanberg was already settled during the Celtic period. Already around 880 a fortification is said to have existed here, which is obviously closely connected to the Carolingian land grab and can most probably be seen as the predecessor of the old Schwanberg castle. In the 10th century the dominion was owned by the Eppensteins. When the Noble Ebbo was accused of high treason after a revolt against the Emperor, the Emperor confiscated his possessions. In 1056 Emperor Heinrich III donated the estate "Odelisniz", which belonged to them, to Bishop Altwin of Brixen. At the latest in the 13th century the bishops of Brixen enfeoffed the Lords of Pettau, who originally owned the castle Stein i in the Lavant valley, with Schwanberg. Since this noble family moved its seat to the Pettau castle, they entrusted servants with the administration of the lordship of Schwanberg. They called themselves "von Suanberch" after the castle. In 1243 a Heinrich and in 1255 a Chunrad von Suanberch is named. In 1255 s Chunrad handed over his shares of the new castle to the bishop of Brixen. According to this it must have come shortly before to a new building or extension of the old castle (castle). The Pettau family belonged to the most influential critics of King Ottokar II of Bohemia, so in 1266 d King Ottokar took the Schwanberg Castle. The castle was probably only taken, but not destroyed. After the extinction of the Pettauers in 1438, the property passed to the sisters of the last Pettauer, first to Anna of Schaumburg, then to Agnes of Stubenberg. The relationship of the Stubenbergs to the mercenary leader Andreas Baumkircher was one of the reasons why they came into direct conflict with Emperor Friedrich III. The extension of Schwanberg Castle with walls up to four metres thick and the Schwanberg market by a market fortification in the middle of the 15th century can probably be seen in this context. During this dispute known as the "Baumkircher Feud" Wilhelm Gressl handed over Schwanberg Castle to the Emperor. From this time on the castle and the dominion were in the possession of the emperor. Around 1480 Schwanberg was besieged by the Hungarian king Mathias Corvinus, although it is unclear whether Corvinus took the castle, the market or both. 1498 w is already spoken of an "old gsloss". In the meantime, the emperor had initially entrusted the Spangsteins with the administration of the dominion and in this year pledged the dominion to Andre von Spangstein. In 1576 Wilhelm Galler bought castle and dominion. The old castle on the dance floor was pulled down and with the material the present castle was built in 1580/81. The old castle square on the dance floor was initially used as a place of execution among the people of the Gall, in the late Middle Ages until modern times as a chalk fire station.