Ziegersberg castle ruins

The Burgruine Ziegersberg stands on a low hill in the wooded hills of the Bucklige Welt in Lower Austria. It was built about 1246 by the knight Siegfried Zieger and named after him. The ruins are protected as a listed monument. The castle passed through many hands in the 14th and 15th centuries, including the Kuenrings and the Königsbergs, who enlarged it. By the 16th century it was already partly in ruins, then rebuilt, only to decay again after losing its military value in the 18th century. In 1896 parts were demolished to build a new manor house nearby. The surviving walls and towers were stabilised in 1999 by the present owners. Visitors walk up a gentle slope to the wide plateau where the ring wall once stood. A three-metre-thick round bergfried from the 13th century dominates the site. Inside the courtyard the remains of the palace, kitchen and east wing show their original floor plans. A broad wall on the west side still rises thirteen metres, while the south wing’s round-arched gate was later squared off.