Burg Grub

Burg Grub stands on a hill above the village of Grub near Messern in Lower Austria’s Waldviertel. Built in the 11th century as a hilltop fortress, it has kept its late medieval look because no later rebuilding took place after 1500. The ruins include the tall keep, parts of the great hall and a rebuilt chapel. Veit Albrecht von Puchheim took possession in 1558, but the castle’s present shape comes from later owners. In 1970 the Hampapa couple bought the crumbling walls for 45 000 schillings to stop demolition. The Hampapas and volunteers saved the most important parts of the structure. Experts from the Federal Monuments Office and engineers from the Technical University of Vienna advised the work. They stabilised walls, repaired roofs and recreated missing sections in the original style. Franz Josef Hampapa later passed the castle to friends with the same request. Today the restored ruins show how a medieval stronghold looked when it was still in use. Visitors walk past the square keep with its thick stone base. Inside the courtyard stand the remains of the great hall and the small chapel, its roof recently renewed. From the hilltop there are wide views over the surrounding woods and fields. The chapel’s interior holds a simple altar and medieval fresco fragments. The whole site is quiet, with only the wind in the trees and the distant call of birds.