Burgruine Sichtenberg

The Burgruine Sichtenberg stands on a wooded hill spur south-west of Groß-Schollach in the Melk district of Lower Austria. The Roggenbach stream curves round the western side of the hill, adding natural defence to the steep slopes. A 10-metre-deep neck ditch was cut into the south and east sides to complete the protection. The site first appears in records soon after 1200, though a local lord named Sichterberg is mentioned as early as about 1170. The Redler family held the castle as a fief from the mid-13th century until their line died out around 1540. Sophie and Christoph von Althan, then Klara and Ulrich von Neydegg, followed before Wilhelm von Losenstein acquired the lands late in the 16th century. By the Thirty Years’ War the buildings were already uninhabitable and left to decay. Visitors reach the roughly 40-by-40-metre plateau where the ruins sit. The remains include a tall corner of the bergfried and sections of the 25-metre-high ring wall with arrow slits. A round bastion tower survives at one end, and the deep ditch on two sides is still clearly visible. The whole area is surrounded by forest, offering quiet walks among the remnants of medieval defence works.