Schönbühel Castle

Schloss Schönbühel is a medieval castle perched on a rocky outcrop forty metres above the Danube in Lower Austria. It overlooks the river just downstream of Melk, where the valley narrows and the current quickens. The first stone defences were raised in the early twelfth century by Marchwardus de Schoenbuchele to guard a crossing point. Before that, a Roman watchtower may have stood on the same rock. The Starhemberg family held the castle for more than four centuries, adding towers and curtain walls as the centuries passed. The castle’s long history is written into its walls and archives. After the Starhemberg line died out in the fourteenth century, the fortress passed through several owners before Count Franz von Beroldingen bought it in 1819. He spent two years restoring the crumbling structure so that it became a habitable residence once more. In 1930 the estate left the von Beroldingen family and was purchased by Count Oswald von Seilern und Aspang, who still owns it today. Visitors walk through vaulted halls and climb spiral staircases to reach the battlements. From the top, the Danube stretches away in both directions, its waters reflecting the surrounding hills. The castle’s outer ward contains a small museum of armour and documents from its centuries of occupation. Below, the village of Schönbühel-Aggsbach clusters around the riverbank, its church spire rising beside the main road. The setting combines river scenery with the solid stone silhouette of a fortress that has watched the Danube for nine hundred years.