Ruine Schauenstein

Burg Schauenstein stands as the ruined remains of a hilltop fortress at 460 metres above sea level near the village of Pölla in the Waldviertel region of Lower Austria. First mentioned in 1175, it was built by Poppo of Schauenstein and later passed through the hands of the Kuenringer and Sonnberger families. In 1467 Ulrich of Grafenegg gave the castle to Matthias Corvinus, and imperial troops under Emperor Frederick III soon retook it by force. The site was refurbished in the 16th century before the Kuefstein family acquired it in 1622 and merged its lands with those of Greillenstein. During the Thirty Years’ War Swedish soldiers captured, demolished and abandoned the castle in 1645. What remains today is a five-sided bergfried rising about thirty metres from the 13th century. The tower is still climbable and offers sweeping views across the Kamptal valley. Beside it stands the palas, the only other substantial remnant of the medieval complex. After centuries of neglect, conservation work began in the past decade to stabilise the ruins. The bergfried and palas are the sole parts that have survived to the present day. Visitors walk among grass-grown foundations and crumbling walls that speak of past sieges and rebuilding. The climb up the tower rewards them with a wide panorama over the surrounding forest and farmland. The quiet hilltop site gives a sense of the strategic importance the castle once held in controlling the valley below.