Burgruine Alt-Sturmberg

Alt-Sturmberg is a ruined hilltop fortress in the village of Naas, Weiz district, Styria. It stands on a low wooded ridge above the Feistritz valley, its crumbling walls framed by beech and spruce. The site overlooks rolling farmland and distant vineyards, giving a quiet rural outlook. The castle’s origins lie in the mid-12th century, when it passed from Juta von Feistritz to her son Leutold von Gutenberg. By 1216 a Gebhardus von Sturmberg is recorded, and in the 14th century Albrecht von Sturmberg built the keep. Later owners included the Ratmannsdorf family and, after 1610, the Herbersdorf line. By 1644 only a few rooms were habitable, and in 1653 it was sold to Ott Gottfried Freiherr von Kollonitsch. The last residents left in the mid-18th century, leaving the ruins to decay. Today the remains include the 14th-century keep with its Gothic window and sections of the ring wall. Three two-storey residential buildings once stood south-west of the keep, linked by a Gothic two-part gatehouse reached by steps. A 16th-century courtyard building and several round towers survive, along with extensive cellars and a second gate that divided the inner ward. The stonework is mainly rough-hewn limestone, and the forest around the ruins is threaded with quiet footpaths.