Burg Graben

The Burg Graben was a lowland castle by the Inn river in the village of Graben, now part of Kirchdorf am Inn in Upper Austria. Built on an old river terrace, it belonged first to the Ortenburg counts and later to the Aham family. The first written record of the castle dates from about 1160, when it stood as a local strongpoint controlling the river crossing. In 1199 the castle became the focus of a violent feud. Bishop Wolfker of Passau, supported by the counts of Bogen and the Duke of Austria, besieged the fortress. The attackers killed about three hundred defenders and prisoners, then demolished the walls and forbade any rebuilding. The bishop immediately strengthened the rival castle at Obernberg to secure the border. Earlier, in 1175, high-ranking delegates had met at Graben to arrange a land exchange with the monastery of Reichersberg. Witnesses named in the charter include Hezilo von Graben in 1180 and later servants of the Passau diocese. By the early 20th century only a low mound remained, partly washed away by the Inn. Johann Ev. Lamprecht’s sketch shows a roughly two-and-a-half-hectare site ringed by four ditches and ramparts on the south side, with a small stream on the east. The foundations have since collapsed into the river or been levelled for flood protection. Today the former castle grounds host public events, leaving no visible trace of the medieval fortress.