Freienstein Castle

The Aribonen, who owned the area around St. Peter in the 10th century, erected a fortified structure here as a road block. In the 12th century, the castle came into the possession of the Traungauer, who appointed ministerials as burgraves. Thus, an Ortwein von St. Peter appears in 1140. The castle, first mentioned in 1237, was princely. It was called "Leoben" well into the 13th century and served as the administrative center of the Vordernberg Valley.

A regional court was also located here. The princely burgraves called themselves "von Leoben". Still in the first half of the 13th century, the Babenbergs enfeoffed the Counts of Pfannberg with the castle. Count Bernhard participated in the Styrian noble conspiracy against King Ottokar II in 1268, which subsequently cost him his castle. This was then given to the Stadecker family, but the Pfannbergers received it back in 1274 from King Rudolf of Habsburg. However, this did not prevent them from participating in another noble uprising in 1291, this time against Duke Albrecht I. After the collapse of the revolt, Count Ulrich was allowed to keep the castle, but he had to pay such high compensation payments to Admont Abbey, which he had severely damaged, that in 1294 he was forced to mortgage and finally sell the castle and the regional court to them.

Admont sold the lordship as early as 1296 to Friedrich and Heinrich von Stubenberg. However, they themselves faced high demands from Duke Albrecht and ceded Leoben Castle to him in lieu of payment. The Duke initially reappointed administrators, who also served as regional judges. In 1399, Hans Idungsberger held both offices. He had previously owned Freienstein Castle on the Danube as collateral and now renamed Leoben Castle to Freienstein. In the 15th century, it was mostly mortgaged or granted to Styrian nobles. In the first quarter of the 16th century, it was already heavily dilapidated, so it had to be restored.

In 1527, Freienstein was mortgaged to Sigmund von Herberstein. As early as 1560, the administrator Andree Klettenperger had moved into the more conveniently located Friedhofen Castle as his residence. Since the Herbersteins naturally also preferred their magnificent family castle, Freienstein again fell into disrepair. However, it was still in use as a beacon station in 1596. In 1622, the lordship was sold to Baron Gottfried von Stadl. His widow Johanna sold the already uninhabitable castle in 1652 to the Jesuit College in Leoben.

In 1661, the college erected a church dedicated to the Mother of God in its place, which soon developed into a much-visited pilgrimage site. When the Jesuit order was abolished in 1773, the lordship with the castle hill and the church fell to the state study fund. Today, the church belongs to the parish of St. Peter-Freienstein. Of the medieval castle, after a conversion into a pilgrimage church, only a mighty round tower and the gatehouse remained.