Gurnitz Castle

In the year 860, the castle and the town are mentioned in documents. The area was then gifted by King Ludwig to the Salzburg Archbishop Aldawin. Initially, it was royal property and only in the 11th century did it become a castle. From this point on, the owners bore the name of Gurnitz. Bernhard von Gurnitz was first documented in 1156.

The next owner was Heinrich von Gurnitz, who, however, renamed himself Heinrich von Greifenfels in 1235. His son Dietmar von Greifenfels renounced ownership in 1315, and so the castle passed to Konrad von Auffenstein. After the fall of the Auffensteiner in 1368, Gurnitz was pledged by the sovereign. As a result, the owners of Gurnitz Castle constantly changed.

Thus, in 1368 to Haug von Tybein, in 1437 to Konrad von Asbach, in 1461 to Friedrich von Kastelruth, in 1481 to Wolfgang von Graben, in 1484 to Niklas von Wildensteiner, in 1494 to Georg Presinger, in 1497 to Hartmann von Kraig, in 1565 to Christof Adler, and in 1570 to Wilhelm von Gera. Finally, in 1584, Gurnitz came into the hands of Erasmus von Gera. The castle remained in his family until 1714. By this time, it had already fallen into disrepair and could be described as a ruin. The next owner of the castle ruin was Johann Peter Graf von Göss. His family remained in possession of the ruin from then on.

Gurnitz Castle was a very simply constructed complex in an approximately triangular shape. It consisted only of a large rectangular residential building and a castle courtyard and is therefore considered a typical example of a house castle.