Neuhaus Castle

Dobra Castle, or Neuhaus, is mentioned as early as 1170 as "novum Castrum" and is one of the oldest medieval castle complexes in the Austro-Hungarian border region. It was evidently the Hungarian counterpart to the Styrian border castle of Kapfenstein. It belonged to the sphere of influence of the Güssing counts.

Around 1200, the brothers Paul, Nikolaus, and Stephan, who were among the followers of the Güssing family, resided here. Shortly thereafter, Neuhaus was handed over to St. Gotthard Abbey, but Count Andreas von Güssing reclaimed it before 1213. Shortly thereafter, the castle fell to the Hungarian king. He had it expanded and reinforced. In 1271, the garrison had to surrender the fortress to the Bohemian King Przemysl Ottokar II.

After that, it became Hungarian again. The brothers Nikolaus and Stephan from the House of Geregye are named as the lords of the castle. The Geregye family, based in Egervár, is believed to have owned Neuhaus until 1320. After that, it belonged to the Hungarian Crown. In 1387, King Sigismund enfeoffed Palatine Nikolaus Széchy with the lordship. In 1467, the castle was conquered and partially destroyed by Andreas Baumkircher, the lord of Schlaining Castle, in his feud against Frederick III. After Johann Széchy, his brother Nikolaus II took over the lordship, under whom the castle was rebuilt and significantly expanded. After the reconstruction, the castle changed hands several times before coming to Franz Batthyány in 1607.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the castle was abandoned and left to its fate. It was often fiercely contested. Most recently, it was occupied in 1704 by the Kuruc forces of the Hungarian magnate Franz II Rákóczi. Its final decay, however, is not due to acts of war but to the roof tax under Emperor Joseph II. After that, the castle was only used as a quarry. The remaining ruin now belongs to the market town of Neuhaus am Klausenbach.