Rauheneck Castle

Rauheneck Castle is a castle ruin located 2.5 km west of the city center of Baden bei Wien in Lower Austria. The ruin is situated on a foothill of the Lindkogel on the right bank of the Schwechat river. In the Middle Ages, together with the opposing Rauhenstein Castle and Scharfeneck Castle, it secured the trade route from Baden through the Helenental valley via Heiligenkreuz to the Triestingtal valley.

Then as now, a wooden bridge leads over a deep neck ditch to a semi-circular outer bailey with a 25-meter-high, triangular keep. In the inner courtyard, protected by eight-meter-high walls with an attached kitchen and pantry, was formerly the palas, from which the keep was reached. In another annex, which was only built in the 14th or 15th century, there were residential buildings and a chapel.

Hartung von Ruhenekke is first mentioned as the initial owner of Rauheneck in an undated document (around 1130). The Rauhenecker family (who called themselves "Tursen" after 1200) colonized the forest at the foot of the castle in the 12th and 13th centuries, where a ring of small villages was established. The lords of the castle demanded only very low (money) taxes and forestry services from their subjects in the villages.

In 1384, the Tursen lineage died out, and the possessions passed to the Walseer family. In its eventful history, the castle was destroyed several times but always rebuilt, sometimes even expanded.

In 1477, the Serbian troops of Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus stormed the castle and destroyed it; a reconstruction is unlikely to have taken place afterwards. The final destruction of Rauheneck Castle occurred in 1529 by the Turks.

The ruin was later acquired by the Doblhoff family and made accessible to visitors in 1810. In 1961, the city of Baden acquired the castle hill with the ruin and had it renovated.