Rein Castle

The foundation and endowment of the Rein Abbey took place during the years 1128 to 1138. In the immediate vicinity of the abbey stood a fortified farm, which on the one hand served as an administrative center and on the other hand was intended to protect the passage to the Gleinalm saddle.

Rein is first mentioned between 1040 and 1060 as the seat of the nobleman Waltfried, who was related to the Eppensteiners. Count Waldo von Ruina, mentioned in the founding document of St. Lambrecht in 1103, also likely had his seat here. Around 1122, he handed over his noble seat with the associated properties to Margrave Otakar III with the stipulation that they be used for a monastery foundation.

Around 1135, Margravine Sophie received further lands from a priest named Wolfker, who presumably came from Waldo's family. With these donations, the newly founded Cistercian monastery of Rein was endowed. In 1276, a noble assembly took place in Rein under the leadership of the Count of Heunberg, in which they spoke out against the Bohemian King Przemysl Ottokar and King Rudolf of Habsburg was recognized as the sovereign of Styria. The defensive structures still present at that time were probably incorporated into the oldest monastery complex. They are no longer detectable today. Those sparse remains of defensive walls that are still visible today date back to the 14th and 15th centuries.