Widersberg Castle

The castle ruin Widersberg is the ruin of a hilltop castle in Raabs an der Thaya in Lower Austria. The remains of the late medieval castle are located about three kilometers west of Raabs in the Lower Austrian Waldviertel near the Czech border.

The wall remains stand on a rock about 30 meters above the Thaya near the Reismühle. It is a small castle with an area of about 17 × 13 meters. A tower is likely to have stood at the southwest corner, as there is a larger pile of rubble there. The neck ditch, carved out of the rock, is still more than four meters deep today. The few remaining wall remains can be dated to the 13th century due to the masonry technique.

In 1268, Ortolfus and Sifridus de Widerspach appear as witnesses in a document. In it, the first mention still refers to a stream. In the "Prima fundacio", a property register of Herzogenburg Monastery around 1300, "villa Widersperkch" is mentioned, meaning a manor or a village. On the occasion of the endowment of a soul mass in St. James' Church in Raabs in 1314, a Herbort (Merbot) der Widersperger appears with other nobles. In 1340, a Wichard is documented, also mentioned at Lehnstein Castle. Georg der Widersberger, with other nobles of the area, testifies in documents of the Eibensteiner in 1364 and 1375. Towards the end of the 14th century, other members of the family had external possessions or sought their livelihood elsewhere, such as in Kainraths near Waidhofen or in Steinbach near Großpertholz. In 1414/15, nobles from the Tyrnauer family sell their village Seebs and tithes there to "Ortolf den Widersperger". In 1493, the "öde Widersperg" (desolate Widersperg) is mentioned, so the castle was already abandoned. The village is likely to have been abandoned at the same time, and the last inhabitants moved to the nearby Oberndorf bei Raabs, as the former Widersberg lands have since been cultivated by Oberndorf farmers as so-called "Überland".