Allentsteig Castle

Azzo von Hecimanneswisa-Gobatsburg, the ancestor of the Kuenringer, received the area as a royal donation around the middle of the 11th century. The place is first mentioned in 1132. The castle was initially constructed of wood, but rebuilt in stone after 1150.

Between 1188 and 1216, an Adalold von Kaya-Kamegg is mentioned several times. He was likely related to the Kuenringer and managed the castle for them. The Lords of Kaya-Kamegg were followed in the 14th century by the Sonnberger, who ceded it to Eberhard von Wallsee in 1332. The Kuenringer regained possession of the lordship in 1367. In 1380, the castle passed to the Lords of Maissau.

Otto IV, the last Maissauer, leased Allentsteig to his follower Hans Hager in 1409. When Otto fell into disgrace due to accusations of treason, the lordship became princely. In 1440, it was granted to the Lords of Puchheim. In 1486, the mercenary leader Spanowsky occupied Allentsteig on behalf of King Matthias Corvinus. Around 1500, the Hager family was enfeoffed with the lordship. They had the medieval castle converted into a Renaissance palace between 1544 and 1570. In 1599, Paris von Sonderndorff bought the lordship. During the Thirty Years' War, the town was plundered several times and finally occupied by imperial troops.

New owners became the Barons von Rappach, to whom the castle and lordship belonged until 1694. Through marriage, these then passed to Count Ernst August von Falkenhayn. In 1682 and 1752, fires caused severe damage to the castle. In 1804, Baron Leopold von Hahn acquired the property. In 1816, it passed to the Pereira-Arnstein family and after 1884 to the Princes von und zu Liechtenstein. In 1918, Baroness Maria von Preuschen inherited the estate. When the German Reich established the Döllersheim military training area in 1938, the castle became the seat of the command. It has retained this function since it was handed back to the Republic of Austria after the Russian occupation from 1945 to 1955.