Schrattenberg Castle

The former magnificent castle Schrattenberg was, when it was first mentioned in 1144, a tower-like court belonging to a family as a free property, who named themselves after the small fortified building Schrettenperg. The first known owner was Rantolf von Schrattenberg. He appears in documents in 1162.

His family probably died out towards the end of the 12th century. The court passed to the Liechtensteiner family, who were related to the Schrattenbergers. They appointed burgraves from the Teufenbach family, who soon also named themselves after Schrattenberg. In the 14th century, ownership changed frequently until Schrattenberg was sold by the Grym family to St. Lambrecht Abbey towards the end of the century.

At that time, it consisted of a house-like tower and an adjoining residential building. The abbey kept the fortified building until 1451 and then sold it to Ernst Pranckher. In the 16th century, the Zwickl family resided here. In 1610, the widow of Bartlmä Zwickl sold the already heavily indebted estate to Wolf Freiherr von Eggenberg. In 1623, Hans Sigmund Jöstl zu Lind acquired the property, having already leased it three years earlier. However, as a Protestant, he had to leave Styria during the Counter-Reformation. Before that, he sold Schrattenberg in 1628 to Karl Jocher zu Höch. In 1680, the estate came under forced administration and was then acquired by Freiherr Viktor Jakob von Prandegg. He had a new magnificent castle built by 1685. The medieval fortified building had been demolished beforehand.

However, the builder had to incur considerable debts for the new building, which in 1695 forced his daughters and heirs Eva Rosina Countess Steinpeiss and Maria Viktoria Baroness Unverzagt to sell the castle to Ferdinand Prince Schwarzenberg. In 1915, the baroque building was completely destroyed by a major fire that broke out during renovation work. The poor economic situation during the World War prevented reconstruction. The extensive fire ruin is now largely overgrown by vegetation. It is still owned by the Schwarzenberg family.