Hello from Austria: Medieval History Up
Close at the Riegersburg Fortress and Explorations of Styria’s
Volcano Region
Having recovered from my
action-packed day yesterday which included a photo safari of
my home town, some extreme hiking and subsequent culinary feasting
(to counteract any potential weight loss), my final day in Austria
had arrived and it was also going to be an exciting one. My brother
Ewald and my sister-in-law Anneliese had planned an outing to one
of Styria’s true medieval treasures: the Riegersburg, a majestic
fortress that was first constructed in the 11th century in the strategically
important border region of the Austrian empire.
Styria is one of the lesser known Austrian provinces, most people
are more familiar with the area around the capital Vienna; the region
surrounding Salzburg (“Sound of Music” country) and
Tyrol with its high mountains and the capital of Innsbruck. Styria,
although the second largest Austrian province that features the
country’s second largest city (its capital, Graz), has largely
remained below the radar of most North American tourists.
The first gate to the Riegersburg
As far as I am concerned, it is one of the most beautiful spots,
and I don’t just say that because I am originally from there.
As a matter of fact, one of the explicit goals of my trip to Austria
this year was to view the area I grew up in through the eyes of
a travel writer and put it in context with some of the other areas
that I have had a chance to visit over the last few years.
Styria is composed of eight major travel regions:
- the Dachstein – Tauern Region, characterized by high mountains,
great skiing and other outdoor diversions
- the picturesque lake area of the Salzkammergut – Ausseerland
- the Murtal holiday region, a densely forested area offering lots
of outdoor activities
- Upper Styria, another mountainous region that features the “Styrian
Water Road” , the “Styrian Iron Road” as well
as the Hochschwab mountain region
- Graz, the province’s capital, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
and the 2003 European Cultural Capital
- Eastern Styria, my native region, an enchanting region characterized
by medium size mountains, Austria’s largest mountain pasture,
orchards, fertile farmland, monasteries and castles
- Thermenland Styria, a region full of gently rolling hills, vineyards
and ancient volcanic activity that has created six world caliber
spa resorts, and
- The South Styrian Wine Region and Western Styria where gently
sloping hills full of vineyards and the famous White Horses destined
for the Vienna Riding School invite to an area that is often referred
to as the “Austrian Tuscany”.
Another gate to the fortress
Today’s destination, the Riegersburg, is located just at
the southern border of the Eastern Styria travel region, right adjacent
to the volcanic region of the Thermenland area. As a matter of fact,
the fortress itself is built on the ancient volcanic cone of a long-extinct
volcano. We started our drive from Weiz through the Raab Valley
and the rural town of Gleisdorf. There we turned off the major road
onto smaller country roads that took us through beautiful rolling
hills, many of which feature orchards and vineyards.
Many of these small side roads are official bicycle trails which
are conveniently signed and many of the local vintners own little
rural restaurants called "Buschenschenken" whose garden
terraces invite hikers, bikers and other travelers to sit down and
enjoy Styrian culinary delicacies and wine. We encountered hardly
any traffic, and on this beautiful warm summer day many cyclists
were out there getting a good workout and enjoying the scenery.
The basaltic rock of the Riegersburg
After about 45 minutes we had reached our destination: a basaltic
rock crowned with the majestic Riegersburg fortress was right in
front of us. We parked the car in the village at the foot of the
rock and started our ascent up to the castle. The narrow road lacks
pavement and is essentially composed of dark volcanic rock that
features many narrow grooves and ruts from hundreds of years of
use by horse carriages. We entered through the first gate which
was one of many. Altogether the Riegersburg has seven major gates
and eleven bastions. The defensive wall around the fortress is an
impressive three kilometers long. The combination of these features
made the fortress the most important fortification at the Styrian
border of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
A view down from the fortress into the village of Riegersburg
The strategic importance of this border region becomes evident
in the context of the 16th and 17th century Ottoman Wars between
the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire. The area of Eastern
Styria in particular was often under threat of invasion by forces
from the East. In 1664 a decisive final battle was fought in nearby
Mogersdorf which ended the two-year war against the Turks. The Riegersburg
itself was never conquered and as a result it came to be referred
to as the “strongest fortification of Christianity”.
It was part of an entire series of border fortresses along the boundary
of the Habsburg Empire.
Borther and sister in front of the WWII plaques
We walked slowly up to the castle on the rutted road that was surrounded
by a crenellated wall that would allow sharpshooters to target potential
invaders approaching the fortress. On an open plateau below the
actual castle building there are numerous plaques mounted on a wall,
providing a memorial to hundreds of soldiers from surrounding villages
that fell during World War II. Each village had its own plaque.
Another picturesque gate took us to the last part of the path that
would take us right up to the fortress. At the foot of the fortress
is the “Burgtaverne”, a restaurant with a beautiful
large outdoor patio that features a gorgeous view of the surrounding
countryside and entices with traditional Austrian cuisine.
Another one of the seven gates leading to the heart of the fortress
As we approached the fortress itself we walked across two moats
that were each equipped with a drawbridge and the second inner moat
actually still had water in it. We were now truly inside the building
complex of the fortress and through a large inner courtyard we approached
the central building which features the retail store where we purchased
our 9.5 Euro admission to the central part of the fortress.
A real drawbridge
The name of the Riegersburg fortress was originally mentioned in
1138 as “Ruotkerspurch”, which actually means “Rüdiger’s
castle”, so the fortress originally belonged to an aristocrat
by that name. It underwent major reconstruction during the late
16th century to include late Renaissance architectural features.
The large ceremonial rooms and the arcade in the inner courtyard
date back to this era.
Moving into the interior of the fortress
Two permanent exhibitions are being hosted in the Riegersburg:
the “Witch Museum” in the cellar focuses on the obsession
with and persecution of witches which had gripped Central European
countries from about 1450 until 1750. About 300 presumed witches
and sorcerers were persecuted in witch trials in Styria and many
of them were executed. The peak of the witch-hunting frenzy took
place during the 30 Years’ War from 1618 to 1648 when the
war and the so-called “minor ice age” had destroyed
agriculture and decimated the population, much of which of course
was blamed on the evil doing of supposed witches.
One of the inner courtyards of the fortress
We were planning to see the other exhibition: “Legendary
Riegersburg – Legendary Women”. Two very colourful female
characters are associated with the history of this fortress. The
first one was Baroness Elisabeth Katharina von Galler (1607 to 1672)
who was the lady of the castle from 1648 to 1672. In a time of very
traditional male-female role expectations the “Galllerin”
was a very unconventional character and strayed from the usual norms.
Women, even aristocratic women, were not allowed to own property
at the time, and Elisabeth, as the sole heiress of the fortress,
would have had to relinquish any property ownership to her husband,
but she refused to comply. Even in her prenuptial agreement she
ensured the right to decide over her property herself.
Some family portraits
Baroness Elisabeth von Galler initiated a complete reconstruction
of the fortress which included the stunning baroque White Hall as
well as the construction of the numerous bastions, gates and the
extensive walls surrounding the castle. Several inscriptions above
different gates point out that she spent a lot of money on this
construction work. Her husband incurred major debt and in 1649 she
paid him out with a substantial sum of money and got rid of him.
Altogether Baroness von Galler was married three times and involved
in several legal battles with her husbands, and local clergy.
A coat of arms adorns another gate
The other interesting female character featured in the “Legendary
Women” exhibition is Katharina Paldauf who was an employee
of Baroness von Galler for whom she started working at 20 years
of age. From 1673 to 1675 she got embroiled in the Feldbach Witch
Trial and was accused of having manipulated weather and participated
in witch Sabbaths.The legends also say that she was able to grow
roses in winter, a talent that earned her the moniker “the
flower witch”. For her supernatural powers to grow flowers
in the off-season she was accused being a witch and was presumably
executed in 1675.
The baroque splendour of the White Hall
Various displays in the exhibition also shed light on the historical
background of the 16th and 17th centuries. Servitude and feudalism
characterized the power structures during the Middle Ages, and peasants
had a very difficult life while aristocrats formed a hereditary
elite that was entitled to hold lands and exercise far-reaching
powers over the common people. The mostly agrarian economy at the
time obligated peasants to deliver a substantial share of their
production to the local lords and noblemen who in turn promised
them protection during periods of war. This was an era of extensive
exploitation and lords had the right to use peasants’ land
as they pleased. Often a peasant would require the permission of
a lord when he intended to marry, and onerous taxes were imposed
on the peasant class. These harsh conditions actually led to many
peasant rebellions throughout Central Europe in the 16h century.
The beautiful coffered ceiling of the Hall of Knights
The noblemen on the other hand lived a lavish lifestyle. An inscription
at the entrance of the fortress indicates that an excessive feast
during the 1600s resulted in 21 days of binge eating and drinking.
The opulently decorated Knights Hall was the location of many such
bouts and a wooden bridge connecting it with another hall was used
for relieving oneself after all this carousing and is commonly referred
to as the “vomiting bridge”. Even today the figure of
a man bent over adorns the bridge, reminding people of its original
purpose.
The "vomiting bridge"
We were awed by the lavish detailing in the former living quarters
of the Riegersburg, in particular by the Hall of Knights with its
coffered ceiling and the opulently decorated baroque White Hall.
When we walked through the premises, the White Hall still featured
table decorations and leftovers from a wedding that had been held
a few days earlier at the fortress. The castle today is owned by
the Liechtenstein family, an aristocratic family that has been living
at this castle since 1972. One of the family members had just recently
gotten married. The beautiful flower decorations and wedding menus
gave us an idea of what some of these historic feasts must have
looked like.
We had enjoyed our first-hand history lesson and were ready to
keep exploring so we walked down the long basaltic road into the
town of Riegersburg that sprawls at the foot of the fortress. A
baroque church and several restaurants anchor the picturesque main
square of the village and there is a large pond on the outskirts
of the village that features a resort with beach volleyball, a water
slide, tennis and eateries.
A view over the countryside from the Castle of Kapfenstein
We then continued our big country drive to our next destination:
the Castle of Kapfenstein, about 20 minutes from the Riegersburg,
is also located on an extinct volcano close to the Hungarian and
Slovenian borders. Its recorded history dates back to 1065 and it
was one of the fortresses that protected Austria from attacks by
the Magyars and Turks. The castle was owned by different noble families
until it came into the possession of the Winkler-Hermaden family
in 1898.
A Styrian chees plate
Today the castle holds a 15-room upscale hotel as well as a restaurant
with extensive outdoor patios that provide a stunning view into
the surrounding countryside. We picked a beautiful spot on the terrace
and started perusing the menu. A wedding had obviously just happened
at the castle hotel because the bride and the groom were still carrying
presents out to their vehicles. We decided to taste some local delicacies,
and I enjoyed my mushroom soup with roasted buckwheat and a cheese
platter with a broad assortment of Austrian specialty cheeses.
The little chapel near Schloss Kapfenstein
Our late lunch had stretched into the mid-afternoon and it was now
time to continue our journey. But before moving on we took a little
15 minute stroll through a forest and some vineyards to a small
chapel on the plateau next to the Castle of Kapfenstein. From here
we had a perfect view northwards and through a magnifying viewer
we were able to see our previous destination, the volcanic cone
of the Riegersburg.
A magnified peak at the Riegersburg
It was time to return so we started our drive back to Weiz. We
had made arrangements with our friends Luis and Isabella to join
them for a little backyard get-together on my last evening in Austria.
Both my friends are avid motor scooter riders and Luis allowed me
to hop on one of their two-wheeled machines and accompanied me on
a little test drive. I had ridden a motor scooter for the first
and so far only time in my life on the island
of Ibiza and was exhilarated to have another go at it. After
some initial balancing problems and after getting used to adjusting
the gas on the handlebar grip we finally got off to a decent start
on our little adventure and took an exciting spin on the local country
roads.
Going on my ride
Twenty minutes later we returned and sat down in their beautiful
garden, admiring the large pond that the two of them had created.
We all reminisced a bit about the time in 2005 when my brother,
my sister-in-law and these two friends had come to Toronto
for a visit. This was the first time that I saw my friends again,
this time on their home turf. We were even thinking that one of
these years we should do a joint skiing vacation in Schladming in
Upper Styria, a phenomenal skiing region that is often the location
world cup ski races and a place where my friends go skiing on a
regular basis.
Relaxing in the backyard
The sun was starting to set and it was time for me to get back
to brother’s place and to start packing my suitcase. I said
goodbye to my friends and invited them to come for another visit
to Toronto. Ewald, Anneliese and I spent another nice few hours
at their home as I got ready for my departure, feeling rather sad
about the impending end of my trip.
Without a doubt this has been my best visit since I left my home
town 21 years ago. Nine days just wasn’t long enough to even
explore the sights of my immediate area. In addition to the wonderful
connections with my family and some good friends, I had learned
during the last few days that Styria, the region I was born into,
was certainly on par with many other tourism areas that I have visited
throughout North America and Europe.
Austrian garden still life
Styria’s beautiful landscapes, the extensive opportunities
for outdoor recreation, the architecture, history, music, culture,
and last but not least, the delicious cuisine will definitely make
me come back again.
