Vichtenstein Castle - Burg Vichtenstein

Vichtenstein Castle - Burg Vichtenstein,  Vichtenstein, Upper Austria, Republic of Austria.

   Vichtenstein Castle was built shortly after 1100 and has been continuously used and inhabited ever since. The alterations and modifications made over the centuries have helped to preserve the castle complex. Among the oldest parts of the castle is the imposing, now freestanding, square keep, which once guarded the entrance to the castle interior and the palas (residential building). The defensive walls that connected the keep and the gatehouse to the palas are only preserved in their basic outlines. The older sections of the palas were attached to the round northeast tower, which was later extended to a polygonal shape. The two square residential towers in the northwest and southeast were probably built in the 15th or 16th century. The castle chapel was built in the 14th century and enlarged in the 17th century. The older part is covered with a cross-ribbed vault with figural keystones, the newer part with a barrel vault. Vichtenstein experienced its most turbulent times in the 13th century, when the castle was pledged to the Bishopric of Passau so that the proceeds could finance a crusade to the Holy Land.