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The Göttweig monastery's traditional records of the year 1158 mention a
"Gotscalcus de Landeshere." The first castle was erected probably
somewhat earlier to protect an important road. The Landsees were ministers of
the Earls of Pitten and presumably kinsman of the Stubenberger family from
Styria. The castle became possession of the Hungarian Crown already in 1222. It
was the western outpost of the county of Lutzmannsburg and part of the line of
castles which was to protect the western border of Hungary. King Béla IV passed
it to his cupbearer Conrad who, however, changed fronts and became a follower of
the Bohemian king Przemysl Ottokar II. Therefore, in 1263, Landsee was handed
over to his Steward and Gespan (a medieval chieftain in the west and south
Slavic region) of Ödenburg, Laurentius Aba, whose successors were followers of
the earls of Güssing. And so Landsee was one of the castles that were conquered
by Duke Albrecht in course of the feud of Güssing in 1289.
But following the peace of Hainburg the command over the castle was restored to
the king of Hungary. Then the Athinais of the family of the Aba were in
possession of Landsee but at the end of the 14th century it passed to the Earls
of Mattersdorf-Forchtenstein. Wilhelm of Forchtenstein, the last of his family,
pawned his properties to the Habsburger Albrecht VI, who bought Landsee in 1447
and passed it on to his brother, Emperor Friedrich III. In 1459, the dominion
fell into the hands of the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus. In 1482 he endowed
with the dominion Ulrich von Grafeneck, who, however, is recorded as owner
already for the year 1475. It was him who ordered the late Gothic styled
upgrading of the stronghold. In 1506 Ulrich von Weisspriach, who also was Lord
of Kobersdorf, became fief-holder in Landsee. His possessions were located
around Ödenburg (Sopron) which constantly led to conflicts. In the following
"Landsee-feud," his widow hired several groups of mercenaries,
including the bandit leader Franz Magutsch, to harass the city. Finally the
bandits were caught and Gertrud von Weisspriach died in jail in 1523.
In 1548 her son Hans handed Landsee to his
brother-in-law, the imperial councillor and Gespan Erasmus Teufel. But Teufel
was caught and executed in Istanbul by the Turkish and the archbishop of Gran
(Esztergom), Nikolaus Oláh, bought the dominion of Landsee. In 1561 he handed
it over to his nephew Nikolaus Császár, whose son-in-law started the extension
of the castle to a mighty fortress shortly before 1600. When his daughter Ursula
married Nikolaus Esterházy in 1612, Landsee became the possession of the
family, still owning it today.
The castle was further extended according to the advanced war engineering of
the time. During the wars against the Turkish, it was used as a sanctuary for
the people and as an arsenal for the Esterházy's troops but it had never been
seriously besieged. In 1707, some of the buildings had been severely damaged by
a blaze and a gunpowder explosion. After the Turkish have been driven out of
Central Europe through the victories of Prince Eugen, Landsee lost its military
significance. The arms and other military equipment were brought to
Forchtenstein. In 1772 and 1790 there was another blaze and the administration
of the dominion was moved to Lackenbach; the complex was abandoned. The
surrounding population used its walls as a welcome stone quarry for building
their houses. In 1950 renovation was started by a local beautification society.
The final restoration of the stronghold was accomplished in the course of an EU
project in 1998. Over the past years, theatrics had been organized in the
castle's bailey.
Landsee is one of the biggest castle ruins in Europe. It lies on a dominant
location above the Stooberbach valley. The actual stronghold is surrounded by
four circular fortification walls. The outer wall is 1700 meters long and
fortified by ten small bastions. For the protection of the first gate, which
states the date of 1668, serves a two-story bastion containing a guardroom.
Crossing a bridge lying on piles you reach the second gate above which there is
a broad machicoulis. Originally, a drawbridge used to be in front of it. The
gate structure reaches far into the moat, so that it was possible to take the
second defensive wall (a high earth wall bearing a palisade) under fire from
there. This wall was erected around 1600 to protect the third wall from direct
artillery fire. Its gate is protected by a tower and guardroom as well. The
following approximately 20 meters-broad moat is spanned by another wooden
bridge. In front of the next gate was a counterpoise bridge. It was decorated by
the coat of arms of the Weisspriach family.
Now you get into the extensive outer
bailey. Its left side is bordered by a mighty frontal wall, while on the right
lie the ruins of several farm buildings and barracks. Their external walls are
provided with embrasures, so that they can be used for defense as well. At the
end of the bailey a stair tower leads to a higher seated inner bailey, where the
accommodations and kitchens were. A beautiful Renaissance gate finally leads to
the actual living quarters. Here, around a triangular bailey, were
representative rooms equipped by Pietro Antonio Conti in the 17th century.
Through a Gothic tower heightened in the baroque period you get into the
medieval part of the castle which mainly dates from the late 15th century. 
From a small bailey and via wooden corridors and stairways you could once get
into the several rooms. Still today they show relics of Gothic door and window
carpeting, fireplaces and arches. The Romanic donjon forms the core of the
stronghold and was built on the highest point of the quartzite rock. Later its
mainly attacked side in the West was fortified and reached its today's wall
thickness of more than 10 meters. The tower is crowned by a characteristic wall
arch, the relic of a former cupola.
Visitation from the beginning of April to
the end of October, daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., or until nightfall.
Guided tours on appointment, for information
and registration contact:
Elisabeth Schütz
Hauptstraße 88
A-7341 Landsee
Phone: +43 2618 / 7306
Mobile: + 43 664 / 798 13 16
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