Griffen Castle
Griffen, Austria
Coordinates46°42′19″N 14°43′39″E / 46.70528°N 14.72750°E / 46.70528; 14.72750
TypeCastle
Site information
OwnerMarket Town of Griffen
Open to
the public		yes
Conditionruins
Site history
Built1124-1146
Built byOtto of Bamberg
In useuntil 1768
Demolished1840
Battles/wars1292-1293 occupied by Count Ulrich von Heunberg

The Burg Griffen is a castle on a 130m/427 ft-high limestone mountain above the town of Griffen in the Austrian state of Carinthia.[1]

History

The castle was built between 1124 and 1146 by order of Bishop Otto of Bamberg. In an 1160 deed, Emperor Friedrich I mentioned Grivena as a Bamberg property.[2]

In 1292 the Carinthian nobleman Count Ulrich von Heunburg with support of Archbishop Konrad IV of Salzburg occupied the fort in an uprising against Albert of Habsburg, the son of King Rudolph I of Germany and Duke Meinhard II. However Ulrich was abandoned by his allies and one year later had to leave the castle.[3] In 1759 Bishop Adam Friedrich sold the Bamberg estates in Carinthia to Maria Theresa of Austria and the castle was incorporated into the Carinthian duchy.[4]

About 1520 a large reconstruction of the castle took place as a protection against the threat posed by the Ottoman forces with a base amounted of about 4000 m2, though the Turks never laid siege to Griffen.[5]

Cave

Within the mountain is the Griffener Tropfsteinhöhle (dripstone cave) with a length of 485m/1591 ft, which was not discovered until the late days of World War II. It is open to public and a natural landmark since 1957.[6]

Burgruine Griffen, August 2007

References

  1. ↑ Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege (in German). Anton Schroll. 2001. p. 217.
  2. ↑ Kropf, Erich (2004). Spurensuche: Bamberger Rechte und Einflüsse in Österreich, Italien, Slowenien und der Schweiz ; ein historisch-topografisches Repertorium (in German). Schulze. p. 90. ISBN 978-3-87735-180-2.
  3. ↑ Preger, Wilhelm (1865). Albrecht von Oesterreich und Adolf von Nassau (in German). Straub. p. 17.
  4. ↑ Ginhart, Karl (1934). Die Kunstdenkmäler Kärntens (in German). A. Kollitsch. p. 894.
  5. ↑ Carinthia I: Mittheilungen des Geschichtsvereins für Kärnten (in German). Verlag der Geschichtsvereins für Kärnten. 1961. p. 368.
  6. ↑ Wojnowski, Jan (2002). Wielka encyklopedia PWN: gazy cieplarniane-guna (in Polish). Wydawn. Naukowe PWN. p. 456. ISBN 978-83-01-13673-4.


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