Castle Map

Ruin

Ruine Hinterhaus

Austria

Heritage status
Listed objects in Austria
Location
Spitz
Coordinates
48.3586°, 15.407°
Links
Wikimedia Commons
Open on the map →Wikipedia (DE) ↗
Ruine Hinterhaus in Austria
Photo: C.Stadler/Bwag · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

The Ruine Hinterhaus, also called Oberhaus, is a nearly thousand-year-old fortification in Spitz an der Donau, Lower Austria, on a spur of the Jauerling. It was first mentioned in 1243.

The ruin, located in the Wachau area, lies near the “Tausendeimerberg”, a vineyard that yields a certain harvest quantity of grapes every year, and on a rocky ridge of the so-called Hausberg, a part of the Jauerling massif.

The hill castle is clearly divided into three parts closed off from one another: the lower-lying outer bailey to the north-east, the main castle, which occupies the largest part of the rocky ridge, and the south-western outer bailey.

The oldest component, the main castle, however, already existed in the 12th century.

In the 13th and 14th centuries this castle was ruled by the knights of Spitz, who were in turn subject to the Kuenringers.

An Austrian excursion tip says of it: “Many legends and tales surround the Ruine Hinterhaus. The ruin is said to be haunted to this day. The ghost of the deceased Adelheid, wife of Heinrich the Iron, appears every year on the anniversary of her husband's death at the Ruine Hinterhaus in the Wachau. Heinrich married a new wife shortly after her death, although at that time a year of mourning had to be observed. Shortly afterwards he died too. Many saw it as punishment for his disgraceful conduct.”

The castle ruin is freely accessible. In 1970 it came into the ownership of the market municipality of Spitz. From 1977 the then Verkehrsverein Spitz, today the Tourismusverein Spitz, began maintenance work and the restoration of the ruin.

Machine-translated from “Ruine Hinterhaus” on the German Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the rankings

Ruine Hinterhaus ranks #7,471 of 9,902 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #225 of the 316 mapped in Austria. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 859 times in the last 60 days, more than 50% of the atlas. 12 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is St. Pölten, 23 km away. See how Austria compares in the castle statistics.

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