Burg Raabs an der Thaya

Burg Raabs an der Thaya stands on a hill above the Thaya river in northern Lower Austria, near the Czech border. The castle dates from the late 11th century and sits 456 metres above sea level. Beneath it lie the remains of an earlier Moravian fortification discovered in 1992 by Kurt Bors. Dendrochronology shows its northern wall was built between 926 and 929. That settlement was later destroyed by fire during a Hungarian raid. The name Raabs gave rise to the Czech word for Austria, Rakousko.

The castle first appears in writing in the Bohemian Cosmas Chronicle of 1100 as the seat of a lord named Gotfridi. In 1074 and 1076 royal gifts mention the nearby ‘silva Rogacz’, later the town of Horn. After the Raab Counts died out around 1192, the castle passed to the Counts of Hirschberg-Tollenstein. In 1252 King Přemysl Otakar II of Bohemia took the whole county and gave the castle to Vok I of Rožmberk. The Habsburgs gained control in 1282 when Rudolf confiscated much of the land.

Visitors reach the castle through the old town and climb to the hilltop fortress. Inside, medieval walls and towers frame views over the Thaya valley. The courtyard contains remnants of the Great Moravian fortification found beneath. From the battlements the surrounding countryside stretches towards the Czech Republic. The site links Lower Austria’s past with the wider history of central Europe.