Pottenburg

The Pottenburg is a medieval ruined hilltop castle in the Lower Austrian part of the Carpathians, standing below the Königswarte summit and about 120 metres lower on a rocky spur. It overlooks the Hainburg Gate, once a key crossing between Austria and Hungary. The site also includes the vanished settlement of Amberg at its foot.

The castle’s history stretches back to at least the 13th century, though some scholars place its origins in the early 11th century. It passed through the hands of Bavarian counts, Hungarian kings and Austrian bishops before becoming a Turkish outpost in 1529. After abandonment around 1500, it was sold by Emperor Maximilian I and later bought by the Walterskirchen family, who still own it.

Visitors follow a path through the outer works and a Gothic portal into the bailey, where traces of a 15th-century well-house remain. The six-storey bergfried, built of massive ashlar blocks, rises 26.5 metres and still shows its original machicolations and latrine spouts. Inside, deep cross-ribbed vaults and mural staircases survive, while outside the eastern curtain wall a half-round tower from about 1500 projects forward.