Riegersburg Castle is a medieval castle situated on a dormant volcano hill above the town of Riegersburg in the Austrian state of Styria. The castle is owned by the Princely Family of Liechtenstein and serves as a museum, with 25 out of the 108 rooms being opened for visiting. 16 of the rooms show the history of the Riegersburg castle and 9 are dealing with witches and sorcerers.
The history of the castle begins in the year 1122. The first knight who is known to have lived here is Rudiger von Hohenberg. During the centuries the castle had a lot of different owners, but only few of them played an important role. Among the later ones is the family of the Walseer who had feud with the sovereign of Styria in 1415.
The most important owner was the baroness Katharina Elisabeth von Wechsler, married Galler and known as Gallerin. Between 1637 and 1653 she finished the castle, making it one of the biggest and strongest castles in the country. It is surrounded by 2 miles of walls with 5 gates and 2 trenches and it contains 108 rooms. In the 17th century the border with the Ottoman Empire was sometimes only 20 to 25 km away from the castle and the area was troubled by conflicts with the Turks an Hungarians. The castle was a safe place for the people in the near by, sometimes offering refuge inside its walls for a few thousands. Lady Gallerin married three times and her a daughter who was married with Count Purgstall. The Purgstall family died out around 1800 and in 1822 the castle was bought by Sovereign Johann Josef von und zu Liechtenstein. It belongs to the family until the present day.
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