Austria · Restored
Bernstein Castle
Burg Bernstein
Bernstein Castle is a hilltop castle in Bernstein im Burgenland, Austria, first recorded in the 13th century and still standing as a large fortified residence. The site combines a long, plastered residential range with a curtain of bastion walls and a foregate building; parts now serve as a hotel. The estate sits on a wooded plateau overlooking fields and valleys to the north and west.
Its prime
1620
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1620
What Bernstein Castle looked like in its prime.
A long, slightly curved rectangular residential range of pale plastered masonry with two main storeys and regular rectangular windows, capped by continuous red clay tile roofs and small attic windows. A lower gatehouse building fronts a paved drive and arched entrance crossing a short causeway; beyond, a central open courtyard is enclosed by the surrounding wings. A square stone tower with a steep pyramidal tiled roof rises near one corner. Stone retaining walls and bastion-like parapets step down the wooded hill slope; the site crowns a forested plateau above farmland.
Its story
The story of Bernstein Castle.
First mentioned in the 13th century, Bernstein swung early between Austria and Hungary: it was handed at some unknown date to Frederick II, Duke of Austria, conquered in 1236 by Béla IV of Hungary, and given in 1260 to Count Henry I Kőszegi. After the counts of Güssing and Bernstein were defeated by King Charles Robert of Anjou in 1336, the castle became part of the Hungarian Kingdom, and in 1388 it was given to the Kanizsai family.
In 1644 Ehrenreich Christoph Königsberg sold the sovereignty and the castle to Count Ádám Batthyány, whose family kept it for over two centuries. Gustav Batthyány sold it in 1864 to his manciple Edward O'Egan, whose heirs sold it on to Eduard von Almásy, and the Almásy family owns Bernstein still, with parts of the hilltop residence now serving as a hotel.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1620.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Bernstein Castle, including 1 interior: central inner courtyard. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Bernstein Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1620, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Castle Siege
Play Castle Siege at Bernstein Castle.
A strategy game played on Bernstein Castle’s real ground plan: the same surveyed walls shown in the archive below. Post your finite garrison on the battlements between assaults, then hold out as rams, siege towers, trebuchets and sappers arrive in ever-worse waves.
Sign in free to see the garrison muster. One castle costs 150 Clan Coins and is yours forever.
Sign in to take command →Whose castle
Clans who held Bernstein Castle.
The families that held Bernstein Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Kőszegi
Given to Count Henry I Kőszegi by Béla IV of Hungary in 1260.
Kanizsai
The castle was given to the Kanizsai family in 1388.
Königsberg
Held by the Königsbergs until Ehrenreich Christoph Königsberg sold the sovereignty and castle in 1644.
Batthyány
Held by the Counts Batthyány from Ádám Batthyány's purchase in 1644 until Gustav Batthyány sold it in 1864.
Almásy
Bought by Eduard von Almásy from Edward O'Egan's heirs; the Almásy family owns the castle still.
From the archive
Bernstein Castle on paper: the measured plan and period views.
The survey plan and photographs below are the ground truth this page's reconstructions are checked against, drawn and photographed while the castle was still a working garrison. Every image is public-domain or openly licensed, with its source named.
Nedvědice-Pernštejn (Nedwieditz-Bernstein). Castle (13th century). Wartturm at the south-west end of the castl
· Deutsche Fotothek (via Europeana)
CC BY-SA
