Austria · Ruin
Burgruine Finkenstein
Finkenstein Castle (Altfinkenstein) is a medieval hilltop castle ruin in Finkenstein, Carinthia, Austria, perched on a steep rocky cliff above Lake Faak. First recorded in 1142, it was rebuilt several times and partly retains Romanesque and Late Gothic fabric; it has not been inhabited since the late 18th century. The ruin today forms the backdrop of the Burgarena amphitheatre below.
First raised
1142
Its prime
1520
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1520
What Burgruine Finkenstein looked like in its prime.
Perched on a steep rocky cliff above the valley, the castle reads as an irregular stone mass of pale grey rubble masonry with large voids from collapsed upper floors. A stout cylindrical eastern tower rises at one end with a flagpole, while a high straight western stone wall (the Palas) remains as a plain vertical face about 15 m tall. The southeastern bergfried/keep occupies a corner; several tall, paired arched window openings puncture a ruined hall. Dense woodland skirts the rocky base.
Its story
The story of Burgruine Finkenstein.
First mentioned in a deed of 1142, Finkenstein belonged to the Carinthian estates of the Prince-Bishops of Bamberg and was enfeoffed to their local ministeriales, lords, probably related to the Osterwitz noble family, who began to call themselves von Finkenstein. In the fierce feud of 1233 between Duke Bernhard of Carinthia and prince-bishop Count Ekbert of Andechs, Lord Henry of Finkenstein sided with the duke, captured Ekbert and held him at the castle, for which Pope Gregory IX immediately banned him.
When the Carinthian Finkensteins died out at the beginning of the fourteenth century, ownership fell back to the dukes of Carinthia, held by the House of Habsburg from 1335. Emperor Frederick III had his consort Eleanor of Portugal brought to safety at Finkenstein while his brother Archduke Albert VI besieged him in Vienna; under the House of Dietrichstein, at the start of the sixteenth century, the inner bailey received its four gates.
Uninhabited since the late eighteenth century, the ruin on its cliff above Lake Faak keeps twelfth-century Romanesque work, remnants of the keep at the south-eastern corner, late Gothic restoration of the fifteenth century with staircase tower and chapel, and the 15-metre-high west wall of the former palas. The Wittgenstein family were among the owners, from 1913 to 1939, and today the ruin is the backdrop of the Burgarena, an amphitheatre of 1,150 seats.
Step inside
8 places to explore in 1520.
The record describes 8 distinct spots at Burgruine Finkenstein, including 2 interiors: palas hall with tall paired arched windows, castle chapel interior (late gothic). 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 Burgruine Finkenstein with AI to explore it.
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Clans who held Burgruine Finkenstein.
The families that held Burgruine Finkenstein for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Finkenstein
Bamberg ministeriales who took the castle's name held it until the family's extinction in the early 14th century.
Habsburg
Ownership fell back to the dukes of Carinthia, held by the House of Habsburg from 1335.
Dietrichstein
Under the rule of the House of Dietrichstein at the beginning of the 16th century, when the inner bailey received its four gates.
Wittgenstein
The Wittgenstein family were among the owners, 1913–1939.
