Finstergrün Castle () is a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

in the state of

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Burg Finstergrün is above sea level. The castle is believed to have been built in 1296/97 by Rudolf von Fohnsdorf. In 1300 it was described as “a border fortress” between the

Archbishopric of Salzburg The Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg (; ) was an ecclesiastical principality and state of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised the secular territory ruled by the archbishops of Salzburg, as distinguished from the much larger Catholic diocese f ...

and the

Duchy of Styria The Duchy of Styria (; ; ) was a duchy located in modern-day southern Austria and northern Slovenia. It was a part of the Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806 and a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary until its dissolution i ...

. During the 14th and 15th centuries it became the seat of the administrator who was in charge of managing the silver mines in Ramingstein. The first documented mention of the name Burg Finstergruen (dark ditch) occurred in 1629. In 1841 the castle complex was destroyed by a forest fire. In 1899 a new owner, Count Sándor Szapary (1858-1904), bought the castle and rebuilt a comfortable house from the ruins. It was later inherited by his son. In the 1930s and 1940s the castle belonged to his widow, Countess Margit Szapáry, who took in selected paying guests.

Hume Cronyn Hume Blake Cronyn Jr. (July 18, 1911 – June 15, 2003) was a Canadian-American actor, screenwriter and playwright. He appeared in many stage productions, television and film roles throughout his career, and garnered numerous accolades, includ ...

, ''A Terrible Liar: A Memoir'' (1991), p. 100: “The schloss , a beautiful medieval castle, belonged to the Gräfin (Countess) Szapary and accommodated a few selected paying guests.” After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Burg Finstergrün became a centre of the activities of the Evangelical Youth movement.

References

External links

Official website
Castles in Salzburg (federal state) Jugendburg {{Austria-castle-stub

See also

References

External links