Burg Kühnring, Medieval castle ruins in Waldviertel region, Austria

Burg Kühnring is a ruined castle on the site of the present parish church of Kühnring in Burgschleinitz-Kühnring. Only a few large sections of wall and part of the moat remain. The walls are several metres thick, and some displaced blocks lie rotated about 90 degrees, while the former castle chapel, now the church, stands intact beside them.

Hadmar I of Kuenring built the castle in the first half of the 12th century on the site of a chapel his grandfather Azzo von Gobatsburg had founded at the end of the 11th century. In the 13th century it was held by Eufemia von Kuenring-Pottendorf. Around 1460 Johann Götzesdorfer occupied the derelict castle with about a thousand former mercenaries; Wolfgang Kadawer, caretaker of Eggenburg, drove him out and destroyed it, and in 1463 Emperor Frederick III granted him the village, a sign the castle lay in ruins.

The former castle chapel, consecrated by Bishop Altmann of Passau, became Kühnring's parish church after the castle's destruction and was rebuilt in its present form in 1660. The name Kühnring survives as part of the market town Burgschleinitz-Kühnring, and the church still serves the parish on the site of the Kuenringer stronghold.

The site sits within the municipal boundaries of Burgschleinitz-Kühnring and is easily accessible, with the four remaining wall sections clearly visible. Note that the ruins are intertwined with the active parish church and cemetery, so visitors should be respectful of the ongoing religious use of the grounds.

The method of destruction remains unexplained: several-metre-thick wall sections were thrown and rotated about 90 degrees, while the adjacent chapel survived intact. The sources only conjecture that drilled holes, wooden beams and water were used. Only a few large wall pieces and part of the moat remain today.