Burg Wartenstein, Medieval castle in Raach am Hochgebirge, Austria

Burg Wartenstein is a stone castle located on a hilltop at 765 meters elevation overlooking the Schwarza Valley in Lower Austria. The compound features an elongated inner courtyard surrounded by walls that incorporate structures from different periods.

The original castle dates from the 12th century and comprised only a keep, a palas, a chapel and a small courtyard; it was first enlarged in the mid-13th century. Hermannus de Wartenstein is documented around 1190, and Heinrich von Stubenberg acquired the castle in 1287. In 1529 it was destroyed during the First Turkish Siege of Vienna, and in the 1640s Georg Andreas von Petschowitz had it substantially rebuilt.

The castle's chapel is Gothic, not Romanesque; the Romanesque element is the square keep (Bergfried). The chapel stands within the elongated courtyard enclosed by the east wing, whose two ends each carry a tower, the northern one built as a strong watchtower. The first lords recorded are Hermannus de Wartenstein, named in a document around 1190, and the ministerialis Chunradus de Wartenstaine, mentioned in a charter of 1220.

The castle stands at 765 metres directly on Landesstraße 134 between Grasberg and Raachberg, so it can be reached by road; the elongated courtyard is entered through a round gate in the gate tower. The ground is uneven and the site lies on a slope, so sturdy shoes are advisable.

A legend links the castle to the former Benedictine monastery of Gloggnitz, today Schloss Gloggnitz, through an underground passage said to have served as an escape route. Underground corridors were indeed found there, but they have since collapsed.