Schloss Bertholdstein, Benedictine abbey and château in Fehring, Austria

Schloss Bertholdstein stands on a rocky spur at about 360 m in Pertlstein, part of Fehring. Its southern forecourt has a projecting eastern corner wing and a gate building with a coat of arms stone of Adam von Lengheim dated 1582. The northern residential castle is an irregular three-storey complex around two courtyards, and a 90 m defensive wall with a rondell and two-storey column arcades, restored in 1962, encloses the great courtyard.

Berthold I of Emmerberg, a Traungau ministerial and Styrian steward, built the fortress between 1170 and 1179 to guard the Raab valley. After 1408 the Emmerbergs lost it following the Walsee feud against Duke Ernst. From 1578 the Lengheim family converted it into a castle, adding the arcaded gallery and defensive walls against the Turks. In 1871 Count Ladislaus Koszielski, who called himself Sefer Pasha, restored it in a romantic-oriental style.

From 1919 to 2008, Benedictine nuns of Saint Gabriel monastery lived in the castle and shaped its interior through their artistic work. The community created watercolor paintings and stained glass windows that reflected the character of the spaces.

The complex is only open to the public on special occasions, so visits must be arranged around those events rather than made spontaneously. The site stands on a rocky spur at about 360 m that drops away to the east, west and north, above the village of Pertlstein in the municipality of Fehring.

The castle served as a filming location in March 1968 for a cinematic adaptation of Franz Kafka's novel 'The Castle', giving the location a literary connection. This unusual film shoot linked a renowned literary work to the medieval castle landscape of Styria.