Hainfeld Castle, Renaissance château in Feldbach, Austria

Hainfeld Castle is a Renaissance castle near Feldbach in Styria, marked by its regular facades and carefully articulated wings. The building rises on a slightly elevated strip of land and is surrounded by a large park.

The castle was built in the 16th century in the Renaissance style, replacing an older medieval structure on the same site. Over the centuries it remained in private hands and was eventually listed as a protected monument.

The castle appears in Basil Hall's 1836 travel account "Schloss Hainfeld; or, A Winter in Lower Styria", written after his stay. Sheridan Le Fanu, who also stayed here, drew on the building for his 1872 novel "Carmilla". Mathias Énard's 2015 Goncourt-winning novel "Boussole" sets a gathering of orientalists at Hainfeld, echoing Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall.

The castle is privately owned and not open to visitors, so the interior, including the Chinese room and the stucco ceilings, cannot be seen. The moat, dry for a long time, was restored during renovation work. The building stands in Feldbach in eastern Styria, in the Raab valley.

Although the castle is known today as a Renaissance building, traces of the earlier medieval structure can still be seen in parts of the masonry. These details reveal how the building was gradually reshaped over time rather than built all at once.