Schloss Wolkersdorf, Heritage castle in Wolkersdorf im Weinviertel, Austria.
Schloss Wolkersdorf is a castle in Wolkersdorf im Weinviertel situated on an island surrounded by a moat. The structure was built as a four-tower complex with ashlar masonry and now serves multiple public purposes.
Heinrich von Wolkersdorf first named himself after the village in 1194. In 1275 King Ottokar II besieged and destroyed the castle; Hermann von Wolkersdorf rebuilt it from 1282 as a nearly square castle with a chapel. Emperor Ferdinand III had it remodelled in Baroque style after Swedish troops damaged it in the Thirty Years' War, and from 1706 Karl VI continued the work, creating a hunting lodge used in the nearby Hochleithenwald.
The castle houses the Regional Music School and hosts exhibitions and concerts throughout the year. These events shape the cultural rhythm of the town and draw visitors from the surrounding area.
The castle is owned by the town and normally can only be viewed from the outside; some interior rooms open only during events. It stands about eight kilometres northeast of Vienna's city limits in Wolkersdorf im Weinviertel. After partial renovation between 2011 and 2013 it houses exhibition spaces, a music school, an atelier and a restaurant.
The moat around the castle was fed by a dammed branch of the Rußbach stream, and the 1332 document calls the site "Veste Hauß" on its own island. The four round corner towers were added around 1500 as part of a bastion fortification.
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