Schloss Lengberg

Castle LENGBERG

Above Nikolsdorf, the mighty Castle Lengberg watches over the region. It is believed to have existed in a smaller form as early as the 11th century under the Eppensteiner dynasty. Either through purchase or inheritance, the complex – like the Rabenstein Castle in the Virgental – came into the possession of the Lords of Lechsgemünd, an old Swabian noble family that had its ancestral seat at the confluence of the Lech and the Danube. In the 13th century, both castles were sold by the same owning family to Archbishop Eberhard of Salzburg.

Romanesque building with a 2.20-meter thick ring wall From a construction history perspective, the castle at the time was a trapezoidal, Romanesque building consisting of a two-story palas with a 2.20-meter thick ring wall. The archbishop retained the castle until Napoleon's invasion in 1805 when the area came to Carinthia. Only in 1916 was Castle Lengberg awarded to the Province of Tyrol. Today, the castle is used as a training center for social youth work.

Playing cards, coins, and medieval underwear
During renovation work in 2008, numerous coins, playing cards, devices made of various materials, glasses, imported ceramics, clothing and bags, weapon parts, wax tablets, leather shoes, documents on paper, a single-handed flute, as well as bras, underwear, and a pair of underpants were discovered. All small finds are dated to the period between the 14th and 18th centuries AD.

Of particular scientific interest are the textiles. The entire textile find consists of more than 2,700 individual fabric fragments. An initial examination of the material revealed a wealth of different textile forms, including several almost completely preserved garments as well as fragments of linen linings with scant remains of former woolen garments.

The scientific value lies mainly in the fact that there are extremely few and hardly any completely preserved textile pieces that would allow conclusions to be drawn about medieval clothing. Therefore, the well-preserved finds from Castle Lengberg are all the more spectacular.

Opening hours: School operation, the courtyard can only be visited with prior registration. The outdoor area is always accessible.