Dürnstein
The Wachau, the little town of Dürnstein and the Hotel Schloß Dürnstein together strike a triad which makes the heart of every traveller beat faster, invites him to stay a while and tempts him to return.
The village of Dürnstein was built on a narrow land between steep rocks and the danube river, one important barrier. Emperor Heinrich II. donated this in 1019 to the Abbey of Tegernsee, to which has belonged the village of Unterloiben already since 1002, while Oberloiben still belonged to Salzburg.
After 1050 you found on several places in Lower Austria the saxon family of Kuenrings who strove to stimulate colonization, cultivation and defence, inseparably connected to their foundations: Cistercian Abbey Zwettl (1137) and Dürnstein, whose municipal law goes back to them.
Between 1192 and 1194 Dürnstein took over almost the same role as the palatine castle Trifels, viz being the prison for King Richard the Lionheart from England. – The two ecclesiastical buildings in town, two churches and one monastery are to be traced back to the Kuenrings as well.
Dürnstein was named together with the communities of the „Wachau Valley“ between St. Michael and Weißenkirchen. Only with the beginning of the romantic, this term enlarged on the landscape between Melk and Krems.
Todays ruins of Dürnstein – once Castle of the Kuenrings having its own chapel – has become uninhabitable already before its blasting. (1643) The new owner of the mastery of Dürnstein, Christoph Wilhelm of Zelking (1609), let the splendid castle being built.
The village of Dürnstein was built on a narrow land between steep rocks and the danube river, one important barrier. Emperor Heinrich II. donated this in 1019 to the Abbey of Tegernsee, to which has belonged the village of Unterloiben already since 1002, while Oberloiben still belonged to Salzburg.
After 1050 you found on several places in Lower Austria the saxon family of Kuenrings who strove to stimulate colonization, cultivation and defence, inseparably connected to their foundations: Cistercian Abbey Zwettl (1137) and Dürnstein, whose municipal law goes back to them.
Between 1192 and 1194 Dürnstein took over almost the same role as the palatine castle Trifels, viz being the prison for King Richard the Lionheart from England. – The two ecclesiastical buildings in town, two churches and one monastery are to be traced back to the Kuenrings as well.
Dürnstein was named together with the communities of the „Wachau Valley“ between St. Michael and Weißenkirchen. Only with the beginning of the romantic, this term enlarged on the landscape between Melk and Krems.
Todays ruins of Dürnstein – once Castle of the Kuenrings having its own chapel – has become uninhabitable already before its blasting. (1643) The new owner of the mastery of Dürnstein, Christoph Wilhelm of Zelking (1609), let the splendid castle being built.
Hotel Schloß Dürnstein GmbH, 3601 Dürnstein, Austria - WACHAU, Tel:+43 2711 212 Fax:+43 2711 212 30, www.schloss.at, hotel@schloss.at, UID ATU 628 11 425, FN 281552y LG Krems