View of Schönbühel Castle

Schönbühel Castle is located below Melk on the right bank of the Danube in the Lower Austrian municipality of Schönbühel-Aggsbach.
The castle was built at the beginning of the 12th century by Marchwardus de Schoenbuchele as an easy to defend on a rock about 40 meters high, on which there was presumably a Roman fortress. The mighty towers and rondels as well as underground and partly buried passages suggest the existence of castle dungeons and dungeons in the past.
In 1064 the castle was given a church, the entrance of which was to the right of the main entrance of the castle and in which services were held until 1667. A school was also housed in the castle.
When the von Schonpihel family died out after almost 200 years with the death of Ulrich von Schonpihel at the beginning of the 14th century, the castle came into the possession of Conrad von Eisenbag and shortly afterwards to the Melk Abbey. As early as 1396, Abbot Ludwig was forced to sell the property to Caspar and Gundaker von Starhemberg, the later feudal lords of Gallneukirchen. For more than 400 years it remained in the possession of the Starhemberg family, who expanded and further fortified it.

Schönbühel Castle on the Danube is picturesquely situated on a 40-meter-high cliff on the right bank of the Danube in the Wachau region, not far from Melk in Lower Austria. It was built at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries by Marchwardus de Schoenbuchele, likely on the remains of a Roman fortification. After frequently changing owners, the castle came into the possession of the influential Starhemberg family in 1396, who shaped it for over four centuries. In the 18th century, the medieval castle was replaced by a new building, and around 1821, Count Beroldingen had the present "New Castle" built.

In addition to the castle, the Aggstein castle ruins and the former Servite monastery are also well worth seeing.