The Imbach Castle ruins are the ruins of a spur castle on the eastern foothills of the Scheibelberg, at the confluence of the Burgtal and Kremstal valleys, above the Krems River south of the village of Imbach in the market town of Senftenberg in Lower Austria.
History
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The former Imbach Castle was the original residence of the Minnebach family, who were initially free and related to the Lengenbach family from Rehberg, and who served as ministerials at the end of the 12th century. Adalbert and his brother Rüdiger are the first representatives mentioned in sources no later than 1130. At the beginning of the 13th century, several members of the Minnebach knightly retinue who called themselves after Imbach are documented. Around 1200, Tuta von Minnebach(-Senftenberg) brought Imbach Castle into the marriage of Wichard (I) von Weikertschlag-Zöbing. After the death of the last male Zöbinger, the Imbach lordship passed to Karl von Gutrat, a member of a Salzburg ministerial family, no later than 1232 through his marriage to a female member of the family – presumably Margarete von Zöbing-Senftenberg-Weikertschlag. The complex details of the transfer of the Imbach lordship to the Lords of Feldsberg remain unclear. In 1269, Albero von Feldsberg ceded Imbach Castle to the Dominican monastery of Imbach, which he founded in the same year, resulting in the castle being demolished for building material.
Description and History of the Building
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The west-east oriented mountain spur is separated from the Scheibelberg, which rises to the northwest, by a neck ditch, now partially flattened. Excavations by the Federal Monuments Office under the direction of excavation technician Gustav Melzer between 1979 and 1981 uncovered a complex, multi-phase castle complex despite the cramped topography, reflecting the postulated period of its construction. In the center of the stronghold are the remains of a building with walls less than one meter thick, which, based on its wall structure, can be dated to the first half of the 12th century. Another early, isolated, tower-like building is located to the west and is covered by the 13th-century keep. On the spur end to the east of the stronghold are the foundations of the former castle chapel, an apsidal hall measuring approximately 7.70 × 4.80 m. A substantial expansion of the castle complex took place in the first half of the 13th century, with a polygonal rampart and a keep in the west that incorporated older building remains. The multi-phase castle complex from the High Middle Ages is significant in terms of castle history, as it represents a valuable example of the still little-researched early castle construction of Eastern Austria, and its layout is comparable to the nearby Rehberg Castle ruins. In 1999, the current landowner built a modern chapel (the Reconciliation Chapel) west above the castle ruins, which is intended to echo the form of the former castle chapel.
(From Wikipedia)