!!!Aggstein

Aggstein, Lower Austria, in Schoenbuehel-Aggsbach municipality in the 
district of Melk, castle ruins on steep cliff on right bank of Danube 
in the Wachau Valley. Built sometime after 1100 by Manegold von 
Aggstein, in possession of the Kuenringer line from 1181, destroyed 
several times (1231, 1296), expanded 1429-1436 by Joerg Scheck von 
Wald to a long complex; chancellery buildings added to central castle 
after 1606, from 1685 in possession of the Starhembergs (now Seilern), 
then fell to ruin. Remains of the 3-storeyed Frauenturm tower and the 
keep have survived; Gothic chapel (15th century). According to legend, 
the "Rosengaertlein" (little rose garden), a ledge 4 m wide and 
10 m long, was used by Joerg Scheck as a place to release 
prisoners in the 15th century (ballad by Scheffel, print from the 16th 
century).

!Further reading
W. Haeusler, Melk und der Dunkelsteinerwald, 1978.


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