Hohenwerfen Castle

Hohenwerfen Castle
Burg Hohenwerfen
Site information
Open to the public	Yes
Site history
Built	1075–1078
Built by	Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg

Hohenwerfen Castle (German: Burg Hohenwerfen) stands high above the Austrian town of Werfen in the Salzach valley, approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of Salzburg. The castle is surrounded by the Berchtesgaden Alps and the adjacent Tennengebirge mountain range. The fortification is a "sister" of Hohensalzburg Castle both dated from the 11th century. Hohenwerfen Castle is 623 metres (2,044 ft) above sea level.

The former fortification was built between 1075 and 1078 during the Imperial Investiture Controversy by the order of Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg as a strategic bulwark atop a 155-metre (509 ft) high rock. Gebhard, an ally of Pope Gregory VII and the anti-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden, had three major castles extended to secure the Salzburg archbishopric against the forces of King Henry IV: Hohenwerfen, Hohensalzburg and Petersberg Castle at Friesach in Carinthia. Nevertheless, Gebhard was expelled in 1077 and could not return to Salzburg until 1086, only to die at Hohenwerfen two years later.

In the following centuries Hohenwerfen served Salzburg's rulers, the prince-archbishops, not only as a military base but also as a residence and hunting retreat. The fortress was extended in the 12th century and to a lesser extent again in the 16th century during the German Peasants' War, when in 1525 and 1526 riotous farmers and miners from the south of Salzburg moved towards the city, laying fire and severely damaging the castle.