42 Old Ruins to Explore in Austria

A majestic Benedictine monastery in Altenburg, Lower Austria. It was founded in 1144，by Countess Hildeburg of Poigen-Rebgau. The abbey attained its present Baroque form under the direction of abbots Maurus Boxler and Placidus Much. The modernization of the abbey was supervised by the architect Josef Munggenast with support from some of the most distinguished artists and craftsmen of Austria.

The Anker Clock was created by the famed painter and sculptor Franz von Matsch between the years 1911 and 1914 and represents a typical Art Nouveau design. It is located in the northern part of the inner city in the Hoher Markt.

Mondsee Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Mondsee in Upper Austria. This gothic former monastery is just as striking today as ever. Its two towers stretch 52m into the sky. This late gothic church was constructed in the 15th century under the direction of abbot Benedikt Eck and is the second biggest church in Upper Austria.

Güssing Castle was built in 1157 on the steep rock of an extinct volcanic cone. After several changes of ownership, the castle came into the possession of the Batthyány family in 1524. In the 16th and 17th centuries it was expanded into a fortress and was intended to serve as a bulwark - especially against the armies from the east. With the loss of its strategic importance, the castle was abandoned to decay in the 18th century.

Hardegg Castle is a hilltop castle in the town of Hardegg in the Thaya Valley in Lower Austria. This Castle is one of the mighties and best mantained in Lower-Austria. Its Museum about Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, the outdoor kitchen, the cosy furnished winter kitchen, the romanic as well as romantic chapel and the mighty eastern Tower are real musts.

Burg Rappottenstein is a castle in Rappottenstein, Lower Austria, Austria. The castle lies in the heart of the extensive Kuenring land holdings, serving as a stable anchor in turbulent times. It also protected the ancient route from the Danube across the Nordwald and on toward Bohemia.

Seebenstein Castle is in Seebenstein , Lower Austria . The hilltop castle consists of two systems, the old part with a round keep and a dilapidated palace from the 13th/14th centuries. Century and the high castle from the 15th to 17th century. The latter houses an important collection of weapons and medieval art, including a sculpture of the Virgin Mary by Veit Stoss . A Madonna by Tilman Riemenschneider was sold. There is a chapel in a corner of the high castle .

Sommeregg is a medieval castle near Seeboden in the Austrian state of Carinthia, Austria. It is situated in the foothills of the Nock Mountains at an altitude of 749 m. The fortress served as an administrative seat in the Upper Carinthian estates held by the Counts of Ortenburg and Celje; it later was the residence of the Graben and Khevenhüller dynasties; ministeriales of the Austrian House of Habsburg. In the Torture Museum, the Middle Ages are shown from its terrible side on an exhibition.

The ruins of Falkenstein Castle is in the Weinviertel region of Lower Austria, about 55 kilometres (34 mi) north of Vienna near the border to Czech Republic. The castle was used as a "Reichsfeste", for the protection of the HRE Reich with an overview over nearly all of Moravia. It was founded around 1050 by Emperor Henry III. During the summer season, the inner ward is turned into an impressive site for medieval feasts and theatre plays.

Burgruine Landsee is a castle ruin in the Austrian state of Burgenland. Burgruine Landsee is 537 metres above sea level. The castle was used as a location for Disney's The Three Musketeers starring Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Chris O'Donnell, and Oliver Platt. Today, families access the Castle’s keep called “Don Jon” via the large, preserved entrance gate, bridges and arcades. Its viewing platform offers children and their parents amazing 360-degree views of Central Burgenland.

The Rauhenstein castle ruins are the ruins of a hilltop castle in the Helenental north-east of the Schwechat , in the local area of Baden near Vienna . Like the neighboring Rauheneck castle ruins , it was probably built in the 12th century by the Tursen knights. It was repeatedly inhabited by robber barons and often destroyed and rebuilt.

The St. Peter Abbey is a spiritual, cultural and economic center in the city and state of Salzburg. The Archabbey of St. Peter looks back on an unbroken continuity in the heart of Salzburg's old town. Monks have lived, prayed and worked here since 696. The abbey also owns collections of paintings, church treasures, artworks, minerals, furniture, musical instruments, a coin cabinet, and a cabinet of natural curiosities.

A former Roman Catholic fortified church and was dedicated to St. Pancras and St. Consecrated to Aegidius . The former church is now almost exclusively used for museum and cultural purposes. It is located on a slight hill in the southwest part of Old Town. The building is surrounded by a church yard, which used to be a cemetery, and a defensive wall.

The Vienna gasometers were built between 1896 and 1899 at a time when societies were reluctant to exhibit freely their industrial infrastructures.They were used from 1899 to 1984 to house gas holders, also known as gasometers, each of 90,000 m³ storage capacity. After the changeover from town gas to natural gas between 1969 and 1978, they were no longer used and were shut down. The structures have found new residential and commercial use in modern times.

The House of Music is located in the former home town palace of Otto Nicolai, founder of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Across an exhibition space of 54,000 sq. ft., a range of hi-tech interactive and multimedia presentations introduce the world of music, from the earliest human use of instruments to the music of the present day. Those involved in developing the museum included four Austrian universities, two foreign university institutes, a team of musicians and music theorists.

Karlskirche is a Baroque church located on the south side of Karlsplatz in Vienna, Austria. Widely considered the most outstanding baroque church in Vienna, as well as one of the city's greatest buildings, the church is dedicated to Saint Charles Borromeo, one of the great counter-reformers of the sixteenth century. The church contains a dome in the form of an elongated ellipsoid and also there are so many things to see around. .

The Church of St. Leopold am Steinhof is a church in the Art Nouveau style characteristic of the Viennese Secession built by the architect Otto Wagner in Vienna , Austria .The Saint-Léopold church is considered one of the most important churches of the 20th century. The building, designed by Otto Wagner, is considered one of the most important Art Nouveau churches in the world.

Kremsmünster Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Kremsmünster in Upper Austria . It has been the spiritual and economic center of the region since it was founded in 777 . The monastery is also known for the observatory and for the grammar school. The Kremsmünster Abbey Library is one of the largest and oldest in Austria. The magnificent 65-metre long room contains about 160,000 volumes, the most famous of which is the Codex Millenarius dating from around 800.

The Liszthaus Raiding is the birthplace of Franz Liszt in Raiding in Burgenland, Austria. Liszt was born here in 1811. Today it is a museum. The stone building was built in the 16th century; it was part of an estate created by von Guniafalva, a noble, and extended in the mid-17th century by his son-in-law Johann Illesy. The estate was bought in 1805 by the Esterházy family.The building had a roof of wooden shingles, and had six rooms, a kitchen and a room for wine fermentation.

A historic building, which was built in 1606 by prince-archbishop Wolf Dietrich for his beloved Salome Alt. Today, it serves as the backdrop for the most romantic weddings you could possibly imagine. It is generally regarded as one of the "most beautiful wedding halls in the world". In former times, the likes of Leopold Mozart and his children, Wolfgang and Nannerl, made music here.