Saturday 20 August 2011

Viennese Escapes
Schloss Kittsee, Burgenland


Schloss Kittsee
40 miles southeast of Vienna
close to the Hungarian border

The town's ancient moated castle -
built in the 12th century -
was first mentioned in 1344,
and was destroyed by the Ottomans in 1529

It was replaced by the Grange,
built in 1552.

The new Castle -
Schloss Kittsee - was built in 1668
by expanding the Grange. *

History of Kittsee:
"In the Middle Ages, the settlement was situated in the Kingdom of Hungary, and was probably settled by Pecheneg border guards in the 11th century. There was a Hungarian royal castle on the site of the settlement as early as the 12th century. The first documented mention of the settlement was in 1291; the name Koeche was in use in 1390. It is thought that the name is of Hungarian origin and the older form was Küccse.

Since the settlement guards the entrance of the Danube into Hungary, it often played a key role in the defense of Hungary. This was the gathering site of the crusader army of Frederick I in 1198. The town was the site of Géza II's battle with the Austrians, and the wedding of Béla, son of Béla IV and Kunigunda, niece of Ottokar II, King of Bohemia, in 1264. The peace treaty of Andrew III and Albert I was signed here in 1291. After 1363, the town was owned by the Scharfenecki, Szentgyörgyi, Esterházy and Batthyányi families.

In 1455, this was the scene of a meeting between John Hunyadi and Ulrich II of Celje. Ferdinand I received envoys here from Hungary on the way to his coronation in Székesfehérvár. In 1529 and 1683 it was destroyed by Ottoman armies. In 1676, it became the property of the Esterházy family. The town's ancient moated castle, built in the 12th century was first mentioned in 1344, and was destroyed by the Ottomans in 1529. It was replaced by the Grange, built in 1552.
From 1880, the Batthyány-Strattman family
were the main landlords in the town." *

* Quoted from
Wikipedia's Kittsee site

Photographed
18 August 2011
© by Merisi

4 comments:

  1. I would love to visit here, I had to look twice at those dates.

    ReplyDelete
  2. And now something to add to my list when we EVENTUALLY manage to get to Austria!

    Love the quote from Stefan Zweig.
    I really enjoyed reading Musil though he is quite hard work!
    Happy weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Every little villa in Europe seems to have such a long history. Not really true over here. I enjoyed this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Acornmoon,
    it is such a beautiful place, unfortunately one of those underappreciated gems out in the countryside.

    Elizabeth,
    there is a whole lot to discover in the countryside around Vienna!
    Are you referring to Musil's "Mann ohne Eigenschaften"? It took me years until I finally understood how to read it. I admire you if you managed to get through it the first time around!

    ReplyDelete

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