Burgruine Kollmitz

Burgruine Kollmitz stands above the Thaya river in the municipality of Raabs an der Thaya, Austria, and was built by medieval feudal lords of the region.

A fortified site at Kollmitz appears in documents from the thirteenth century. The main tower’s timber was dated by tree-ring analysis to completion in 1319, showing substantial construction early in the fourteenth century. In that century the castle served an administrative role as the seat of a district court, with the district gallows located at Ludweis.

Ownership shifted among several noble families in the later medieval period, including the Wallseer, Winkel, Kratzer and Thyrna families, until 1411. From that year the barons of Hofkirchen held the site and made the castle their residence. In about 1450 a defensive earthwork known locally as the Bohemian Wall was built roughly 300 metres in front of the main stronghold, constructed against Georg of Podiebrad.

From around 1570 the nearby manor at Drösiedl was rebuilt in the Renaissance style, and Kollmitz remained closely linked with Drösiedl for roughly three centuries. Wolfgang von Hofkirchen is recorded as the last of his line at Kollmitz; the Habsburg authorities regarded him as a leader among Protestant nobles during the Counter-Reformation. He died in exile in Prague, with reported years of death given as either 1611 or 1616.

After Hofkirchen control ended the castle passed through new hands. In 1616 ownership is recorded under the Schütter family, followed by the Schubhardt family, and then Pernegg Abbey from 1693. In 1708 Franz Anton von Quarient und Raal, lord of Raabs, acquired the property. Under his ownership the buildings were allowed to fall into disuse and decay, and parts of the complex were later quarried for building stone. A local legend blames abandonment on a roof tax. In the modern period a preservation association founded in 1974 has taken responsibility for the ruin.