Medieval castle, Burg Gutenberg, at Balzers, Liechtenstein. The castle was founded in the 1100s on the hilltop site of a church and passed to the Hapsburg dynasty in the 1300s; it was used to guard the borders between Hapsburg lands and independent Swiss cantons, but ultimately lost its military relevance and fell into ruin. The castle was restored in the early 1900s and is now owned by the Principality of Liechtenstein.
Balzers, Liechtenstein: Burg Gutenberg began life as a medieval church and cemetery on a hilltop that had been inhabited since the Neolithic period and grew to become one of five castles in this tiny German-speaking Principality between Switzerland and Austria in alpine Central Europe. The former church structure was first fortified in the early 12th century with the addition of a ring wall, forming a simple, roughly circular keep that was then heightened to form a main tower. The castle was owned at the time by the lords of Frauenberg, but in the 14th century it passed to the House of Hapsburg and was then used primarily for guarding the borderlands between the Hapsburg territories and the independent Swiss cantons. The fortress was repaired and extended after it was besieged in 1499, during the Swabian War. By the 17th and 18th centuries, it has lost most of its military relevance and it was damaged by several fires, including one in 1795 that destroyed much of Balzers. The castle ruins were used as a source of building material to reconstruct the town, but it was substantially restored between 1905 and 1912 and in 1979, it was purchased by the Principality of Liechtenstein. Burg Gutenberg is now open to visitors throughout the year.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Burg Gutenberg or Gutenberg Castle, Balzers, Liechtenstein.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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