1434 AUSTRIA (Styria) - Riegersburg Castle

1434 Riegersburg Castle

Located on a dormant volcano above the town of Riegersburg, at an height of 450m, Riegersburg Castle has a long history, which begins in the year 1122. During the centuries the castle had a lot of owners, but only few of them played an important role. The most important owner was the baroness Katharina Elisabeth von Wechsler, married Galler and known as Gallerin, who finished the castle between 1637 and 1653, making it one of the strongest in the country. Surrounded by 2 miles of walls with 5 gates, it contains 108 rooms.

In the 17th century the border with the Ottoman Empire was sometimes only 25km away from the castle and the area was troubled by conflicts with the Turks and Hungarians. In 1822 the castle was bought by Sovereign Johann Josef von Liechtenstein. It belongs to the von Liechtenstein family until the present day.The castle serves as a museum, with 25 out of the 108 rooms being opened for visiting. 16 of the rooms show the history of the Riegersburg castle and 9 are dealing with witches and sorcerers.

About the stamp

The stamp, designed by Marion Füllerer after a photo by Dominik Beckmann, was issued on October 18, 2014, to celebrate the 80th Birthday of Udo Jürgens, an very popular Austrian composer and singer of pop music. Unfortunately, in the meantime he died, on December 21, 2014.

References
Riegersburg Castle - Wikipedia
Riegersburg Castle - steiermark.com

Sender: Thomas / Funtom (postcrossing) AT-209161
Sent from Amstetten (Lower Austria / Austria), on 13.01.2015
Photo: Alexander Ferchenbauer