Deutschlandsberg (“Landsberg”) Castle

Stone tools and typical ceramics from the Neolithic period (Lasinja culture, ca. 4300/4200 – 3300 B.C.) represent the oldest remains of human settlement on the spur-like castle rock. During the Celtic period (Latène culture, end of 2nd – 1st century B.C.) a settlement fortified with rampart and ditch spread on the so-called Tanzboden northeast of the present castle. Archaeological finds (pottery, iron hooked keys and a sickle) document the regional importance of this settlement site. Modest pottery, fibula and coin finds prove use of the castle area during the Roman provincial period and Late Antiquity (1st – 5th century A.D.). Single early medieval pottery finds of the 8th and 9th century mark the beginning of medieval use and increased settlement finds of the 10th and 11th centuries are very likely to be related to the construction of a first castle complex in woodframe structures. In the 1st half of the 12th century, according to archaeological findings, the Romanesque stronghold with a dominating polygonal tower, chapel and an enclosing ring wall made of stone was built. A massive layer of fire destruction in the stronghold area dates back to the end of the 13th century; it is probably connected to a fire raid on the castle by the troops of Duke Albrecht II. At the beginning of the 14th century, the existing Romanesque buildings were extensively expanded into a Gothic castle complex, the later five-story keep with the attached great hall wing being the most important building element. Further extensions and alterations were made in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. These include extensions such as the so-called Kuenburg wing, a renaissance residential palace, the Knights’ Hall and adaptations in the core castle, such as a well room with a sand filter cistern.

In 1979, the Steffan brothers (Steffan Brothers Foundation) founded a museum. This is today’s Archeo Norico – Deutschlandsberg Castle Museum, which is housed in the early Gothic keep and the adjoining former residential and representative buildings of the castle. The museum achieved its first supra-regional exhibition success in 2000 with the exhibition “Albrecht Dürer – The Prints and Drawings.” The main focus in the years before was on a special exhibition on military history and in 1998 on the opening of the highly regarded exhibition “The Celts in the Southwest Styrian Part of the Kingdom of Noricum” as well as on the presentation “Ostarrichi – 1000 Years of Austria” in 1999. A special exhibition catalog was published for the Celtic exhibition. In 2001, the exhibition season focused on copperplate engravings and exhibits on the Peace of Westphalia. In the same year, the exhibition collection “Ancient gold, silver and bronze jewelry of the Celts, Romans and Byzantines” was reopened and a richly illustrated catalog was published. Numerous other exhibition projects and expansions followed, of which the exhibition “From forest glass to the first industrial glass – 3000 years of Styrian glass,” which has been shown continuously since 2009, and the opening of the “Outpost: Museum Waldglashütte (‘Glaserwiese’)” in 2015 were just two of many museum highlights. Thus, the museum today has eight permanent exhibitions and well over 5,000 exhibits, but offers its visitors time and again new impulses and impressions with annual temporary exhibitions.