Laa Castle

Laa Castle, locally known as Burg Laa, lies in the town of Laa an der Thaya, in the province of Lower Austria in Austria.

Curiously, Laa Castle didn't start out as a castle. It started out as a tower in the town wall that guarded a water barrier in the Thayamühlbach stream. The barrier was used to fill the town moat. It was first mentioned in 1150. This tower is the square tower in the north corner of the castle.

In 1413, two curtain walls and a round tower, opposite the square one, were built and thus the site turned into Laa Castle. This was done under Niklas Seebeck von Sebenstein, imperial captain of Laa. In 1482, the troops of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, succeeded in occupying the city and castle after a prolonged siege.

In the second half of the 16th century, the castle was already largely dilapidated, but it was restored in 1576/78 by the city. In 1619, during the Thirty Years' War, it was occupied by the Bohemian Count Jindřich Matyáš Thurn-Valsassina. Later during the war, the castle suffered severe damage from the Swedes under General Montaigne. After the war in 1648 it stayed in sovereign hands and was given in fief to several noble families.

In the 19th century Laa Castle became property of a commoner. In 1866 the Prussian army took up headquarters in the castle. In 1945 it suffered substantial damages from Russian artillery fire. In recent years the castle was acquired by the local council, which started a large scale renovation.

At present Laa Castle can be visited for a small fee. Sadly enough, when I visited, the renovations had not yet ended, so I could not get inside. A very nice castle.

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