Hilltop Castle Ruin Emmerberg in Lower Austria

After I found about the Urban Exploration community I went through my photo archive to see if I have something to share here. I'll give it a try with a photo series of the castle ruin Emmerberg which is not far from my house in Lower Austria. After I flew over it a few times with my FPV drones and planes I decided to take a closer look. The ruin is not open for visitors due to danger of collapse so one must be cautious.

Emmerberg is a medieval hilltop castle in well advanced stage of decay on a ridge in the south-east of Lower Austria near the village Muthmannsdorf.

The task of the crew was to guard the Prosset gorge which is an entrance to the lowlands below and, if necessary, to block the ravine and to offer shelter for the population of the surrounding villages.

The castle was part of the fortification line on the northern border of the Carantan Mark and was inhabited from the middle of the 12th century to 1760. At that time, the destruction of the castle by Count Heinrich von Heussenstein was initiated: In order to avoid the roof tax he had to remove and sell the oak roof which has then led to the erosion of the structure. Since then, the castle has been left to decay.

You won't see people walking around here, however, you might cross paths with boars. Once a whole family of them ran in front of me just around 20 meters away.

Walking too close to these walls doesn't really feel safe...

The view down to the lowlands at the foot of the Hohe Wand Plateau is lovely especially in the late afternoon.

The photos were taken in August 2018 with the Nikon D800, the aerial shots with a GoPro.