Hohenwerfen Castle

Listen first. Somewhere below you, the Salzach River runs green and fast through the valley floor. Above you, there may be the sharp cry of a bird of prey cutting through the mountain air. Under your feet the stone is cool and worn smooth. Hohenwerfen Castle sits on a rocky outcrop high above the market town of Werfen, and from here the whole valley opens out like a map.

Look around at the setting before you look at the walls. To one side, the limestone cliffs of the Tennengebirge range rise steeply. To the other, the Hochkönig massif fills the horizon. Between them runs this narrow passage, the Pass Lueg and the Salzach valley, one of the main routes south from Salzburg into the Alps. Whoever held this rock could watch, and control, everyone who travelled through.

That is exactly why the castle was built. Its story begins in the late eleventh century, during a long struggle known as the Investiture Controversy. This was a bitter conflict between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor over who had the right to appoint bishops. The Archbishop of Salzburg, Gebhard, stood on the side of the Pope. He expected the Emperor's supporters to come for his lands.

So Gebhard built defences. Hohenwerfen was one of a small group of fortresses raised on his orders in the 1070s. Its sister castle is Hohensalzburg, the great white fortress that still looks down over the city of Salzburg. If you have already visited Salzburg, you are standing in a close relative of that building. Both began as tools of a churchman preparing for war.

The first castle here was much smaller than what you see now. Over the following centuries, the archbishops expanded it again and again. Towers were added, walls were thickened, and gates were layered one behind another. Walk slowly as you pass through the entrance passages. You may notice how the route bends and climbs. That was deliberate. An attacker could never charge straight in.

Here is something many visitors do not expect. For long stretches of its history, Hohenwerfen was feared less as a fortress and more as a prison. The archbishops used it to hold people who had fallen out of favour, including nobles and political rivals. A castle on a cliff, far from the city, was an easy place to keep someone out of sight. Inside, you can still see the grim side of that role.

The castle also faced the anger of ordinary people. In the sixteenth century, the Salzburg region was shaken by peasant uprisings. Farmers and miners rose against heavy taxes and the power of the archbishops. Rebels besieged Hohenwerfen during this period of unrest. The walls around you were not only built for distant armies... they were also a reply to the people of this valley.

The modern era brought new chapters, and some of them are uncomfortable. A serious fire in the twentieth century damaged the castle, and much of it was restored afterwards. During the Nazi period, the building was used as a training site for the party. After the Second World War, it served for decades as a training centre for the Austrian police. Only later did it open fully to visitors as the attraction you see today.

Now for a second surprise, and this one is far lighter. Film fans may feel they have seen this place before. Hohenwerfen appeared in the 1968 war film Where Eagles Dare, starring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood. In the story, it was a mountain fortress held by the enemy. The castle is also said to appear in the distant background of a scene in The Sound of Music, the film shot around Salzburg.

The birds you may hear overhead are part of another tradition. Hohenwerfen is home to a historic falconry centre. Falconry is the old practice of training birds of prey, such as falcons, hawks and eagles, to hunt with people. It was once a pastime of nobles across Europe. Here, falconers fly the birds in demonstrations over the valley. Watching an eagle drop from the castle walls toward the river is something many visitors remember most.

As you explore the interior, take your time in the rooms with weapons and armour. These collections show how soldiers and guards lived and fought in centuries past. Look also for the castle chapel, a quiet space amid all the stone defences. Then find a window or a rampart facing the valley. From the upper levels, the town of Werfen looks tiny below. The railway and the motorway follow the same path that travellers took a thousand years ago.

It is worth knowing what else lies close by. High on the mountainside across the valley is the Eisriesenwelt, one of the largest ice caves in the world. Many people combine both places in one day. From the castle you can look toward the slopes where the cave entrance hides. The same limestone that holds that frozen world also forms the rock this fortress stands on.

Before you leave, pause once more at the walls. Feel the wind coming up from the river. Notice how the grey stone of the castle blends into the grey rock beneath it, so it is hard to see where one ends and the other begins. As you walk back down toward Werfen, turn around at least once. From below, the castle looks exactly as it was meant to look — watchful, patient, and impossible to ignore.