Unclear early history and construction period There are hardly any sources, especially about the origins and early history of the castle, so that many historians have made various assumptions about this. The area in which the later castle was built came to the
Eppensteins through a gift from Emperor
Ottos III. The area was probably settled in the 11th or 12th century. The village of Salla probably emerged in the 12th century at the latest and was first mentioned in a document in 1213.
Robert Baravalle assumed that the Eppensteins gave the area to their servants, the
Lords of Wildon, and that it eventually passed from them to the
Lords of Walsee. The historian
Herwig Ebner, on the other hand, is of the opinion that the later castle site was part of a foundation of the Eppensteins to the
St. Lambert's Abbey documented in 1103. Due to a lack of historical sources, it is not possible to prove whether either assumption is true. Both Baravalle and Ebner saw the remains of an early castle complex from the 13th century in the parts of the wall to the west of the core castle. However, such a complex cannot be found in any historical source and could not be proven by archaeological excavations. The historian
Anton Mell placed the construction of the castle in the
Late Middle Ages and considered the
Stadecks or the
Counts of Montfort to be the most likely builders. He also considered construction by the
Saurau, who owned the castle in the early modern period, to be possible, but rather unlikely. It is difficult to precisely date the construction of the castle due to a lack of sources. The surviving
embrasures, which with two exceptions were clearly designed for firearms, provide a decisive indication of the construction period. In addition, there are no traces of any subsequent changes to the shape of the embrasures. As firearms did not appear in Central Europe until the 1420s and 1430s, it can be concluded that the castle was built at this time at the earliest, if not later, which would be a relatively late construction by Austrian standards. If the embrasures do indeed date from the construction period, then the Counts of Montfort are the most likely builders, as they inherited the area around Salla from the Stadeckers at the beginning of the 15th century. A Montfort land register from around 1420 lists possessions near Salla and also mentions that the counts had
lower jurisdiction in this area, but does not mention any
fortification or castle.
From the 15th century, decay and subsequent owners The fortification was intended to secure the so-called Reisstraße, the passage over the
Gaberl, and possibly also ore deposits discovered nearby, but was probably of little military value. It is not entirely clear who succeeded the Counts of Montfort in ownership of the castle. In 1961, Baravalle assumed a handover to the Gradner family, while in more recent literature, the
Herberstein family are seen as the main successors. In the 16th century at the latest, however, the fortification came into the possession of the
Lobminger line of the noble family
Saurau. The historian Anton Mell assumed that Klingenstein was already in the possession of Erasmus von Saurau, who died in 1532. However, it can only be confirmed with certainty that Gilg von Saurau, the son of Erasmus, was the owner from 1550. The castle remained in the possession of the Saurau family for a long time, for example it is mentioned in documents of Ehrenreich von Saurau, who died in 1618, as
Schloss Salla. Emerich von Saurau eventually bequeathed it to his sister Christine, who was married to Ehrenreich von Rindscheit. When Christine's daughter Maria Magdalena married Ruprecht von
Glojach, she brought the fortress into the marriage as a
morning gift. As both were avowed
Protestants, they had to leave Styria and sold their property in the
Salle together with the castle known as the
öden gschloß im Khanachtal in der pfar Salath to their aunt Benigna, the wife of Veit Sigmund von Herberstein, in 1629. Another brief mention of the castle, which was presumably no longer inhabited at this time and left to decay, was made in 1638. The archaeological excavations carried out to date have also not produced any finds that can be clearly dated to a time after the 16th century. The finds made during these excavations, such as thicker layers of
charcoal and the signs of greater heat exposure to building stones, also allow the assumption that the castle was destroyed by fire during the 16th century or even later. In 1650, Klingenstein and the surrounding forests passed from the Herberstein family to Leonore Eusebia Countess Wagensperg, who combined it with her
Herrschaft Greißenegg. In the following period, there are hardly any written sources that mention the castle, and the ownership structure also remains unknown. On the maps of the
Josephinische Landesaufnahme from 1787, the castle is referred to as
altes Gschloss. One of the oldest known depictions of the castle is in the background of a painting of St.
Barbara in the
parish church of Salla created at the end of the 18th century. There is also a pencil drawing from 1894 showing the ruins in detail. In 1834, the name
Klingenstein was first mentioned in a document as the name of the castle. Its exact origin is unclear, but the part of the name
Klinge- appears as early as 1586 as a place name for a sawyer
an der Klingensag in the area around Salla.
19th century until today It was not until the 19th century that the Grein family of stonemasons from Graz appeared as the new owners of the ruins. The first detailed description of the castle ruins dates back to 1925 by the historian Anton Mell. Since the 20th century, it has been privately owned by the Petrasch family from
Graz. From 1982/1983, the ruins were secured and largely rebuilt for 25 years by Hubert Stiefmann, who was mayor of the municipality of Salla from 1980 to 1995, although this securing and restoration work has recently also taken the form of new buildings and is therefore controversial among castle researchers. A total of three smaller archaeological excavations have been carried out on the castle grounds to date. The archaeologist Bernhard Hebert and the historian
Ernst Reinhold Lasnik were in charge of all these excavations, some of which were carried out by untrained volunteers such as schoolchildren. The first excavation took place in 1993 as part of a school project and in five days the western building of the
Vorwerk was uncovered and its walls secured and renovated. In 1994, the
Bundesdenkmalamt carried out a five-day excavation in the core castle, which was only partially excavated. This excavation in the core castle was continued for two days in 2000, during which finds were also made that indicate a possible fire in the castle. Because an elaborate
layered excavation was dispensed with during the excavations, an exact separation of finds is no longer possible despite the
excavation diaries being kept. In the summer of 2013, the municipality of Salla laid an electricity cable to the castle hill to illuminate the ruins at night. There are plans to use the castle as a venue for events such as choir concerts. == Description ==