Forchtenstein Fortress

Eastern Austria is castle country, and the Schloss to beat all Austrian Schlösser may be Burg Forchtenstein. The fortress, on the eastern slope of the Rosaliengebirge hills in Burgenland, overlooks the Hungarian plains from a position so invincible that the Turks failed to seize it during their invasions of 1529 and 1683. The original portion of Forchtenstein, which has walls up to 40 feet (12 meters) thick, was built in the 14th Century by the counts of Mattersdorf. The Esterházy family acquired Burg Forchstenstein in 1622 and gradually enlarged it, turning it into an armory that now forms the largest weapons collection in Central Europe.