Top 6 Castles around Nüziders

Archduke Friedrich IV of Tyrol fled to Bludenz through this gate after his condemnation at the Council of Constance in 1416

The Milka production surrounds everything with a light cocoa/chocolate smell 😋

Characteristic of the city for the place worth visiting🤩

Upper gate Built at the end of the 15th century, rebuilt in 1774 and 1920, it is also called Herzog-Friedrich-Tor or Feldkircher Tor. In 1416, Duke Friedrich IV (with an empty pocket) fled from Constance through the Upper Gate into the city; He was taken in in Bludenz and brought safely over the Arlberg by the town's citizens. The Bludenz City Museum is located in the Upper Gate. A few meters away, a covered church staircase built in the 17th century, one of the five castle staircases, leads up to the hill to St. Laurentius Church and Gayenhofen Castle. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bludenz

Gayenhofen Castle is part of the architectural ensemble with the Laurentius Church, dominating the city of Bludenz in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. It is a successor to Bludenz Castle, which was removed. The Counts of Werdenberg built a castle between 1222 and 1245 as the center of the Counts of Werdenberg and Heiligenberg and the Bludenz dominion. Bludenz was a fortified town in Vorarlberg in the Middle Ages, alongside Bregenz and Feldkirch. From 1377/78 to 1418 Count Albrecht III lived within its walls. from Werdenberg-Heiligenberg. After the Werdenberg feud, the town and castle of Bludenz fell to the Habsburgs. In 1448, Duke Sigmund exchanged both for the dominion of Rotund with Ulrich von Schlandersberg. In 1491 the castle was destroyed by fire. Baron Franz Andreas von Sternbach (1675-1755), who had previously built Wolfsthurn Castle, had his administrator Johann Josef Gassmayr with the local bailiwick administrator Franz Josef Gilm as local site manager in 1746/1747, using demolition stones from the old castle with the master bricklayer and stonemason Andreas Schmied, who had previously expanded the nave of the adjacent Laurentius Church, built Gayenhofen Palace. The simple design of the palace did not require the experience of the persons mentioned to have an external architect. On May 5, 1746, the foundation stone of the new castle was laid with the Provicar and pastor of Bürs Christian Battlogg and three Capuchins. The naming of Johann Caspar Bagnato in various sources as an architect is without evidence for Gayenhofen Castle, but Bagnato was on December 17, 1745 at a guild meeting in Schnifis, where he accepted Andreas Moll as an apprentice and probably also construction workers for his construction site Kornhaus Rohrschach vom Kloster St. Gallen recruited. In 1936 the city of Bludenz bought the castle and handed it over to the state of Vorarlberg in 1959. Between 1960 and 1963 the castle was rebuilt again. The north wing was demolished, the square courtyard, which had been closed until then, was opened up and the castle was adapted on October 26, 1963 to become the office building of the Bludenz district authority. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Gayenhofen

The castle ruins are directly related to the Ramschwag castle ruins near Häggenschwil/St.Gallen CH (see information board).

Don't expect too much from the ruins. It is more of a remaining tower or today a small viewing platform.

The castle ruin Valcastiel (also called Valkastiel) is the ruin of a medieval castle on a hilltop near Vandans in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. Not much is known about the history of this extremely exposed ruin. For a long time it was assumed that the Montafon castle, mentioned in 1391 and documented in the archives, was probably destroyed in 1405 in the Appenzeller War. According to other findings, the Montafon castle does not refer to a building, but should be considered a medieval rulership designation. Above the village of Vandans is the Valcastieltobel with the Mustergielbach between the Geißberg and the Fahrengrat. The ruin stands near the western end of a sharp rock ridge that rises very ruggedly between the Mustergielbach in the south and a tributary of the Valkastieltobel in the north that rises to the Vandanser Steinwand. It can be reached from Vandans via a marked hiking trail, mostly along a forest road, which leads to the base of the ridge. The last part goes over steep wooden steps and a path secured with steel cables. Shortly before reaching the rock outcrop, as the bridge has broken down, the Mustergielbach must be crossed, which can be difficult if the water is strong.