Riegersburg Castle

A medieval castle on an extinct volcano. The hill is a volcanic neck, the solidified interior of a stratovolcano that probably died two million years ago, and its ancient basalt was quarried to build the castle standing on it. The peak reaches 482 metres. People have lived around here for thousands of years; a village of some 300 people was founded in the ninth century BC, the region belonged to the Roman Empire from 15 BC to AD 476, and Bavarian settlement and Hungarian invasion followed. The castle’s own history begins in 1122. The Princely Family of Liechtenstein own it.