Castles and Palaces

Story

How was a castle built in the Middle Ages? With what tools, what technology?
Answers to these exciting questions can be found in Friesach in Austria’s southernmost province of Carinthia.

The Siegfriedstein Castle in Friesach has been under construction since 2009. There are plenty of examples for this bold project in Carinthia. In his film, Gernot Stadler shows the most imposing castles and makes life in the Middle Ages comprehensible with elaborate scenes.

The mighty castles of the 12th and 13th century have become symbols of knightly-feudal rule beyond their mere function of defence. They were built, inhabited and defended on behalf of the respective sovereigns, such as the Duke of Carinthia, the Archbishop of Salzburg, the Bishop of Bamberg, or the Counts of Gorizia-Tyrol.

The film offers a cultural history of the castles and palaces in Carinthia, focusing on particularly impressive castles. These include Hochosterwitz Castle, which even served as a model for a Disney movie, Landskron Castle near Villach, the romantic castle Stein in the Drava valley or the ruins of the Kraig castles. Director Gernot Stadler investigates the purpose of castles at different times and traces the change from a fortified structure to a representative seat of nobility.