The castle was built between 1140-1145. The English king Richard the Lionheart tore up the Austrian flag on the return journey of his crusade and refused to share the spoils of war with Leopold V. Leopold V then held the English king prisoner in the castle Hademars von Kuenring had built in Dürnstein (1192-1193).
The royal prisoner was allowed to receive traveling singers (troubadours) for his entertainment, which probably later gave rise to the legend of the singer Blondel. His faithful minstrel wandered from castle to castle until he discovered his king in Dürnstein by singing a verse of a song that the prisoner had completed. Richard the Lionheart was set free again after paying a ransom of 150,000 marks in silver.
The Dürnstein ruins are freely accessible all year round. Once you have climbed the romantic ruins, you will be rewarded with a magnificent panoramic view. And all the proud castles and abbeys of the Wachau lie before you like precious stones on a necklace.
