Virtual tours through ruins of old Castles in Styria
There are enough sites on the internet that describe Austrian castles and ruins. There you will find information about their history and construction history. This website, however, makes it possible to visit the places virtually.
A few years ago most of the ruins were freely accessible without any problems. Not so today. This is also what the virtual visits here are intended for – best experienced comfortably and without danger in virtual reality.
The tours are each designed to be interactive and most of them contain small additional information. The images are high resolution with visibility in all directions. Change zoom, image section with mouse or touchscreen. Double-clicking or clicking on the symbol at the bottom right switches to full view and back again. Headphones or at least having the sound on is highly recommended. However, viewing on a smartphone is not recommended. The monitor is simply too small for that.
Further castles follow at irregular intervals, existing ones receive updates from time to time.
VR-Googles
The locations can be experienced with VR glasses such as the Quest 2 or Quest 3. This means you are really on site and right in the middle of it all!
Open the page with the web browser available in the glasses (no additional software required) and activate the button with the glasses on it.
Current
- In Bearbeitung: Ruine Steinschloss
- Hinzugefügt: Ruine Wolkenstein
- Update Neu-Leonroth: Verbesserungen und neue Informationen hinzugefügt
- Update Wildon: neue Bilder; neue Informationen
Ready made tours
- The tours can be accessed directly via the map:
- Or through the link above the pictures:
Große und frei zugängliche Ruine im Ennstal in schöner Lage. Einst – so ist es zu lesen – die zweitgrößte Burg in der Steiermark.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Reifenstein
Everything that belongs to a real 'knight's castle' is there. Great location.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Lubgast
Small ruin with a multi-storey residential tower near Ligist and free access. Renovation work has preserved it but it is no longer completely historically intact.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Ehrenfels near Kammern
Small but beautiful ruins at a high altitude in the Liesingtal. It appears untouched and invites you on a personal journey of discovery.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Hauenstein
A small, high-lying castle on the edge of the Gleinalpe that once protected a trade route.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Neu-Leonroth
A romantic ruin almost like in a fairy tale. Amazing!
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Alt-Leonroth
A few remains of walls hidden and quite remote in the forest. That's how much of the previous castle of Neu-Leonroth has been preserved. If you want to save yourself the trip and the search, the tour covers the entire area.
👉 To the VR-Tour Chateau Schrattenberg
Not a former castle but a baroque palace that burned down over 100 years ago.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Luegg
Very rare - a castle in a cave.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Offenburg
Ancient small castle ruins that burned down 500 years ago.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Altwildon & Neuwildon
Popular excursion destination near Wildon.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Waldstein
One of the two ruins that can be seen very well from the highway towards St. Michael.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Hungerturm
The second of the two ruins that can be seen very well from the highway in the direction St. Michael.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Pfannberg
An almost romantic ruin with no access restrictions near Frohnleiten.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Pernegg
Actually two former castles, freely accessible if you go on a personal journey of discovery.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Tschakathurn
A building as strange as it's name.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Katsch
Large complex but highly endangered with a well-preserved Gothic chapel.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Liechtenstein
Castle Liechtenstein near Judenburg – ancestral castle of the Liechtenstein family with its famous representative, the minstel Ulrich von Liechtenstein.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Henneburg
Hardly more than a few stones hidden in the forest. But still worth a visit.
👉 To the VR-Tour Castle Luegg near Semriach
Another one of the virtually lost castles of which not much has been preserved. An exercise in imagination.
Various Locations
A small addition of various locations. Which are historically interesting - but beeing no castles.
👉 To the VR-Tour Roman Bridge Adriach
Personal
This website was created less out of a historical interest, but rather by chance through a creative approach and the desire to get involved in new topics (digital photography and the associated new possibilities of presentation). It is currently my small personal project in which a lot of time, effort and costs have been invested so far.
As a side effect an image documentation of Styrian castle ruins has been created by chance. Maybe someone else will find this useful in the event.
Nevertheless, I am very concerned about correctness. Research and familiarization with all objects presented is the rule. Suggestions for improvement, whether geographical, historical or technical, are always welcome.
Each of the locations is visited exclusively by public transport and bicycle; I deliberately avoid using my own car. Simply to combine two nice topics – activity and creativity. So if you actually see someone with a Brompton folding bike at a castle ruin - there's a good chance it's me.
The raw material is processed with two of the best software packages on the market - PTGUI and PANO2VR in the latest edition.
And yes - the text here (at least the german version of it) in boxed sentences may read a bit unusually bumpy. But I like it - and since it's my little project, that's just how it is. If you want and take some time and leisure, you can also immerse yourself in the visual world, additionally equipped with headphones or with VR glasses 🙂
Comments
Comments, errors, and suggestions are welcome. Simply write and send, preferably anonymously. For spam reasons, these are checked before publication and only released afterwards.
Hallo Erhart (mal in der Vermutung, dass die Url einen Hinweis gibt 🙂
vielen, vielen Dank für die tolle Webseite, die ich zufällig entdeckt habe. Hier verbinden sich auch meine Interessen, denen ich allerdings weitaus laienhafter nachgehe (Alte Gemäuer/Burgen/Lost Places – 360 Grad Video/Foto [aktuell Insta 360 X4] – und Drohnen).
Sehr schöne Aufnahmen, sehr gut aufbereitet. Man merkt die Arbeit und Liebe zum Detail die dahinter steckt! Lediglich 2 der Burgen kannte ich selbst schon. Danke für die Inspiration die anderen Besuchen zu gehen.
Betrachten kann ich sie über die Meta 3, wodurch das Erlebnis nochmals intensiver immersiver wird.
Welche Hardware verwenden Sie? (Erstmal Sie, da ich das vertrauliche Du im Erstkontakt auch im Internet doch eigen finde. In der Rückantwort biete ich aber gerne das Du an!)
Vor allem würde mich die Befestigung an der Drohne interessieren, und auch welche Drohne in Verwendung ist. Ich bin gerade auf der Suche nach einer Befestigung für meine X4 an einer Mavic 2 Pro.
Ich finde die Seite super und hoffe noch viele schöne Burgen so kennen lernen zu können! Danke für die Arbeit, Danke für die Idee, Danke für die Kreativität!
Mit besten Grüßen aus Graz
Manfred
Hallo Manfred!
Vielen herzlichen Dank für Deinen (sic! –> Du 🙂 ) positiven Kommentar und die daraus für mich entstehende Motivation!
Immerhin – dass diese Seite überhaupt jemand findet ist nicht selbtverständlich – Google ist etwas Eigen um es milde auszudrücken. Da diese aber wie obenstehend rein ein Privatvergnügen ist, sind Zugriffszahlen nicht sonderlich wichtig.
Ad Meta 3:
Ich geb’s zu – die Touren sind für VR-Brillen noch alles andere als perfekt. Das liegt an Einschränkungen der Software und fehlender Zeit, vollständige Kompatibilität nachzurüsten. Im Großen und Ganzen sind die Touren aber für VR-Brillen gut geeignet, wennauch ein paar Kleinigkeiten nicht funktionieren. Beispielsweise die oft verstecken Bilder die man “aufheben” kann.
Die X4 hatte ich heuer als zusätzliche Hardware ins Auge gefasst, um bestimmte Bereiche ablichten zu können. Das Problem dabei ist aber für mich einerseits die begrenzte Auflösung und andererseits die eher suboptimale Fähigkeit der X4 in dunkler Umgebung. Und genau dafür wäre sie gedacht bei Burgen. Die Grundauflösung der Panoramen meiner Touren sind 18000×9000 PX.
Details zur Aufnahmetechnik sende ich Dir gerne per Mail.
Danke auch nochmals für den wertschätzenden positiven Kommentar!
Mit besten Grüßen aus (siehe Email)
C.E.