Road of fortified churches - Bucklige Welt

The region’s cultural treasure

In the 15th and 16th centuries, fortified churches offered refuge in times of war. Today, the silent contemporary witnesses between Edlitz and Katzelsdorf transform Austria’s “Bucklige Welt” in the Viennese Alps into a historical open-air museum.

They have battlements, machicoulis and embrasures and their thick stone walls can withstand almost any fire: fortified churches in the late Middle Ages were not only houses of prayer but also places of refuge, especially during the Turkish and Kuruc invasions.

Monuments to an eventful time

You can now experience this period of history for yourself on the 120-kilometre “Wehrkirchenstraße” from Edlitz to Katzelsdorf. The best place to start is the multimedia exhibition of the fortified church documentation in Edlitz. Other highlights: the church tower in Lichtenegg with a secret mezzanine and baking oven, or the cave behind the church in Pitten.