Engelhartszell

Next to the village of Engelhartszell is the only Trappist monastery in Austria. The monastery
documents of 1293 mention it as
a perfect place for body and soul to rest. The monastery church with its 76 metres high
tower is built in pure Rococo style and
one of the finest examples of that style in Austria. It is also famous for the liqueur that it
produces and sells.
To be a perfect place for body and soul to rest is not only true of the monastery but also of
the village which offers a number of
inns, hotels, private bed & breakfast accommodations and a camping ground for the visitor to
stay and discover the hidden treasures
along the Danube.
Engelhartszell is a good starting point for hiking trips along the Donau-Hhen
Rundwanderweg; a biking trip along the Danube Radweg,
a boat trip downstream to the famous Schlgen Schlinge where the Danube makes a 180-
degree bend or a boat trip upstream to visit Passau
the city on the confluence of the three rivers Danube, Inn and Ilz. You can cross the river in a
ferry and walk up the mountain Penzenstein
to view the Danube valley from its observation platform.
Some more places to visit from Engelhartszell are the castles downstream:
Castle Rannariedl, on the north bank of the Danube across Wesenufer to Niederranna and the
ruins of Haichenbach also called
Kerschbaumerschlssel by the Schlgen Schlinge where I found some interesting legends.
Haichenbach Ruins
The castle ruins are situated at the top of the mountains opposite the Danube Schlgen
Schlinge. From its observation platform one
has a superb view over the Danube valley.
The brothers Otto and Wernherr von Eichenbach are recorded in 1160 as its first rightful
owners. They gave the castle its name Haichenbach.
200 years later the last member of the Haichenbach family sold it to Bishop Albrecht of
Bavaria. In the 15th century times were very rough.
The merchants of Passau feared the owners of the castle, Simon and Hans Oberhaimer, as
fierce robber knights who attacked them and looted
their ships. In 1529 the toll right went to the village of Marsbach. The castle was besieged and
badly damaged by the troops of the Bavarian
Emperor, Maximilian. From that time on the castle was uninhabited and left to decay. Even its
original name was forgotten over the centuries,
and so the ruins are now called after a small palace (Schlssl) next to it, that is called
Kerschbaumerschlssl.

The following legend tells us of the robber knights reign of terror and terrible death.
The Huge Devils of Castle Haichenbach
Many hundreds of years ago the ruins on the mountain high above the Danube used to be a
proud knights castle. The peasants living in the area
round the castle feared the brutal knight and his soldiers for their heartless cruelty. But they
weren't the only ones; the merchants travelling
on the road along the Danube downstream from Passau did too. They were constantly under
threat of losing all their goods as a form of road toll.
Sailing on the river in a merchants boat wasnt any better either because he closed the river
off with a long heavy iron chain, looted them and took
their goods to his castle.
Knights, soldiers and peasants from the surrounding area tried to stop him. Once when they
heard that he had left the castle to go hunting, they
wanted to take the opportunity to catch him in the woods. They tried to cut off his way back
home. Studying the horses tracks, they thought that
he was still out hunting. However, he and his soldiers suddenly appeared in front of them and
killed them all. He had tricked them by putting on the
horseshoe the wrong way round and so misled them about his whereabouts.
Even the bishop of Passau suffered under the robber knights terror. He tried to make him
abide by the law by threatening him with punishment on earth
as well as from heaven. The robber knight, however, only laughed at his attempts to convert
him. He continued to terrorize the area until he died
suddenly in a riding accident, falling from his horse when charging down a steep hill. While
he lay in his coffin in the castles hall, a fire broke
out and destroyed the whole castle. The people said that the devil had first taken the robber
knights soul and then taken his corpse straight down
to hell.
Soon after that, the bishop of Passau dreamt that he was standing at the edge of the abyss
hearing a voice from the depth calling to him:
Lord Bishop, have mercy on me! Only you can save me from my torment. The loot is still
hidden in my castle, and now I have to roast on the
burning gold. I beg you to send a letter with your seal to Haichenbach and get the loot from
there! The bishop took the dream as a sign from a higher
power and sent a messenger with a letter with his seal on a boat down the Danube to Castle
Haichenbach.
The boat arrived at midnight at the site of the Haichenbach ruins. The boats men waited in
their boat while the messenger went up the mountain to the
ruin. Not a single noise disturbed the quiet dark night, until suddenly the earth shook and an
enormous thunderstorm broke out. The castle ruins seemed
to be glowing with fire again. Suddenly two huge boxes, with two huge devils sitting on them,
flew out of the tower and came down the mountain towards
the boat on the Danube. The boats men were paralysed with fear. They couldnt move a
finger, so the two devils put the boxes on the boat themselves and
sat on them. Meanwhile, the messenger had also come back from the ruins and had boarded
the boat. This was the sign for the boats men to travel back.
They started to row the boat and called: In Gods name, lets go! When the two devils heard
Gods name they jumped up and dived head first in the Danube.
This caused the water boil up as if fire had been poured onto it. The boat took the coffin-like
boxes full of gold from the robber knights castle to the
bishop in Passau.