Kreuzen­stein Cas­tle is locat­ed approx­i­mate­ly 10 kilo­me­ters east of Stock­er­au, 17 kilo­me­ters from Vien­na. This is a large-scale cas­tle com­plex, restored from ruins in the 19th cen­tu­ry. The cas­tle was built in the 13th cen­tu­ry on the ruins of an ancient Roman set­tle­ment with a fortress. It belonged to the rul­ing Hab­s­burg dynasty. In April 1645, the Swedish army cap­tured the cas­tle dur­ing the bat­tles of the Thir­ty Years’ War, but dur­ing the retreat it was decid­ed to blow it up. In 1874, enthu­si­ast and phil­an­thropist Johann Wilczek acquired the ruins of the cas­tle and spent 33 years restor­ing it. The his­tor­i­cal appear­ance of the cas­tle dates back to the reign of Max­i­m­il­ian I (1459–1519). The cas­tle housed a rich col­lec­tion of house­hold items, knight­ly armor and weapons, as well as a library col­lect­ed by Count Wilczek through­out his life. The fam­i­ly crypt of the Wilczek fam­i­ly was built in the chapel.

Nowa­days a muse­um is opened in the cas­tle. Any­one can explore it, as well as hold a wed­ding cer­e­mo­ny in the cas­tle chapel or take part in fal­con­ry. The cas­tle is open to the pub­lic every day, but is often closed for events. The exact sched­ule can be found on the cas­tle web­site.