Schloss Seggau is located on a wooded hill overlooking the town of Leibnitz. The area around Schloss Seggau has been settled since at least the Roman era, as demonstrated by the impressive lapidarium which has survived from that period. The upper castle was built by the Archbishopric of Salzburg in the twelfth century as a base for missions and supervision and this original structure was expanded in 1218 by the bishops of Seckau. Over time, a total of three castles were built: Burg Leibnitz (belonging to the Archbishopric of Salzburg), the castle of the bishops of Seckau, and Schloss Polheim. The castles were completed in their present form under Bishop Johann Ernst, Count of Thun, in the latter half of the seventeenth century. Schloss Seggau was the residence of the bishops until 1786, after which it remained their summer residence until into the twentieth century.
Schloss Seggau now serves as a site for seminars and conferences with a hotel and a Schloss Cafe. The wine cellar is over three hundred years old and offers the opportunity for wine tastings and sales.
References:The city walls of Avila were built in the 11th century to protect the citizens from the Moors. They have been well maintained throughout the centuries and are now a major tourist attraction as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visitors can walk around about half of the length of the walls.
The layout of the city is an even quadrilateral with a perimeter of 2,516 m. Its walls, which consist in part of stones already used in earlier constructions, have an average thickness of 3 m. Access to the city is afforded by nine gates of different periods; twin 20 m high towers, linked by a semi-circular arch, flank the oldest ones, Puerta de San Vicente and Puerta del Alcázar.