The medieval Kienburg castle was located between Huben and St. Johann im Walde, in the municipality of Matrei. Its name derives from the old German term for 'kühn', that's to say bold, or from Archbishop Erich Kuenburg, one of its owners. It is a hill castle, located in the forest above the Iseltal valley and mentioned for the first time around 1000 AD.
The castle had a key position in the trade of the Iseltal, Defereggental and Kalsertal valleys. Once, the mighty Earls of Lechsgemünde inhabited the castle, in the following centuries, it was witness and centre of fight and devastation. Among the owners there were the Bishopric of Salzburg and Knight Earl Christoph von Kienburg, its last inhabitant when it was destroyed by a fire in 1579. In 1945, an American aerial bomb destroyed most of the still existing walls.
Currently, the Kienburg Castle Ruin is being renovated: It is in private hands, the surrounding is a restricted archaeological area.
References:House of the Blackheads (Melngalvju nams) is a building situated in the old town of Riga. The original building was erected during the first third of the 14th century for the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried German merchants in Riga. Major works were done in the years 1580 and 1886, adding most of the ornaments.
The structure was bombed to a ruin by the Germans June 28, 1941 and the remains demolished by the Soviets in 1948. The current reconstruction was erected from 1995 to 1999. Today the House of Blackheads serves as a museum and sometimes concert hall.