A wonderful walk leads from Bruneck through the Rienz gorge to the Lamprechtsburg in Reischach. To the present day, this picturesque fortress casts a spell on visitors. The majestic, angular keep and delightful Baroque-style castle chapel form a charming contrast.

The Lamprechtsburg was founded by the Counts of Rischon in the 13th century and underwent repeated extensions and transformations. In the 19th century it was still reasonably intact. Only a few ancillary buildings and the curtain wall threatened to collapse. In around the mid-20th century the owners opened a café where walkers from Bruneck sought refreshment. Today it is closed.

However, there were not only secular reasons for visiting the castle. For centuries, the chapel was an important place of pilgrimage. In times of need, believers carried the statue of St. Mary from there on their penitential processions through Reischach. The chapel also houses a famous curiosity – the statue of St. Wilgefortis, a bearded woman nailed to the cross. She was supposed to deliver believers from sorrow and above all was revered by women plagued by family or pregnancy problems.

Today’s owners of the Lamprechtsburg are making great efforts to secure the continuing existence of the complex.