Situated on a rock on the northern slope of the Drava valley, Burg Hollenburg sits at an elevation of 561 metres (1,841 ft) above sea level.

[1] One Swiker, Lord of Hollenburg in the Duchy of Carinthia, was initially recorded as a witness in the 1142 deed of the foundation of Viktring Abbey.

Reginher accompanied King Conrad III of Germany on the Second Crusade in 1147 and subsequently served as a ministerialis of Margrave Ottokar IV of Styria.

The castle held significant strategic importance because of its location at a Drava river crossing and along the road to the Loibl Pass and the March of Carniola.

In 1514 the Habsburg emperor Maximilian I, stuck in the War of the League of Cambrai against Venice and highly indebted, sold Hollenburg to his son-in-law Lord Siegmund of Dietrichstein (1484-1533), elevating him to the rank of a Baron.