!!!Feldkirch

Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, town in the district of Feldkirch, alt. 458 m, 
pop. 26,730 (1981: pop. 23,745), area 34.34 km%%sup 2/%, situated on 
the border of Switzerland and Liechtenstein at the end of the Ill 
valley in the Rhine plain, on the eastern edge of the Rhine Valley. - 
Seat of the district of Feldkirch, district court, provincial court, 
Vorarlberg Office of Surveying and Mapping, Vorarlberg internal 
revenue office, Conciliatory Board, customs offices, Employment 
Services, Finance Office, Bureau of Weights and Measures, Labour 
Market Service, Chamber of Lawyers, Chamber of Business Trustees, 
continuing education centre (BFI), Vorarlberg Hospital, regional heath 
insurance provider, prison, Consulate (Spain), Youth Counselling 
Centre, Advice Centre for Drug Abuse, children´s village, 
Catholic Education Organisation, new apostolic church, Antonius House 
of the Nuns of the Cross, "Stella Matutina" Jesuit College (Vorarlberg 
Conservatory), indoor sports centre, indoor skating rink, wild life 
park, secondary, schools located in Feldkirch include Gymnasium, 
Bundesrealgymnasium and Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium schools, and a 
commercial academy; Feldkirch also has three vocational schools 
(trade, commercial, home economics), a Fachschule (business 
occupations) run by the Nuns of the Cross, a teachers´ training 
college, a teachers´ training institute, school for 
kindergarten-teacher training (private), college for training teachers 
of religion, school of nursing, Carina school for health occupations. 
Media: Feldkircher Anzeiger, Media house of Vorarlberg (newspapers: 
"Vorarlberger Nachrichten", "Die Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung", 
"Wann & Wo"), Theater am Saumarkt theatre, Montforthaus. Feldkirch has 
a highly developed service sector (which employed approximately 
75 % of Feldkirch´s 10,121 gainfully employed in 1991), 
main emphasis on private, social and public services as well as in 
trade (esp. food stuffs). The production sector is dominated by small 
and medium-sized businesses and industries (numerous construction and 
timber processing enterprises), also located in Feldkirch are textile, 
foodstuffs (large dairy complex), electronics, machinery and steel 
industries; tourism (189,134 overnight stays), municipal 
hydro-electric power plant.

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Feldkirch was the site of pre-Roman and Roman settlements ("Clunia"), 
present name first mentioned in a document around 850 (refers to the 
field of St. Peter stretching to the north-east towards Rankweil, 
known today as Altenstadt), new section of the city and Schattenburg 
Castle built around 1200 by Hugo von Montfort (located on the eastern 
side overlooking Feldkirch, Schattenburg is Vorarlberg´s best 
preserved medieval castle, and has housed a museum since 1917); in 
1375 the city was purchased by the Habsburgs, chartered in 1318 and 
1333, during the Middle Ages Feldkirch was Vorarlberg´s most 
important centre for trade. (Feldkirch is located at the end of the 
Salt Route from Hall in Tirol, trade continued through to southern 
Germany). In the 15%%sup th/%  and 16%%sup th/%  centuries Feldkirch 
was an intellectual centre for Humanist scholars and artists, since 
1820 Feldkirch has been the seat of the bishop´s vicar general, 
in 1925 Altenstadt, Levis, Tisis, Tosters, Gisingen, Nofels were 
incorporated in the municipality of Feldkirch, since 1968 
Roman-Catholic bishopric; Gothic cathedral (1478) with St. Anna altar 
(1521) and wrought-iron pulpit (1520), Frauenkirche (Church of Our 
Lady) (1473; renovated 1872-1878) located at the Churer gate, Capuchin 
Church (around 1605), Cemetery Church (1551), Dominican Convent 
(1634), St. Magdalena in Levis Church (1559, renovations in the 
17%%sup th/%  century and in 1982/83), City Hall (15%%sup th/%  
century), Liechtenstein Palace (1658-1697), now housing the 
town´s archives and library. Fortified towers and city gates 
have largely been preserved: thieves´ tower (Diebsturm), water 
tower and the gunpowder tower, Katzenturm tower (1492-1507) with the 
"Large Bell" (7500 kg), Churer or Salz gate (around 1270), Muehle or 
Sau gate (around 1270/1525), medieval ruins of Tosters Castle (first 
mentioned in a document in 1271, renovated in 1974-1980), before 1502 
residence of the Amberg family, now a hotel.

!Literature
Oesterr. Staedtebuch, Volume III, Vorarlberg, 1973; F., 
750 Jahre Stadt, 1968.


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