!!!Gars am Kamp

Gars am Kamp, Lower Austria, market town in the district of Horn, alt. 
256 m, pop. 3,458, area 50.47 km%%sup 2/%, situated on the 
left bank of the River Kamp, south of Horn. - Lower Austrian 
agricultural district authority, recreation park, Waldviertel 
workshops (local office), youth hostel (Oesterreichisches Kolpingwerk, 
Catholic apprentices' organisation), in 1985 the Kamptalhof (built 
1913/14) was converted into the Dungl health centre (since 1986: 
Bio-Trainingszentrum Gars Hotel GesmbH, mud baths); plate glass 
factory, production of construction materials, printed circuit boards, 
windows, doors and blinds, mills, tourism (44,197 overnight stays). 
Museum of Trade; Baroque parish church (1724-1727), presbytery (1595), 
former Redemptionist convent (17%%sup th/% century), Renaissance 
houses on the main square, town hall (1593-1603), former country house 
of Franz von Suppe with memorial, museum of local history and culture. 
- At Thunau, pre-historic fortifications ("Schanze"), dating back to 
the late urnfield culture; Slavonic fortress surrounded by ramparts 
and church from the 9%%sup th/% /10%%sup th/%  century, destroyed in 
1041 by the Babenbergs, who erected a high fortress, which became the 
residence of Leopold II (1075-1095). The castle was expanded in 
the 12%%sup th/%  and13%%sup th/%  centuries, its residential tract 
was enlarged from the 14%%sup th/%  to the 16%%sup th/%  century, but 
after a fire in 1809 it fell into disuse (1973 renovated, used for 
open-air opera performances since 1990). St. Gertrud church south 
of the castle, surrounded by churchyard and former charnel house, has 
a Romanesque-Gothic tripartite nave with 3 Gothic apses, chapel added 
in the south (after 1395) and west tower; painted glass (1330), 
frescos (mid-14%%sup th/%  century), late-Gothic statues and Baroque 
altars; burial monuments (16%%sup th/%  - 18%%sup th/%  centuries); 
Schimmelsprung ruin (first documented mention 1196), gradual 
dilapidation since the 15%%sup th/%  century.

!Literature
H. Heppenheimer, E. Mayr and H. Voglhuber, Festschrift 700 
Jahre Gars am Kamp 1279-1979, 1979; J. Kienast, Chronik des Marktes 
Gars in Niederoesterreich, 1920.


%%language
[Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Gars_am_Kamp|class='wikipage austrian']
%%

[{FreezeArticle author='AEIOU' template='Lexikon_1995_englisch'}]
[{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW comment All}][{ALLOW edit FreezeAdmin}]