Zwettl#
Zwettl, Lower Austria, town in the district of Zwettl, alt. 518 m, pop. 11,427, area 256.07 km2, administrative, school and summer tourism centre (73,615 overnight stays in 1992) at the confluence of the rivers Zwettl and Kamp, in the centre of the Waldviertel Region, road junction; extremely low temperatures in winter due to its location in a valley basin. - District commission, district court, district firefighting command, district Gendarmerie command, labour market service, revenue and surveying office, hospital, bridge and road maintenance depot, chamber of labour, economic chamber, district chamber of agriculture, Lower Austrian chamber of agricultural and allied workers, regional health and social insurance agency, district directorate of the EVN AG, Caritas Alte Propstei residential home, relief organisation, municipal museum, episcopal seminary, Bundesgymnasium and Bundesrealgymnasium secondary schools, commercial academy, commercial school, 2 Edelhof agricultural trade schools, Institute of the School Sisters, adult education centre, nursing school; abbey with education centre, library, museum and various businesses; testing centre of the federal institute of agriculture and chemistry; Museum Duernhof; boy´s choir boarding school; 4,469 inhabitants in gainful employment (1991), of which 69 % work in the service sector (mainly personal, social and public services), crude oil and food stuff wholesale trade, Lagerhaus agricultural co-operative, wood processing, brewery, dairy, distillery, construction industry. - Foundation of a fortified castle-chapel by Hadmar I von Kuenring around 1100/1120, one of the first parishes of the Waldviertel Region, first documented mention in 1139, documented mention of town charter in 1200, trade centre during the Middle Ages, large parts of a medieval fortification wall with 6 towers have been preserved; parish church, late Romanesque pier basilica with late Gothic chancel (around 1483-1490), late Baroque high altar and rich Rococo stuccowork; late Gothic Buergerspitalskirche church (1438-1448), former provostry church, now cemetery church with Romanesque west tribune gallery and early Gothic St. Michael chapel with paintings (15th and 16th centuries); late Romanesque ossuary (2nd half of the 13th century); former provostry (built on the foundations of the former Kuenringer castle in 1483, altered in Baroque style around 1710); well-preserved former "Ackerbuergerhaeuser" (burgher´s houses, central elements date back to the 16th century); old town hall (documented mention in 1301 or in 1307, district court until 1975, now library and museum) with sgraffito façade; Buergerspital hospital; Pernerstorferhof; Trinity column (1727). North-east of the town Zwettl is Zwettl Abbey.Literature#
W. Pongratz and H. Hakala, Zwettl, 2 vols., 1980-1982; Oesterreichisches Staedtebuch, vol. IV, part 3, Die Staedte Niederoesterreichs, 1982.