Enns, Stadt#

Enns, Upper Austria, town in the district of Linz-Land, alt. 281 m, pop. 10,192, area 33.27 km2, town charter in 1212, south of the confluence of the River Enns with the River Danube, at the border to Lower Austria. - District court, District Commission, health and social insurance agency, garrison (Towarek Barracks), non-commissioned officers´ school, hospital, children´s home, WIFI´s master mechanic school, port; in 1991 approximately 53 % of the workforce were employed in trade and industry. Fashion jewellery manufacture (Gablonz glass products and bijouterie articles), plating industry, mechanical engineering and precision gearwheel manufacture, wood processing and a number of new businesses (a chemist chain´s distribution centre for western Austria, tagging works of a large clothes retail chain). After the sugar refinery (1988) and the chemical industry had been closed down, a period of massive economic restructuring set in, with numerous different smaller businesses expected to contribute to the regeneration of the area. The Danube power plant Abwinden-Asten (1978) is near E.

Settlement in this area started in the Neolithic period. The cadastral district of Lorch is the site of the Roman town Lauriacum and the parish church of St. Lorenz (basilica minor); around 900 Enns castle served as a frontier fortress against the Magyars on the left bank of the river Enns; trade centre from the 12th century; oldest town privileges in Austria. Much of the medieval town wall and its towers has been preserved. "Frauenturm" (Lady´s Tower) with Johannite chapel (14th  century frescoes), 59-meter city tower (1564-1568); Gothic burgher houses with Renaissance arcaded courtyards and Renaissance or Baroque façades; the old town hall (1547) now houses the town museum (with collections from prehistoric and Roman times). Parish church of St. Marien (former Minorite church), hall church with two naves (1276- second half of 15th century, choir window by M. Prachensky, 1975) with Wallsee chapel (around 1340-1345) and Gothic cloisters; Citizens´ Hospital church, built in Romanesque-Gothic style, extensions from around 1750 (present Protestant parish church); Ennsegg castle (1500-1569), with corner tower and tower with spiral staircase, adapted and extended in the 18th   and 19th century, castle chapel.

Literature#