Gars am Kamp#

Gars am Kamp, Lower Austria, market town in the district of Horn, alt. 256 m, pop. 3,458, area 50.47 km2, 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 (17th 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 9th /10th 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 12th and13th centuries, its residential tract was enlarged from the 14th to the 16th 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-14th century), late-Gothic statues and Baroque altars; burial monuments (16th - 18th centuries); Schimmelsprung ruin (first documented mention 1196), gradual dilapidation since the 15th century.

Literature#