!!!Klosterneuburg

Klosterneuburg, Lower Austria, town in the district of Wien-Umgebung, 
alt. 192 m, pop. 24,442 (1981: 22,975), area 
76.19 km%%sup 2/%, situated on the southern bank of the River 
Danube, northwest of Vienna. - District commission Wien - Umgebung 
(area surrounding Vienna), district court, branch office of the Labour 
Market Service, federal construction office, federal quality control 
office, Magdeburg barracks, Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Labour, 
district branch of the Chamber of Agriculture, regional health 
insurance agency, hospital, provincial psychiatric hospital in  
Gugging (with "House of Artists"), abbey of Augustinian 
Canons, "Weisser Hof" rehabilitation centre, operated by the General 
Accident Insurance Agency (Allgemeine Unfallversicherungsanstalt), 
boarding school of the City of Vienna, Caritas, motorway maintenance 
depot, Babenberg multi-purpose hall, Austrian Academy for Industrial 
Medicine, Oesterreichisches Ost- und Suedosteuropa-Institut (Austrian 
Institute for Eastern and Southeastern Europe), International Film 
Register, abbey of the Augustinian Canons Regular, monasteries of the 
Congregation of the Daughters of the Divine Redeemer and the School 
Sisters of Notre Dame, home for the elderly and nursing home run by 
the Brothers Hospitallers; Bundesgymnasium, Bundesrealgymnasium 
secondary schools, School and Research Institute for Viniculture and 
Horticulture (with institute of apiculture), abbey museum of the 
Augustinian Canons, museum of the Sammlung Essl collection 
(contemporary art), town museum with Roman and Medieval finds, Rostock 
villa (firefighters´ museum, Moravian -Silesian folk museum);, 
F. Kafka memorial site in Klosterneuburg - Kierling, museum of local 
history and culture in Kierling; summer festival (July-August); highly 
developed service sector (in 1991 around 78% of the 6,744 employees 
worked in the service sector, in particular in personal, social and 
public services, business establishments), enterprises of 
Klosterneuburg abbey, head offices of  bauMax AG and Schoemer HG, 
metal working industry (gratings, automatic doors, cables and wires), 
production of electronic chips, packaging materials and artificial 
stones, concrete works, wine growing, fruit farming, tourism in summer 
(106,563 overnight stays).- First traces of settlement from the 
Neolithic period; on the abbey grounds, remains of a Roman citadel 
whose antique name is unknown, burial site from the 1%%sup st/% 
-5%%sup th/%  centuries (archeological finds and engraved stones 
displayed in the town museum and the abbey museum). First documented 
mention 1108, was the residence of the Babenbergs Leopold III and 
 Leopold VI, was raised to a town in 1298, partially destroyed in 
1529 and 1683 by the Turks, between 1938 and 1954 Klosterneuburg was 
the 26%%sup th/%  district of Vienna. Abbey founded by Margrave  
Leopold III (first documented mention 1108), in 1133 given over 
to the Augustinian Canons, impressive buildings on vast area, 
comprising the abbey facilities and the collegiate church and parish 
church of Our Lady (1114-1136), Romanesque basilica (3-aisled, 
transept with regular crossing), gallery preserved, later renovated in 
Gothic and Late Gothic style (western facade, until 1592), Early 
Baroque aspect due to transformation of aisles into chapels, building 
of a western gallery and stucco work, High Baroque frescoes by 
J. M. Rottmayr and stuccoes by S. Bussi (1680-1723), presbytery 
altered in Baroque style between 1723 and 1730, extensive restoration 
of the exterior by F. von Schmidt in the 19%%sup th/%  century 
(Neogothic western towers), auxiliary altars from 1700 (paintings by 
P. Strudel and sculptures by the Spaet brothers), remarkable choir 
stalls (1723) by M. Steinl, Baroque organ by J. G. Freundt 
(1636-1642), Leopold chapel (former chapter hall), adaptations between 
1677-1680; the famous  Verdun altar is the tomb of Margrave Leopold, a 
marvellous winged altarpiece made from enamel panels by Nikolaus von 
Verdun (1181), in 1331 transformed into a winged altarpiece with 
painted panels. Parts of the medieval abbey have been preserved: 
Gothic cloister (13%%sup th/%  /14%%sup th/%  century), former chapter 
hall with Gothic windows (13%%sup th/% -15%%sup th/%  century), 
Freisinger or Wehinger chapel (1394, restored 1869-1881). J. 
Prandtauer drew the plans for a Baroque enlargement of the abbey in 
1706. In 1730 D. F. d'Allio began to draw his plan for a new 
building (significantly influenced by J. E. Fischer von Erlach) 
commissioned by Emperor  Karl VI, who wanted to make 
Klosterneuburg his official residence ("Austrian Escorial"); 
in 1776 this plan had to be simplified by D. Kaselik; between 
1836-1842 J. Kornhaeusl carried out the first quarter of the plan, the 
rest was not realised. In the marble hall is a frescoed ceiling 
carrying the title "Glory of the House of Austria" by D. Gran (1749), 
in the Sala terrena are herm atlantes by L. Mattielli (1735). In the 
abbey museum the famous "Madonna of Klosterneuburg" (1310); the museum 
also houses an art gallery with Gothic painted panels and numerous 
other works of art. The abbey library keeps the so-called "Sunthaymer 
Tafeln", an illuminated book that served as documentation for the   
Babenberg Family Tree. On the square in front of the abbey is a Gothic 
lantern (1381). The treasury contains the "Erzherzogshut", the crown 
of the Austrian rulers.

\\
Below the Gothic parish church of St. Martin, which was later adapted 
and richly decorated in Baroque style, remains of Gothic and 
Romanesque buildings and a Carolingian wooden church. Statue of the 
Holy Trinity (1714) on the town square. Custom: "Fasslrutschen" 
("barrel sliding") on the feast day of St. Leopold ( Leopoldi 
(November 15)).

!Literature
Oesterreichisches Staedtebuch, vol. IV, part 2, 
Die Staedte Niederoesterreichs, 1976; G. Rennhofer, Stift 
Klosterneuburg, 1992; Stadtgemeinde Klosterneuburg (ed.), 
Klosterneuburg, Geschichte und Kultur, 2 vols., 1992/93.


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