Laxenburg#

Laxenburg, Lower Austria, market town in the district of Moedling, alt. 177 m, pop. 2,605 (in 1981: 1,861), area 10,59 km2, popular day-trip destination for the Viennese, situated near River Schwechat, south of Vienna in the Vienna Basin. - Conference Centre, Academy for Environment and Energy Production with a research institute for energy and environmental planning, International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASA), Austrian Institute of International Politics, Austrian film archives, museum in Franzensburg Castle, nunnery of the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross, recreation centre, social counselling agency; Laxenburg summer festival; tertiary sector prevails (about 90 % out of 1,487 people employed in 1991), large range of trading businesses, large forwarding agencies. Old water course of River Schwechat as nature reserve south-east of Laxenburg. - Baroque parish church (1693-1726) with Rococo interior; imperial summer palace, first documentary mention in 1136, owned by the Habsburgs from 1333 onwards, extended in the 17th century by L. O. Burnacini, situated in the middle of the 250 hectares, large English landscape park (1782-1798); war and post-war damage dating from 1945 was restored by 1970. Blauer Hof (new palace, 1745) with Theresian façade decorations (around 1770), representation rooms with Rococo stucco. Laxenburg was the favourite place of residence of Maria Theresia, Joseph II, Franz II (I) and Karl I; "Passespielhaeuser" (bowling lanes in the buildings on either side of the main entrance) and private theatre. Old palace (today Austrian film archives), quadrangular layout dating from the 17th century (with a medieval nucleus) with Baroque chapel; large English park with water-courses, ponds, islands with Romantic buildings: summer house (1753), temple (1795), jousting tournament court (1800); Franzensburg Castle on an artificial island (1793-1803), named after Emperor Franz II (I), the interior was collected from several other palaces and monasteries: Habsburg statues by Peter and Paul Strudel, family portraits (1831-1837) by L. Kupelwieser, F. G. Waldmueller and F. Amerling, stained-glass windows (end of the 14th century taken from the church of Maria am Gestade in Vienna), equestrian statue of Joseph II by C. Moll.

Literature#