Lienz#

Lienz, Tirol, town in the district of Lienz, alt. 675 m, pop. 11,864, area 15.94 km2, main town of East Tirol, where the River Isel flows into the River Drau/Drava. -District authority, district court, forestry commission, fire department, job centre, inland revenue office, standards institute, surveyor´s office and customs office, administration of federal buildings, offices of the Tirolean government (agricultural department, surveyor´s office for cultural affairs), labour inspectorate, district surveyor´s office, Franz-Josef and Haspinger barracks, hospital, Tirolean alpine rescue service, area commission for torrent and avalanche control, offices of the Chamber of Labour and Economic Chamber, district Chamber of Agriculture, regional health insurance office, pension insurance agency for workers, East Tirol educational institute (with educational guidance office), information centre for marriage and family counselling, psychosocial and child guidance, local office of Caritas, Nikolsdorf airfield, air base of the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs, Dolomiten multi-purpose hall and stadium, golf course, civic hall, museum of the town of Lienz, historical and folkloristic department, Egger-Lienz Gallery, prehistoric and Roman finds, Tirolean farm museum as starting point for Lienz open-air museum, which stretches from Kloesterleschmiede (around 1500, original inventory, since 1966 museum) to upper Lienz; town gallery; SOS children´s village (municipality of Nussdorf-Debant), hostel of the Kolping apprentices´ charity. Schools: Bundesgymnasium and Bundesrealgymnasium, Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium, Handelsakademie (commercial academy), Federal boarding school, metal-working vocational school, domestic science school of the Dominican sisters, Hoehere Bildungslehranstalt fuer wirtschaftlliche Berufe (advanced-level commercial school), agricultural college, vocational school, production office of the Austrian Broadcasting Company, Protestant free church, Tertiary sisters. Newspapers: "Kleine Zeitung" (local office), "Osttiroler Bote"; monocable to Zettersfeld (youth centre), transformer station, hydropower station; nearby run-of-river power station Amlach (built in 1989, 60 MW). 7,530 gainfully employed persons (1991), with around 65 % in the service sector (private, social and public services, wholesale and retail trade, Lienz savings bank); trade and industry (industrial zone at the border of the municipality of Nussdorf-Debant): machine construction and structural steel engineering (refrigerators, steel construction), building industry and trade, wood-working plants, brewery, concrete factory, hat factory (in Nussdorf-Debant), firms of Raiffeisen co-operative (e.g. dairy, agricultural machinery trade), bi-seasonal tourism (205,301 overnight stays). - Documented mention around 1022-1039 as "Luenzina", town from about 1240. The counts of Gorizia were founders of the town and until 1500 town fathers, later joined Tirol, from the Middle Ages until the 19th century ore mining and processing. Became part of Gau Carinthia in 1938, since 1947 again part of Tirol. - Town parish church, basilica with 3 naves and parts from the 14th century renovated between 1430-1457, chancel remodelled in Baroque style between 1760-1765, in the 19th century classicist and neo-Gothic modifications, in the western part Romanesque portal lions, gallery balustrade with Gothic cycle of figures (1430), Pietà (1410), crucifix (1500), tombstones (16th century), chancel frescos by J. A. Moelk (1761), high altar (1765), stained glass windows (1881-1897) in the aisles, crypt with remains from prior buildings and Gothic sculptures, arcades around the church turned into war memorial, memorial chapel with frescos by A. Egger-Lienz (his tomb). Franciscan monastery (rebuilt between 1697-1707) and Franciscan church (15th century) with murals (15th century); late-Gothic beneficed church of St. Michael with Baroque tower, side altars (around 1640) in Renaissance-like early Baroque design; Dominican convent and Dominican church (rebuilt around 1244, 1637 consecrated after reconstruction); Gothic-Baroque Buergerspital church (consecrated in 1746 and 1770); in the backyard of former hospital for incurables, oldest remaining shrine of Tirol (around 1400) with frescos; Antonius chapel (documented mention 1556) at the east side of the main square in the centre; Martin Luther Church (consecrated in 1962, only Protestant church in East Tirol); Bruck Palace (documented mention in 1277, centre 13th century, components from the 16th /18th centuries, frescos inside chapel from 1490-1496), walls of town fortification almost completely preserved; Isel tower; Liebburg Palace (17th -18th centuries); town hall (1770-1772); Tammerburg Castle (16th -17th centuries); column dedicated to the Virgin Mary (1716); in the vicinity, Lake Tristach. In the town, military cemeteries: near St. Andrae cemetery from World War I with Emperor Karl memorial chapel (1935/36) and war cemetery from World War II, in Peggetz Cossack, cemetery with 18 mass graves from 1945.

Literature#