Lilienfeld#

Lilienfeld, Lower Austria, town in the district of Lilienfeld, alt 383 m, pop. 2,807, area 53.96 km2, popular destination for day-trips to Traisental valley; winter sports in Lilienfelder Gschwendt (alt. 956 m) and Muckenkogel mountains (alt. 1,248 m); the sport of alpine skiing originated here (M. Zdarsky). - District authorities, district court, Chamber of Agricultural and Allied Workers, museum of local history and culture, inland revenue office, employment services, health insurance office, Chamber of Labour, Economic Chamber, hospital. Schools: Bundesgymnasium and Bundesrealgymnasium, agricultural vocational school, vocational school for commerce and trade, Volkshochschule adult education centre, day home for the physically and mentally challenged. Highway maintenance depot, aluminium rolling mill, manufacturing of roofing panels, timber mill of abbey. - Documented mention in 1209, town of importance due to its location along the Mariazell pilgrimage road, chartered in 1974. Cistercian abbey, founded between 1202-1206 by Duke Leopold VI (buried here with his daughter Margarethe and Cimburgis of Mazovia) and endowed with large tracts of land (westwards to the Oetscher peak). Settlement began from the Cistercian abbey of Heiligenkreuz. The collegiate church is a 83 m long, late Romanesque-early Gothic pier basilica with 3 naves, 7 bays, transept and hall choir with 2 naves. West façade with late Romanesque marble portal, framed in late Baroque style and in 1775 decorated with sculpted ornaments (Babenberg Leopold III and Leopold VI). Baroque interior, 11 altars (some of black marble), 2 organs, high altar panel by D. Gran (1746), paintings by M. Altomonte, J. G. Schmidt and L. Schnorr von Carolsfeld. Abbey with Romanesque-Gothic cloister and chapter house (13th century), cellarium, and one storey above, the dormitory of lay brothers (14th century); above the chapter house, the monks´ dormitory. Modified in Baroque style from 1638, in west section imperial room, prelacy (1695-1716), library with ceiling fresco (1704), northern part rebuilt after fire in 1810. Picture gallery.

Literature#