Scheibbs#

Scheibbs, Lower Austria, town in the district of Scheibbs, alt. 339 m, pop. 4,389, area 45.82 km2, main town in the district, administrative and economic centre of the central Erlauf valley, in the Eisenwurzen region. - District commissioner, district court, district police headquarters, district Chamber of Agriculture, employment service, inland revenue and surveying offices, Economic Chamber, Chamber of Labour, regional health insurance agency, hospital, Volkshilfe centre, diocesan family counselling centre, Caritas counselling services, central office for the support of asylum applicants and refugees, children´s recreation home of the Vienna Jugendhilfswerk youth support agency, sport centre, Buddhist cultural centre, Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium secondary school (with boarding school), adult education centre, Brandstatt electricity plant; approximately 63 % of the 2,159 employed (1991) are in the service sector (primarily personal, social and public services); elevator manufacturing, paper plant, construction firms; tourism (18,726 overnight stays in 1992). - First documented mention in 1159/1160, former centre of the iron industry, city charter in 1926. - Medieval painting of the town shows fortified city walls and gate towers (1495); late Gothic parish church (hall church with reticulated vaults) with Baroque interior (five altars 1704-1712), high altar (1704); Baroque Capuchin church (1678-1684), altar painting by M. J. Schmidt (1777); former castle with arcaded courtyard (1511, now houses government offices and a hunting target museum); riflemen´s club house (17th century); museum of local history located in city hall; Renaissance houses on the main town square; medieval bridge located below the town. In Neubruck (built in 1830) iron mills were built and used between 1819-1873 by A. Toepper, which were later transformed into a paper plant.

Literature#