!!!St. Pölten

St. Poelten, Lower Austria, statutory city in the district of 
St. Poelten, alt. 271 m, pop. 50,026, area 
108.51 km%%sup 2/%, capital of Lower Austria (according to the 
provincial assembly resolution on July 10, 1986), since 1997 seat of 
the Lower Austrian Provincial Government, situated on the River 
Traisen. Episcopal seat, industrial, school and garrison town, as well 
as a traffic junction in the Alpine Forelands. Since becoming the 
provincial capital St. Poelten has concentrated its efforts on 
developing into the business and cultural centre of Lower Austria. - 
Provincial court, seat of the Lower Austrian provincial government, 
Lower Austrian district agricultural authority, Lower Austrian 
regional building authority, Lower Austrian road construction 
department, federal building directorate (building administration), 
federal police directorate, Lower Austrian urban planning and building 
administration for the provincial capital, district commission, 
district court, Chamber of Agriculture, local police directorate, 
prison, ORF (Lower Austria provincial studio), Lower Austrian branch 
office of the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, tax 
office, customs office, office of surveying, employment services, 
military headquarters for Lower Austria, Hesser- and Kopal-Kaserne 
barracks, Lower Austrian motorway administration, traffic safety 
board, labour inspectorate, Economic Chamber, Chamber of Labour, 
Federation of Trade Unions, Chamber of Agricultural Workers, Bar 
Association, local health insurance provider, hospital including the 
L. Boltzmann Institute for Gerostomatology, episcopal ordinariate, 
Caritas Catholic charity organisation, women´s' shelter, 
Kolpinghaus centre, Volkshaus centre of St. Poelten, St. 
Poelten-Spratzern; Volksheim centres: Viehofen, St. Georgen, 
Pottenbrunn, Wagram and Radlberg, Emmaus Community, Protestant youth 
home, federal boarding school, youth centre, municipal advice centres 
and diocesan family and marriage counselling centre, probation 
services, various aid, care and advice organisations, including the 
Volkshilfe, Austrian information service for Lower Austrian 
developmental policy, Medical Centre for Occupational and Social 
Health Care (AMZ), City Archives with library, Lower Austria 
provincial archives, Lower Austria library, Catholic diocesan 
educational centre, St. Hippolyte educational centre and retreat, 
Buehne im Hof theatre, Museum im Hof museum, city museum, 
multi-purpose complex, Stadttheater theatre, "Theater im Museum", 
cultural centres Nord and Sued, Lower Austrian Cultural Scene (KUSZ), 
city library, Lower Austrian press house (APA of Lower Austria, 
"Neue Niederoesterreichische Nachrichten"); Lower Austrian 
Provincial Academy, Fachhochschule, Bundesgymnasium and 
Bundesrealgymnasium secondary schools, Bundesrealgymnasium and 
Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium secondary school, commercial academy, 
secondary school and Realgymnasium secondary school of the Institute 
of the Blessed Virgin Mary (English Ladies), advanced-level commercial 
school and school for social occupations, vocational school, upper 
secondary school of engineering, federal training institute for social 
workers, kindergarten teachers and caretakers, academy for social 
work, diocesan theological college and seminary, Lower Austrian 
provincial vocational school, Lower Austrian provincial sport school, 
Lower Austrian provincial nursing school, Caritas school for social 
services, music and ballet school, training institute for business 
occupations of the Lower Austrian Economic Chamber (with boarding 
school, hotel and catering school and seminar centre), vocational 
training institute, adult education centre, promotion and technology 
transfer centre of the Economic Chamber, Voeltendorf airfield for 
sports aeroplanes, recreational centre, Mega-Fun recreational park (on 
Lake Ratzersdorf), VAZ convention centre (seminars, cultural events 
and fairs, including the autumn, office and recreational fair), 
"St. Poeltner Kultur- und Festwochen" festival (held 
annually in May/June), district heating plants North (built 1958, 
13.9 MW) and South (built 1968, 5.2 MW). The government 
quarter on the River Traisen was constructed 1993-1996; its most 
important buildings are the Landhaus with "Klangturm" (architect E. 
Hoffmann), Festspielhaus (K. Kada), provincial archives and provincial 
library (P. Katzberger), exhibition hall (Shed-Halle by H. Hollein) 
and provincial museum (under construction, planned termination 2003, 
architect H. Hollein). - Employment in the service sector 
predominates, with approximately 62 % of the 30,548 employed 
(1991), primarily personal, social and public services, wholesale and 
retail companies, Traisenpark business centre, several large markets, 
centre for the furniture business; in the production sector: 
manufacturing of machinery (paper machines, plant engineering), office 
furniture, paper and plastics, synthetic fibres (special fibres for 
tyres), wood industry, construction companies, brewery and beverage 
industry, two main workshops of the Austrian Federal Railways (OeBB), 
printing houses, Geschuetzte Werkstaette (sheltered workshop for the 
handicapped) Ges. m. b. H., increasing tourism (82,901 
overnight stays in 1992). -

\\
The centre of the old part of town was the location of the Roman town 
of Aelium Cetium from the 2%%sup nd/%  to the 4%%sup th/%  century, 
mentioned in a document as Treisma in 799, the settlement became a 
market town around 1050, a city in 1159; until 1494 under the diocese 
of Passau; the Benedictine monastery sponsored by the local ruler was 
built in 771, became a collegiate house of the Augustinian Canons in 
1081; dissolved in 1784; the building (around 1650) has served as the 
episcopal residence since 1785, church (built in 1230-1270, finished 
in Gothic style) interior redone in the Baroque style in 1722-1745, 
frescoes by F. Gedon, altar paintings by T. Pock and D. Gran, library 
(now diocese museum and archive); Franciscan monastery (1455), from 
1791 episcopal school and seminary; Institute of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary (English Ladies) (1706) with paintings by M. J. Schmidt, 
Baroque façade (1715-1718), church (1730 and 1767-1769) with 
frescoes by P. Troger and B. Altomonte,; former convent of the 
Carmelite nuns (1708-1782), revitalised as city museum and 
Documentation Centre for Modern Art in Lower Austria, church (1712, 
revitalised in 1934); Carmelite monastery (1709-1783), then 
transferred to the Franciscans (second city parish), church with 
altar paintings by M. J. Schmidt; city hall (1503, with Gothic 
core, additions built in 16%%sup th/% -18%%sup th/%  century) with 
Renaissance and Baroque façade (J. Munggenast, 1727), mayor's 
office with "imperial ceiling" (1722); former citizens' 
hospital (1539, rebuilt in 1833), now an Old Catholic church; St. 
George's church (17%%sup th/%  century), additions built in 1749 and 
1934; Viehofen church (1898); Stattersdorf church (1857), expanded in 
1937; Protestant church (1891/1892); Baroque column dedicated to the 
Holy Trinity (1767-1782), city theatre (1820, additions built in 
1967-1969); burghers´ houses from the 18%%sup th/% /19%%sup th/% 
 centuries; former synagogue (1913, today Institute for the History of 
Jews in Austria); St. Joseph's church (1925-1929); Our Lady of 
Lourdes parish church (1959-1961), St. John of Capistrano church 
(1971), church in Spratzern (1931/1932) and in Wagram (1937-1939); 
Ochsenburg Castle (17%%sup th/% /18%%sup th/%  centuries), summer seat 
of the bishop, in the chapel are five paintings by M. J. Schmidt; 
Viehofen Castle (in disrepair since ca. 1950); Renaissance moated 
castle with tin figures at  Pottenbrunn.

!Literature
Statistischer Jahresbericht, ed. by the Magistrat of Sankt 
Poelten, 1952ff.; K. Gutkas (ed.), Beitraege zur 
Stadtgeschichtsforschung, Festschrift der Stadtgemeinde Sankt Poelten, 
1959; Jahrbuch Sankt Poelten, ed. by the Magistrat of Sankt Poelten, 
1980ff.; S. Nasko, Sankt Poelten, Stadtreport 1970-80, 1980; 
Oesterreichisches Staedtebuch, vol. IV, part 3, Die Staedte 
Niederoesterreichs, 1982; H. Fasching (ed.), Dom und Stift Sankt 
Poelten, 1985; Oe. Staedteatlas, 3%%sup rd/%  version, 1988; K. 
Gutkas, Werden und Wesen der Stadt Sankt Poelten, %%sup 6/%1989; S. 
Ecker, Die Landeshauptstadt Sankt Poelten. Zentraloertliche Stellung 
und Einzugsbereich, master´s thesis, Vienna 1990; P. Scherrer, 
Sankt Poelten, Archaeologische Bausteine, 2 vols., 1991/1994.


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