Vöcklabruck#

Voecklabruck, Upper Austria, town in the district of Voecklabruck, alt. 430 m, pop. 11,239, area 15.59 km2, lying at the confluence of rivers Voeckla and Ager, south of the Hausruck mountains; gateway to the Salzkammergut region and main town of the Attergau region. - District Commission, district court, district school inspectorate, district office of the rural police (gendarmerie), employment services, inland revenue office, office of weights, measures and surveying, office of animal husbandry, work inspectorate, office of the Chamber of Labour including training centre, Vocational Training Institute of the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions (BFI), district office of the Chamber of Agriculture, office of the Economic Chamber, vocational training institute of the Austrian Economic Chamber (WIFI), branch office of the regional health insurance institution including outpatients department, hospital, offices of the Volkshilfe and Caritas charities, 2 day-care centres and hostel operated by Lebenshilfe charity, office for psycho-social assistance, Kolpinghaus centre, youth and drugs advice centre, town library, "Delta" sports complex, "Voralpen" stadium, schools and training institutions: Bundesgymnasium secondary school, upper secondary school of engineering, commercial academy, Oberstufenrealgymnasium secondary school run by the School Sisters, advanced-level commercial school, federal institute of kindergarten teaching run by the Daughters of our Lady Help of Christians, school of trade and commerce school and foremen´s school of the Vocational Training Institute of the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions (BFI), school of agriculture, vocational school of agriculture, adult education centre; museum of people expelled from their home country, waterworks, power substation, small power plant (private), Duernau power plant (Energie AG Oberoesterreich). About 59% of the 9,875 gainfully employed persons (figures from 1991) work in the service sector (personal, social and public services, commerce); production industries: Eternit plant (fibre cement panels), electronics industry, fittings plant, foundry, automobile supplying industry, printing office.

First documented mention in 1134, documented as a town in 1353; medieval town centre: 2 Gothic gate towers (1957 discovery and restoration of insignia frescoes from the era of Maximilian I), Gothic burgher houses with Baroque façades; late Gothic parish church St. Ulrich, late 15th century, interior altered in the Baroque style; Baroque St. Aegidius church built in 1688 by C. A. Carlone, frescoes by C. A. Bussi and paintings by C. von Reslfeld (late 17th century); adjoining vicarage altered in 1690 by C. A. Carlone; Ascension of the Virgin filial church at Schoendorf (documented mention in 824), which was the parish church until 1785, now cemetery church, late Gothic hall church (1450-1476) with 2 impressive west towers, remarkable frescoes (15th century) on the exterior of the choir, impressive rib vault with six-pointed star, Virgin Mary statue (around 1440), statues on the west gallery by J. G. Schwanthaler (1772), graves (15th -20th century); Heimathaus centre (founded 1929) in the "Benefiziaten" (beneficiary) house (15th century), collection of local history including finds from lake dwellings at Lake Attersee; Wagrain palace (documented mention in 1491), buildings from around 1600, major alterations in the first half of the 18th century, St. Anna church in Oberthalheim (altered in the Baroque style, chancel from 1497, nave from 1668-1671), opulent stuccowork (1690), graves from the 16th century; Altwartenburg castle and palace in Wartenburg (1st half of the 17th century), Neuwartenburg palace built 1730-1732 by A. E. Martinelli, grand hall with fresco by B. Altomonte (1737).

Literature#