!!!Weitra

Weitra, Lower Austria, town in the district of Gmuend, alt. 
562 m, pop. 2,925, area 52.53 km%%sup 2/%, on the River 
Lainsitz, in the north-west of the Waldviertel Region. - District 
chamber of agriculture, Kuenringer barracks, recreation centre and 
golf course; wood processing, brewery, summer tourism; "Alte 
Textilfabrik" (old textile mill) Museum, palace museum, beer 
museum, exhibitions, theatre performances. - Documented mention in 
1182, as "Witrah" (village of Altweitra) around 1190, built 
as fortified town by Hadmar II von Kuenring between 1201 and 
1208; the medieval defensive structure with circular towers has 
largely been preserved; parish church (originally in Romanesque style, 
late-Gothic additions) with frescoes (around 1470), Rococo side altar 
with altar painting (1747) by J. G. Schmidt, relief depicting the 
Mount of Olives (around 1500) and tombstones (16%%sup th/%  - 
18%%sup th/%  centuries); Gothic and Baroque hospital church of the 
Holy Spirit with Gothic frescoes (14%%sup th/%  century) and verse 
inscriptions in the choir walls; Renaissance palace (1590-1606) with 
rows of arcades and historicist palace theatre (built in 1885); 
Waldviertel half-timbered houses with beautiful façades (one 
with sgraffito paintings, around 1580); column dedicated to the Holy 
Trinity (1748).

!Literature
W. Katzenschlager, Weitra, 1973; Oesterreichisches 
Staedtebuch, vol. IV, part 3, Die Staedte 
Niederoesterreichs, 1982; H. Birklbauer and W. Katzenschlager, 800 
Jahre Weitra, 1983; Die Fuerstenberger, exhibition catalogue, Weitra 
1994.


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