Ybbs an der Donau#

Ybbs an der Donau, Lower Austria, town in the district of Melk, alt. 224 m, pop. 5,770, area 23.82 km2, lying on the right (south) bank of the River Danube, to the west of the confluence of the Rivers Ybbs and Danube; ship landing stage, bridge over the Danube; the Nibelungengau region begins at Ybbs an der Donau. - District court, branches of the Melk district commission (youth office), regional chamber of agriculture, Stadthalle multipurpose complex (1964), town library, Volksheim recreation centre, commercial academy, commercial school, adult education centre, therapy centre of the municipality of Vienna in Ybbs an der Donau (former psychiatric hospital of the city of Vienna in the former Franciscan monastery in Piesenegg) with training centre for psychiatric nursing and boarding house, School Sisters, water works, road works agency in charge of the motorway, power supply centre (private), Ybbs-Persenbeug Danube power station (constructed in 1954-1959, 236.5 MW). 2,721 persons in gainful employment (1991), dominating service sector (especially personal, social and public services); production sector: especially wood processing (furniture, carpentry, windows etc.), also metal processing, building and construction industry. - In Roman times, site of the "Adiuvense" camp and transfer point of Danube trade; first documented mention 863; castle, first mentioned in 1073, documents granting privileges (exploitation of forests, 1311, fishing and ferrying privileges, 1314, judicial power over life and death, 1317), granted the status of a town during the 1st half of the 14th century, confirmed in 1377. The town is made up of the old centre and the suburbs of Angern, Piesenegg and Trewald; remains of the mediaeval town wall (3 gates) and the town moat are still extant; parish church, late-Gothic staggered church (around 1490) with choir (1512), Baroque western part and tower (1721), Baroque interior (around 1720) and tombstones (14th - 18th century); fountain with statue of a knight (1613), former 17th century castle (now an apartment house); Schiffsmeisterhaus (shipmaster´s house, 17th - 19th century); town hall (formerly salt authority building, 16th century); Virgin Mary column; memorial to Emperor Franz-Joseph (1878); liberty monument.

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