Kremstal (Lower Austria)

View from Senftenberg to the Kremstal near Imbach

Parish church and castle ruins Senftenberg von Senftenberg (Lower Austria)

Parish Church of the Birth of Mary in Imbach - vineyards behind

The Kremstal in Lower Austria is the valley of the Lower Austrian river Krems . This is a left bank feeder to the Danube , which rises in the Waldviertel and originally flowed into the Danube at Krems an der Donau . Since the construction of the Altenwörth power station on the Danube , the junction has been moved downstream behind the power station.

The last time an extreme flood occurred on the Krems was in 2002, with considerable damage, just like in the nearby Kamptal .

In the upper reaches, the Krems flows through the rough primary rock landscape of the Waldviertel, which turns into a wine-growing landscape in the lower reaches . The wine-growing area belongs to the wine-growing region Weinland Austria , the quality wines are labeled as DAC Kremstal .

The small Kremstal runs between the (Großer) Krems and the Danube and has cut deep into the local low mountain range (up to 800 m) that accompanies the Wachau .

Below Hartenstein Castle , 15 km west of the city of Krems, you can find the Gudenus Cave from the Stone Age in the rocky shore . 70,000 years ago Neanderthals hunted mammoths , woolly rhinoceros , reindeer , wild horses and cave bears here . The upper cultural layer from Magdalenian (20,000 - 10,000 BC ) brought to light a bone pipe - the oldest musical instrument in Austria - and an eagle bone with an incised reindeer head.