Au (Vorarlberg)

The municipality of Au borders eight other Vorarlberg municipalities. Of these, six are located - namely the communities of Damüls , Mellau , Schnepfau , Bizau , Bezau and Schoppernau - as well as Au in the political district of Bregenz. The two neighboring communities Fontanella and Sonntag (Vorarlberg) are located in the neighboring district of Bludenz .

history

The first inhabitants in the Au area were originally Alemanni and mostly came from the Vorarlberg Rhine Valley plain or the Bregenz area. Permanent settlement should have taken place between 1200 and 1300, as a chapel in Jaghausen was inaugurated in 1372 .

The area of today's municipality was owned by King Rudolf von Habsburg , who later ceded the area to the Counts of Bregenz-Montfort. The Counts of Feldkirch-Montfort received the area by dividing the inheritance and used it for hunting. At this time the name "Jaghausen in den Owen" came into being because the counts had built their hunting lodge here. In 1375 Count Hugo von Montfort sold the area to Austria.

View from Grundholz on Au with haying farmers (around 1850/60)

Au was the center of the Au guild , which was largely responsible for the baroque architecture in southern Germany, Switzerland and Alsace. In Au, the local builder families Thumb and Beer developed the baroque Vorarlberg cathedral scheme in the 17th century :

West facade with a pair of towers, side aisles that protrude little, a domed crossing, with lateral galleries and galleries

In November 1762, a large rock fall occurred on Korbschroffen and changed the landscape significantly.

From 1805 to 1814 the place belonged to Bavaria, then again to Austria. The old school house in Jaghausen was opened in 1825 and in 1850 a school house was built in Rehmen. Au has belonged to the Austrian state of Vorarlberg since it was founded in 1861.

The place was part of the French occupation zone in Austria from 1945 to 1955 .

Population development

politics

The municipal council of Au consists of 18 members, all of whom belong to the Auer List (AL) after the 2015 municipal council election . Andreas Simma has been the mayor of the municipality since 2013.

Culture and sights

Parish church Au hl. Leonhard

Exterior view

View to the altar

High altar

View to the gallery

Catholic parish church Au hl. Leonhard: The parish church of St. Leonhard is surrounded by a walled cemetery in the NE. It was built in the Gothic style around 1390 instead of a chapel (had stood at this point since 1372). In 1788 the church was enlarged and redesigned in baroque style. 1981 to 1983 the church was restored inside and outside and in 2008 the outside of the church, including the tower and cemetery walls, was re-covered with larch shingles (excl. The east side) and the tower ball and tower cross were freshly gilded. The carved pulpit (18th century) and the stone carvings on the left side altar (1652, made of Auer marble) are particularly worth seeing. The high altar was created by Marggraf and Bertle around 1890 and the altarpiece "Good Shepherd" is by Wendelin Moosbrugger . The church door bears a Vorarlberg coat of arms.
Kuratienkirche Rehmen : The church was built in 1664 and enlarged at the beginning of the 18th century. The church was consecrated in 1717 and expanded in 1934. In 2012, after 1962, the onion dome was renovated again, including the bell cage and gold ball. The high altar (around 1700) and the "Holy Family" altarpiece by the painter Wendelin Moosbrugger (his father Leopold Moosbrugger was one of the "Käsgrafen" from Rehmen) around 1800 are well worth seeing .
Pilgrimage chapel Maria Schnee in Argen
Pilgrimage chapel Our Lady in the Woods in Berngat
Nature reserve Auer Ried and natural monument Wildflyschaufschluss Mitteltobelbach .

Economy and Infrastructure

In 2003 there were 58 commercial enterprises with 349 employees and 38 apprentices on site.
There were 709 employees subject to wage tax. Tourism and tourism are important. In the 2001/2002 tourism year there were a total of 191,173 overnight stays.

Established businesses

In the 19th century, the “Käsgrafen” from the Moosbrugger family (from Rehmen) ensured the delivery of the cheese in the monarchy and Lombardy. Subsequently, the cooperative Alma and the private cheese dairy Rupp in Lochau took over the marketing of the Vorarlberger Alpine and mountain cheese. A cooperative dairy is still operated on the Rehmen plot. Au has a large number of handicraft businesses (construction companies, carpenters, carpenters, window fitters, transport companies, plumber, tilers, plumbers, electricians, shindlers, painters, motor vehicle mechanics ...).

education

In Au there is a kindergarten and (as of January 2003) 333 pupils (elementary and middle school). The pupils of the Vorarlberg Middle School come from Au and the suburbs of Schoppernau, Schnepfau, Schröcken, Warth and Damüls.
The Vorarlberg children's village was founded in 1951 by chaplain Hugo Kleinbrod in Au-Rehmen and moved to Bregenz , Kronhalde at the end of the 1970s .

Sons and daughters of the church

The five orders, from Vignola's Regole delle cinque ordini d'architettura. From the Auer courses of the Auer Guild around 1715

Michael Beer (* 1605 in Au; † 1666 there), master builder and founder of the Au guild ; Father of Franz Beer
Caspar Moosbrugger (* 1656 in Au; † 1723 in Einsiedeln ), Auer Guild
Franz Beer von Au (* 1659 in Au; † May 17, 1722 ibid), Auer Zunft
Franz Beer von Bleichten (* 1660 in Au; † 1726 in Bezau ), master builder of the Au guild, son of Michael Beer
Michael Thumb (* around 1640 in Au-Argenau, † 1690 in Bezau), Vorarlberg builder of the Baroque era, father of Peter Thumb
Hans Willam (* 1702 in Au; † 1784 in St. Peter (Upper Black Forest) ), bricklayer, foreman and architect, member of the Au guild
Johann Ferdinand Beer (* 1731 in Au; † 1789 ibid), master builder
Wendelin Moosbrugger (* 1760 in Au-Rehmen, † 1849 in Aarau ), portrait and miniature painter
Kaspar Moosbrugger (* 1830 in Au-Schrecken † 1917 in Nüziders ), court adjunct , writer, party founder and brother-in-law of Franz Michael Felder (1839–1869).
Kaspar Albrecht (* 1889 in Au-Rehmen; † 1970 ibid), architect and sculptor
Natalie Beer (* 1903 in Au; † 1987 in Rankweil), writer
Walter Lingg Sr. (* 1925 in Au; † 2000 in Feldkirch ), hotelier, tourism expert and politician
Herbert Albrecht (* 1927 in Au-Rehmen), sculptor
Monika Helfer (* 1947 in Au), writer
Kilian Albrecht (* 1973 in Au), ski racer
Gigi Rüf (* 1981 in Au), snowboarder
Mathias Moosbrugger (* 1982 in Au), historian and Catholic theologian

literature

Markus Staudinger, Günter Bischof (site survey), Markus Staudinger (report): Update of the biotope inventory Vorarlberg - community Au . In: Vorarlberger Landesregierung Environmental Protection Department [IVe], AVL Arge Vegetation Ecology and Landscape Planning (Ed.): Biotopinventar Vorarlberg . February 2009 ( vorarlberg.at [PDF]).

Web links

Commons : Au - collection of images, videos and audio files

80203 - Au (Vorarlberg). Community data, Statistics Austria .

Individual evidence

[Metadaten_Einwohnerzahl_AT_Ortschaft_QUELLE-1] Statistics Austria: Population on January 1st, 2020 by locality (area status on January 1st, 2020) , ( CSV )

[2] The rugged basket