Reichenau on the Rax

market community Reichenau on the Rax
coat of arms	Austria map
Basic data
Country:	Austria
State :	Lower Austria
Political District :	Neunkirchen
License plate :	NK
Surface:	89.22 km²
Coordinates :	47 ° 42 '  N , 15 ° 50'  E Coordinates: 47 ° 41 '58 "  N , 15 ° 50' 24"  E
Height :	484  m above sea level A.
Residents :	2,515 (Jan 1, 2020)
Postcodes :	2651, 2654
Area code :	02666
Community code :	3 18 29
Address of the municipal administration:	Hauptstrasse 63 2651 Reichenau an der Rax
Website:	www.reichenau.at
politics
Mayor :	Johann Döller ( ÖVP )
Municipal Council : ( 2020 ) (21 members)	15th 4th 1 1 15th 4th 1 1  A total of 21 seats ÖVP : 15 SPÖ : 4 FPÖ : 1 GREEN : 1
Location of Reichenau an der Rax in the Neunkirchen district
Source: Municipal data from Statistics Austria

Reichenau an der Rax ( capital of a market community ) locality ( capital of the community ) cadastral municipality Reichenau
Basic data
Pole. District , state	Neunkirchen , Lower Austria
Judicial district	Neunkirchen
Pole. local community	Reichenau on the Rax
Coordinates	47 ° 41 ′ 58 "  N , 15 ° 50 ′ 24"  E
height	484  m above sea level A.
Residents of the village	1296 (January 1, 2020)
Building status	586 (2001 )
Area  d. KG	5.31 (2019)
Post Code	2651
Statistical identification
Locality code	05273
Cadastral parish number	23137
Counting district / district	Reichenau an der Rax (31 829 000)
Source: STAT : index of places ; BEV : GEONAM ; NÖGIS

Reichenau around 1900

View of the districts of Hirschwang and Reichenau from the Raxalpe (2010)

Kurhaus around 1900

Reichenau an der Rax is a market town located at the foothills of the Viennese Alps in Lower Austria with 2515 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2020). It is recognized as a climatic health resort .

Community structure

The municipality comprises 15 localities (population in brackets as of January 1, 2020):

• Dörfl (109)
• Edlach an der Rax (295)
• Griesleiten (33)
• Grossau (39)
• Grunsting (45)
• Hinterleiten (53)
• Hirschwang on the Rax (356)
• Kleinau (21)
• Mayerhöfen (13)
• Oberland (10)
• Prein an der Rax (151)
• Preinrotte (48)
• Reichenau an der Rax (1296)
• Sonnleiten (34)
• Thonberg (12)

The community consists of six cadastral communities (area as of December 31, 2019):

• Grünsting (823.26 ha)
• Hirschwang (339.40 ha)
• Hirschwanger Forest (2,413.56 ha)
• Klein- and Großau (3,591.27 ha)
• Prein (1,256.59 ha)
• Reichenau (531.34 ha)

geography

The community with its individual places is at the foot of the Rax at 484 to 680 m above sea level. The rivers through the municipality are the Schwarza , the Preinbach and the Grünstingbach.

The place Reichenau is about two kilometers away from the Südbahn . There is a common train station with Payerbach , from which trains to Vienna run every half hour on weekdays (journey time around 70 minutes). The name of the station is Payerbach-Reichenau.

Neighboring communities

Two of the seven neighboring communities are in the Styrian district of Bruck-Mürzzuschlag  (BM).

Schwarzau in the mountains		Puchberg am Schneeberg
Neuberg an der Mürz  (BM)		Burg-Vöstenhof
Spital am Semmering  (BM)	Breitenstein	Payerbach

The Rax

The Rax is a mountain range with a high plateau which, together with the Schneeberg, forms the northeasternmost foothills of the Limestone Alps . The mountain is 2007  m high, the highest point is called Heukuppe . Guesthouses and huts on the Rax are Raxalpen-Berggasthof, Otto-Schutzhaus , Seehütte , Habsburghaus , Karl-Ludwig-Haus , Waxriegelhaus and the Edelweißhütte on Preiner Gscheid .

The Rax cable car , which is 2160 m long and overcomes a height difference of 1017 m, leads from Hirschwang to the plateau . The Raxseilbahn, built in 1925, is the first passenger cableway within today's borders of Austria.

climate

Average monthly temperatures and precipitation for Reichenau an der Rax Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 4.2 5.6 9.4 14.5 19.4 22.2 24.5 24.1 19.6 15.1 8.8 4.6 O 14.4 Min. Temperature (° C) -4.5 -3.5 -0.2 3.3 7.6 10.8 12.5 12.1 8.7 4.5 0.5 -3.2 O 4.1 Temperature (° C) -0.7 0.4 4.0 8.5 13.3 16.4 18.2 17.5 13.3 8.8 3.9 0.3 O 8.7 Precipitation ( mm ) 49 49 74 60 108 120 120 122 97 67 69 63 Σ 998 Humidity ( % ) 62.8 58.1 55.0 50.6 54.5 56.1 53.8 54.9 58.0 59.8 65.5 67.4 O 58 T e m p e r a t u r 4.2 -4.5 5.6 -3.5 9.4 -0.2 14.5 3.3 19.4 7.6 22.2 10.8 24.5 12.5 24.1 12.1 19.6 8.7 15.1 4.5 8.8 0.5 4.6 -3.2 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Source: ZAMG average climate values ​​1981 - 2010

history

The place Reichenau was especially known in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy as a luxury spa. Since the region was opened up in 1842 with the construction of the southern railway , Reichenau has developed into a summer retreat for the Viennese nobility and upper middle class . The sophisticated character of the place was particularly promoted in 1870/72 by the establishment of the Villa Wartholz for Archduke Carl Ludwig . Another historic castle in the municipality, Rothschild Castle or Hinterleiten Castle, was built between 1884 and 1889 in neo- Louis XIII style for Nathaniel Meyer Freiherr von Rothschild , but was soon donated to the Austro-Hungarian War Ministry as a home for disabled subaltern officers .

Arthur Schnitzler and Peter Altenberg were often guests in Reichenau. Schnitzler, who was particularly connected to the landlady of the Thalhof , Olga Waissnix , wrote the novella Lieutenant Gustl here in the summer of 1900 in just six days .

The Riegelhof in the Prein an der Rax district , no. 23, was the summer residence of the Doderer family for decades . A series of texts by the Austrian novelist Heimito von Doderer (1896–1966) (e.g. from “ Die Strudlhofstiege or Melzer and the depth of the years ”).

The upswing in alpinism was reflected in the development of the nearby Rax massif. Emperor Franz Joseph I and his wife spent a few summers here with their family. Crown Prince Rudolf gave the cold water sanatorium of the same name and the Rudolfsvilla their names.

On July 26, 1944, an American Boeing B-17 of the USAAF , 301st Bombardment Group, was shot down over the district of Prein an der Rax . The plane exploded in midair, killing three out of ten crew members. In April 1945 the area around Reichenau was the scene of fierce fighting between the later German 9th Mountain Division (East) and the Red Army , which tried to penetrate into Styria via the Semmering Pass .

The history of Reichenau is also closely linked to the construction of the Semmering Railway. Since 1988 the Reichenau Festival has given the spa town new cultural and tourist impulses.

Population development

As of February 7, 2017, the market town of Reichenau an der Rax had 2,567 residents with main residence and a further 1,700 with secondary residence.

religion

According to the data of the 2001 census , 72.5% of the population were Roman Catholic , 8.8% Protestant , 5.8% Muslim , 1.0% belonged to Orthodox churches , and 10.3% of the population had no religious denomination.

The parish church of Edlach an der Rax is one of the Catholic church buildings .

Culture and sights

St. Nepomuk at the Johannesbrücke over the Schwarza

See also:  List of listed objects in Reichenau an der Rax

• Kurtheater Reichenau
• Villa Wartholz
• Rothschild Castle
• Kurhaus Thalhof
• Rudolfsvilla
• Music pavilion in the spa gardens
• Heimito von Doderer - monument by the sculptor Kurt Ingerl (1935–1999) at the fork in the street Grießleiten-Preiner Gscheid
• Payerbach-Hirschwang museum railway (Höllentalbahn)
• Water pipe museum Kaiserbrunn (Wr. High spring pipe)
• Nepomuk Chapel: The baroque chapel of the bridge saint Johannes von Nepomuk , the lattice of which is a particularly beautiful smithy, dates from before 1734, because in that year it is already mentioned in a land register of the Reichenau rule. The figure of St. Nepomuk, probably carved in pear wood, comes from an unknown artist. It was last restored in spring 2011 by the painter Mino Sudik , who lives in Reichenau .

Reichenau Castle

The castle was built around 1190.

In 2003, the Lower Austrian provincial exhibition on the subject of "Theaterworld, World Theater" was set up in Reichenau Castle . In 2004 a special exhibition focused on the "fascination of the Semmering Railway ".

The revitalized Reichenau Castle is home to interesting and top-class exhibitions on a wide variety of topics every year:

• In 2006, on the occasion of Sigmund Freud's 150th birthday, the municipality of Reichenau presented the exhibition “Dream Faces - Freud - Kubin - Schnitzler”. This show offered an interesting examination of the subject of dreams in science, visual and performing arts.
• In 2007 the exhibition “150 Years of the Southern Railway - Vienna – Trieste - Full Steam to the South” took place.
• In 2008 the focus was on “hunting and gathering”.
• In 2009 the show “A / D RAX” consisted of the special exhibitions “Artists” and “Alpine”.
• In 2010 two special exhibitions will be presented: “200 years of painting from Brauer to Defregger” and “Soul glances: Erik Srodiks Reichenau am Meer”.

Rudolfsvilla

The Rudolfsvilla

The former "Kaiservilla" is located in Thalhofstrasse above the village and was built in 1857 by Ringstrasse architect Anton Hefft as a summer residence for Emperor Franz Josef and his family. They used the building as a summer residence until 1865. The spa doctor from the neighboring imperial cold water sanatorium in Rudolfsbad practiced here at times. After the death of Crown Prince Rudolf in 1889, the property was renamed "Rudolfsvilla". This villa and its facilities survived the Second War almost unscathed. Today the “Sissi Castle” is privately owned.

Events

The Reichenau Festival is the cultural highlight of the summer in Reichenau. Founded in 1988 by Peter and Renate Loidolt, they have developed over the years to supra-regional importance and one of the leading addresses in the Austrian festival calendar. They take place between the beginning of July and the beginning of August every year. Around 120 performances are shown during daily play. Around 41,000 visitors from Germany and abroad travel to these popular performances every year.

The Wartholz literature competition has existed since 2008. The international competition is held in February each year. The Villa Wartholz is also opened for “artist in residence” every year in August. The LiteraturSalon ties in with the artistic life of historical times and offers events all year round.

Every summer the International Summer Academy is organized here in cooperation with the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and the Universities of Prague and Budapest .

Thalhofstrasse with Hotel Thalhof (right) and two branches in 1912

Site design

As part of the European Entente Florale Europe competition , Reichenau was awarded a silver medal in the village category in 2010 .

Economy and Infrastructure

Reichenau is located on the Grauwackenzone . Already around 1000 BC Ore was mined in the area . In the municipality there are remains of several small mines, in which iron ore, copper and other ores were mined from the 16th to the 19th century.

The southern railway line opened in 1842, making Reichenau a travel destination. The Payerbach-Hirschwang museum railway runs on Sundays in summer .

In the vicinity of Reichenau is Kaiserbrunn . Part of the Viennese water comes from there . The first Viennese spring water pipeline was built between 1869 and 1873.

At the end of the 18th century there was a general shortage of firewood. Wood was felled in the Rax area and transported away via the Schwarza or wooden slides, one of which can still be seen today.

Today Reichenau is a popular climatic health resort and tourist destination with around 130,000 overnight stays per year.

The City of Vienna operated its own sawmill in Hirschwang until the end of 2016.

leisure

Reichenau is the starting point for many hiking trails and via ferratas on the Rax, the Gahns and the Kreuzberg. In addition, since 2008 it has been one of two mountaineering villages in Lower Austria.

politics

The municipal council has 21 members. After the municipal council elections, the municipal council had the following distributions:

• 1990: 16 ÖVP and 7 SPÖ
• 1995: 14 ÖVP, 6 SPÖ, 2 election platforms for Reichenau List Erlach and 1 FPÖ
• 2000: 14 ÖVP, 7 SPÖ and 2 FPÖ (23 members)
• 2005 : 12 ÖVP, 8 SPÖ and 1 FPÖ
• 2010 : 14 ÖVP, 4 SPÖ, 2 people in Reichenau MIR and 1 FPÖ
• 2015 : 11 ÖVP, 6 SPÖ, 2 people in Reichenau MIR, 1 FPÖ and 1 Greens

Since the municipal council elections in Lower Austria 2020 , the municipal council has the following distribution:

15 ÖVP, 4 SPÖ, 1 FPÖ and 1 Greens

mayor

• 1996–2017 Johann Ledolter (ÖVP)
• since 2017 Johann Döller (ÖVP)

Personalities

Villa Wartholz around 1900

Riegelhof in Prein an der Rax No. 23

Honorary citizen

• 2018: Johann Ledolter (* 1950), ÖVP politician , Mayor of Reichenau an der Rax 1995–2017, member of the Federal Council 1999–2003, member of the National Council 2003–2006

Sons and daughters of the church

• Hans Lanner (1873–1964), zither player, teacher and composer
• Otto Gröger (1876–1953), adjunct professor at the University of Zurich and editor-in-chief of the Swiss Idiotikon
• Maria Annunziata of Austria (1876–1961), Archduchess of Austria
• Erni Kniepert (1911–1990), costume designer
• Otto von Habsburg (1912–2011), Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary 1916–1918, head of the Habsburg-Lothringen families 1930–2007, CSU politician
• Johann Ledolter (* 1950)

Personalities associated with the community

• Toni Böhm (1949–2006), folk actor , died in Reichenau
• Heimito von Doderer (1896–1966) often lived and worked in his family's summer residence in the Riegelhof in Prein
• Ernst Fischer (1891–1978), businessman, politician of the CS , member of the Federal Council 1933–1934, member of the Bundestag 1936–1938, died in Reichenau
• Friedrich von Flotow (1812–1883), moved his permanent residence to an estate in Reichenau in 1868
• Albert Geßmann (1852–1920), librarian, CS politician , died in Prein
• Julius Herz (1825–1910), railway engineer, died in Reichenau
• Theodor Herzl (1860–1904), married in Reichenau in 1889 and lived repeatedly in Edlach until his death
• Josef Graf Hoyos-Sprinzenstein (1839–1899), kk chamberlain, hunting friend of Crown Prince Rudolf , died in the Hotel Edlacherhof , Edlach an der Rax
• Albert Konried (actually: Albert Kohn, from 1867 to 1918), doctor, 1898-99 founder and owner of the water-cure establishment Edlach and the sanatorium Edlach
• Camillo Kronich (1876–1958), restaurateur, known as "Raxkönig", died in Reichenau
• Peter Loidolt (* 1945), festival director, director of the Reichenau Festival since 1988
• Karl von Meißner (1809–1868), railway pioneer, professor of building sciences, died in Reichenau
• Richard Mohaupt (1904–1957), composer and conductor, died in Reichenau
• Franz Schalk (1863–1931), conductor, director of the Vienna State Opera , died in Edlach
• Franz von Stejskal (1829–1898), police chief in Vienna 1892–1897, died in Reichenau
• Ernst Strachwitz (1919–1998), politician ( ÖVP , VdU ), member of the National Council 1949–1953, publicist, lived in Prein from 1962 until his death
• Heinrich Teweles (1856–1927), playwright, non-fiction author, essayist, theater critic, theater director and editor-in-chief, died in Reichenau

literature

• Franz Haas: Reichenau and its picturesque surroundings. A guide for spa guests and nature lovers. 4th, significantly increased edition. Publishing house of the Kurkommission, Reichenau 1905, OBV .
• Johann Robert Pap: Homeland book of the community Reichenau. Market community Kurort Reichenau, Reichenau 1958, OBV .
• Johann Robert Pap: 150 years of tourism, 50 years of a health resort. Health resort commission of the market town Kurort Reichenau, Reichenau an der Rax 1979, OBV .
• Robert Pap, Eva Pusch: Reichenau an der Rax. 1st edition. Verlag Niederösterreichisches Pressehaus, St. Pölten / Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-85326-846-3 .
• Claudia Girardi: Pegasus on ascent and descent. Poet and poetry between Rax and Semmering . With contributions by Andrea Traxler and Irmtraud Fidler. Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 1997, ISBN 3-205-98738-1 .
• Georg Dolezal: The community of Reichenau during the war and occupation. The Second World War and its consequences using the example of a market town in southern Lower Austria. Thesis. University of Vienna, Vienna 2002, OBV .
• Norbert Toplitsch: Habsburgs in Reichenau, dedicated to the market town of Kurort Reichenau in the year of the Lower Austrian Provincial Exhibition 2003. Edition Terra Nova, Ternitz-Pottschach 2003, OBV
• Robert Pap: Reichenauer walks. Cultural hiking trails in Reichenau, Edlach, Prein, Hirschwang . New edition (first edition 1998). Kral, Berndorf, ISBN 978-3-99024-153-0 .
• Roland Kals / Regina Stampfl / Peter Haßlacher: Reichenau an der Rax - Where artists and therapists go to the mountains, Austrian Alpine Association, Innsbruck 2013, ( austria-forum.org )

Web links

Commons : Reichenau an der Rax  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• 31829 - Reichenau an der Rax. Community data, Statistics Austria .
• www.reichenau.at Website of the municipality
• Mountaineering village Reichenau an der Rax

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Legally recognized climatic health resorts in Austria , on Oehkv.at, accessed on June 7, 2015.
2. ↑ Statistics Austria: Population on January 1st, 2020 by locality (area status on January 1st, 2020) , ( CSV )
3. ↑ Regionalinformation , bev.gv.at (1,094 kB); accessed on January 10, 2020.
4. ^ Riegelhof Landsitz Doderer , accessed on December 30, 2018.
5. ↑ Crash of a B-17 near Reichenau an der Rax on July 26, 1944 , regiowiki.at, accessed on December 16, 2014.
6. ↑ Numbers, data, facts . Reichenau on the Rax. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
7. ^ Peter Aichinger-Rosenberger ( et al. ): Lower Austria south of the Danube . Volume 2: M to Z. Dehio manual . Berger, Horn / Wien 2003, pp. 1822 f., OBV .
8. ↑ Wolfgang Greisenegger: “Theaterwelt - Welttheater. Tradition & Modernism around 1900, Lower Austrian State Exhibition 2003, Reichenau an der Rax, May 1 to November 2, 2003. “Springer, Vienna ( inter alia) 2003, ISBN 3-211-00482-3 .
9. ↑ Karl Heinz Knauer, Günter Dinhobl: “Fascination Semmering Railway. An exhibition by the Technisches Museum Wien and the market town of Reichenau an der Rax in Reichenau Castle, July 3, 2004 to November 2, 2004. “Technisches Museum Wien, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-902183-09-8 .
10. ↑ habenau.at
11. ↑ Horst Ebner: “150 years of the Südbahn - full steam ahead to the south. Catalog for the exhibition, Reichenau an der Rax, May 27 to November 4, 2007. “Marktgemeinde Reichenau an der Rax, Reichenau an der Rax 2007,  OBV .
12. ↑ Horst Ebner: “Hunt fever and collect feverishly. Catalog for the exhibition, Reichenau Castle an der Rax, May 18 to November 2, 2008. “Market town of Reichenau an der Rax, Reichenau an der Rax 2008, ISBN 978-3-200-01219-6 .
13. ↑ Michael Hackenberg: "Mining in the Semmering area." In: "Archive for deposit research of the Federal Geological Institute." Volume 24/2003, Vienna 2003, ZDB -ID 2434370-5 , pp. 32–37 (PDF; 12.7 MB).
14. ↑ "Ideas - Deeds - Facts, No. 1: Start conference mountaineering villages in the mountaineering village of Ginzling, from 10. – 11. July 2008 ", Austrian Alpine Association as part of the project" Specific Alpine Convention: Via Alpina and Bergsteigerdörfer ", Spatial Planning-Nature Conservation Department, Innsbruck 2008, p. 4. PDF download ( memento of November 8, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on 7 November 2018.
15. ^ Result of the local council election 1995 in Reichenau an der Rax. Office of the Lower Austrian State Government, March 30, 2000, accessed on September 27, 2019 . 
16. ^ Election result of the municipal council election 2000 in Reichenau an der Rax. Office of the Lower Austrian State Government, February 4, 2005, accessed on September 27, 2019 . 
17. ^ Election result of the municipal council election 2005 in Reichenau an der Rax. Office of the Lower Austrian State Government, March 4, 2005, accessed on September 27, 2019 . 
18. ^ Election result of the municipal council election 2010 in Reichenau an der Rax. Office of the Lower Austrian State Government, October 8, 2010, accessed on September 27, 2019 . 
19. ^ Election result of the 2015 municipal council election in Reichenau an der Rax. Office of the Lower Austrian State Government, December 1, 2015, accessed on September 27, 2019 . 
20. ↑ Results of the municipal council election 2020 in Reichenau an der Rax. Office of the Lower Austrian State Government, January 26, 2020, accessed on January 26, 2020 . 
21. ↑ NÖN: Mayor Ledolter announced resignation , article from October 25, 2017, accessed on November 3, 2017.
22. ↑ NÖN: Mayor election: Reichenau has new local chief , article from December 14, 2017, accessed on December 15, 2017.
23. ↑ https://www.noen.at/neunkirchen/johann-ledolter-neuer-ehrenbuerger-reichenau-feierte-altbuergermeister-ehrenbuerger-johann-ledolter-95842229# , accessed on April 30, 2019.
24. ↑ Little Chronicle. (...) Flotow †. In:  Die Presse , Abendblatt, No. 23/1883 (XXXVI. Year), January 25, 1883, p. 3 middle. (Online at ANNO ). .
25. ↑ Little Chronicle. (...) † Count Joseph Hoyos. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Abendblatt (No. 12480/1899), May 23, 1899, p. 6 middle. (Online at ANNO ). .