Great Gerungs

Groß Gerungs (until 1970 Großgerungs , until 2002 Groß-Gerungs ) is a municipality with 4453 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2020) in the Zwettl district in Lower Austria .

geography

Geographical location

Groß Gerungs is located in the Waldviertel in Lower Austria about 20 km west of Zwettl . The area of the municipality covers 105.88 km². 38.72 percent of the area is forested.

Community structure

The municipality includes the following 41 localities (population in brackets as of January 1, 2020):

Aigen (35)
Silly (40)
Antenfeinhöfe (26)
Blumau (23)
Boehmsdorf (82)
Dietmanns (88)
Egres (67)
Etlas (14)
Etzen (162)
Frauendorf (83)
Freitzenschlag (116)
Griesbach (242)
Great Gerungs (1091)
Great Meinharts (124)
Haid (74)
Harruck (103)
Cottages (43)
United Kingdoms (70)
Hypolz (61)
Josefsdorf (31)
Kinzenschlag (53)
Small Gundholz (55)
Klein Reinprechts (30)
Klein Wetzles (108)
Kotting Nondorf (51)
Marharts (41)
Muhlbach (43)
Nonndorf (87)
Upper Neustift (232)
Upper Rosenauerwald (384)
Oberkirchen (57)
Preinreichs (38)
Horsemen (20)
Sonic (20)
Schonbichl (89)
Siebenberg (55)
Seated Man (106)
Thai (226)
Wendelgraben (42)
Wormbright (118)

The community consists of the cadastral communities Aigen, Albern, Blumau, Böhmsdorf, Dietmanns, Eggress, Etlas, Etzen, Frauendorf , Freitzenschlag, Griesbach , Großgerungs, Großmeinharts, Haid, Harruck, Häusler, Heinreichs, Hypolz, Josefsdorf, Kleingundholz, Kleinreinprechts, Kleinwetzles, Kottingnondorf, Marharts, Mühlbach, Nonndorf, Oberkirchen, Oberneustift, Oberrosenauerwaldhäuser, Preinreichs, Schönbichl, Siebenberg, Sitzmanns, Thail, Wendelgraben and Wurmbrand.

Neighboring communities

Bad Großpertholz	Großschönau
Long strike		Zwettl
Liebenau (Upper Austria)	Arbesbach	Rappottenstein

history

Already in the 11th / 12th In the 19th century the place belonged to the ancestral area of the Kuenringer . Where the Ödenschlößl stands today, a castle was built in 1160 , which was later expanded into a palace , but fell into disrepair after 1600. In 1619 during the Thirty Years' War the place was sacked by imperial troops. Appointed a market in 1430 , the municipality was finally elevated to a town in 1983.

Population development

Culture and sights

Former prison (2007)

Stone pyramid in October 2006

The former rocking stone in the Pierbichlwald

Parish Church Etzen : The Romanesque country church from the 13th century received a Gothic sacristy extension in the 15th century and was converted to Baroque style at the end of the 18th century.
Parish church Griesbach : The core of the probably late Romanesque building with a Gothic rectangular choir from the 14th century was given a late Gothic north tower in the 15th century. In 1797 the nave was newly vaulted and in 1868 it was extended to the west with two yokes.
Parish Church of Groß Gerungs : The St. Margareta parish church is a Romanesque east tower church from the 12th / 13th centuries. Century, which was Gothicized in the 15th century . In the south aisle is the women's chapel from 1382, which contains Gothic vaults that were decorated with remarkable stucco during the Baroque period .

The two-storey rectory (built in 1815/16) has a post-baroque facade with stucco work .

The two houses No. 68 and 69 form the so-called Ödenschlößl in the south of the village and contain wall remains of the old fortifications. A castle was built there around 1160, which was later expanded into a palace, but fell into disrepair after 1600.

The baroque Marian column on the main square bears a rosary Madonna.

The pillory dates from the end of the 17th century.

On the arterial roads there are several sacred small monuments, e.g. B. a late Gothic tabernacle shrine from 1495 on the road to Dietmanns.

The power arena: The stone pyramid and several geotopes are located in the vicinity of Groß Gerung , which are advertised for tourists under the name “power arena”. All objects are assigned geomantic properties.
The stone pyramid (actually stepped cone ) is located in the Neuwald near Ober Neustift and consists of circular levels with a total height of 6.8 m. The diameter of the lowest step is 16.5 m, that of the top 7.2 m. When it was built and what purpose it served is not completely clear.
The globe is seven meters in diameter and weighs 500 tons , a round granite remnant, which is reminiscent of the globe and is located in the area from Oberrosenauerwald towards Rosenau Castle .
The approximately 6 meter long Kierlingstein in the forest between Böhmsdorf and Wurmbrand rests on four large stone blocks. There is a 40 cm deep bowl directly on the stone, which is always filled with water. Legend has it that this water has medicinal properties.
To the north-west of Groß Gerungs near the village of Thail, in the middle of a group of trees, there is a striking, three-meter-high “sacrificial stone” with a large shell formation.
In the Pierbichlwald on the way to the Klaus chapel there was a stone block weighing 24 t. Towering, it rested, inclined slightly downhill, on a huge stone formation. The rocking stone could just be moved by one person. After a hiker shook the stone in October 2011 and had already climbed down, the stone tipped over and broke in two. The Wackelstein von Harruck , which was also listed as a natural monument , was a popular destination.

Lichtspiele Gerungs: The first Groß Gerungs cinema was run by a married couple named Schmidtner in the Gasthaus Hirsch on the main square in the early 1930s. Ms. Schmidtner played the piano during the breaks and often accompanied the silent films shown. After a few years they moved to the Gasthaus Kapeller (later known as Gasthaus Höfner). There Mr. Franz Benda, who was also conductor and music teacher, took over the business. He also provided background music for the silent films. There were three performances every Sunday, and there was no play on weekdays. If other events such as balls were held in the hall, the seats in the cinema had to be dismantled and then put back up again. In 1938, the premises at Untere Marktplatz 25, which still exist today, were built. In the new cinema, sound films were shown for the first time, which usually followed the advertisement and the subsequent newsreel. At the time of National Socialism , the cinemas were an important propaganda medium for the regime. During the period of Soviet occupation, American films became increasingly popular, despite Soviet cultural programs. The romantically transfigured Heimatfilm also flourished after the dark years of the war. After Franz Benda suddenly died in 1947, his nephew Alfred Benda took over the business. Together with his wife Leopoldine, he ran the cinema until 1997. After that, the premises remained empty. On September 21, 2007, the cultural association Yellow reopened the cinema after two and a half months of renovation work. Until April 2012, film weekends were held on a monthly basis (with the exception of summer and winter breaks). Robert Edinger and the youth club have been overseeing the concept and the arthouse cinema since summer 2012.

economy

In 2001 there were 183 non-agricultural workplaces, agricultural and forestry operations 532 according to the 1999 survey. According to the 2001 census, the number of people in employment in the place of residence was 2159. The 2001 employment rate was 45.87 percent.

One of the largest local employers is the Groß Gerungs cardiovascular center .

Groß Gerungs is the end point of the southern branch of the Waldviertel narrow-gauge railways , on which only a nostalgic tourist business has been run since 2001.

In the local area, Greiner Straße B 119, which connects Weitra with Grein , and Böhmerwald Straße B 38, which leads from Horn to Kollerschlag , cross each other .

In the next 15 years, Groß Gerungs will be bypassed and the federal highways 38 and 41 between Zwettl and Freistadt will be expanded to enable a convenient connection to the Mühlviertel expressway , which is also currently being built. Together with the mostly three-lane (2 + 1 system) B 37, this creates a fast east-west connection between Krems, Zwettl, Groß Gerungs and Upper Austria .

politics

Municipal council

In the city council , there are a total of 25 seats after the municipal elections of 26 January 2020 the following distribution of seats: ÖVP 18, the FPÖ 3, SPO 2 and Bürgerliste Germs second

mayor

1968 to? Johann Haider (ÖVP)
since ? Maximilian Igelsböck (ÖVP)

People related to the city

Joseph Böhm (1831–1893), Austrian botanist and plant physiologist, professor at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna (see also the monument in the arcade courtyard of the University of Vienna)
Johann Haider (1921–1997), Austrian politician (ÖVP), member of the National Council
Andreas Haider-Maurer (* 1987), Austrian tennis player
Hermann Haneder (* 1952), President of the Chamber for Workers and Salaried Employees for Lower Austria (AKNÖ) and Chairman of the Lower Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB Niederösterreich)
Josef Haslinger (* 1955), Austrian writer
Anton Kaufmann (1890–1977), Austrian politician (ÖVP), member of the Lower Austrian state parliament
Othmar Knapp (1940–2008), Austrian politician (ÖVP), member of the Lower Austrian state parliament
Josef Maringer (1862–1950), Austrian politician (CSP), member of the Lower Austrian state parliament
Fridolin Karl Puhr (1913–?), SS-Hauptsturmführer and as a troop doctor in the Dachau concentration camp

literature

Evelyn Benesch, Bernd Euler-Rolle , Claudia Haas, Renate Holzschuh-Hofer, Wolfgang Huber, Katharina Packpfeifer, Eva Maria Vancsa-Tironiek, Wolfgang Vogg: Lower Austria north of the Danube (= Dehio-Handbuch . Die Kunstdenkmäler Österreichs ). Anton Schroll & Co, Vienna et al. 1990, ISBN 3-7031-0652-2 , p. 326-328 .
Franz Eppel : The Waldviertel, its works of art, historical forms of life and settlement , Salzburg 1989, ISBN 3-900173-01-X

Web links

Commons : Large Gerungs - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Official website of the community of Groß Gerungs
32508 - Large Gerungs. Community data, Statistics Austria .
Website of the parish of Groß Gerungs

Individual evidence

↑ Statistics Austria: Population on January 1st, 2020 by locality (area status on January 1st, 2020) , ( CSV )

↑ Entry about Ödenschlössl Castle in Lower Austria Burgen online - Institute for Reality Studies of the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times, University of Salzburg

↑ Michaela Schara: Kierlingstein, Groß Gerungs. In: kultkraftplatz.com. October 17, 2007, accessed May 9, 2018 .

↑ Jürgen Zahrl: Rocking stone weighing 24 tons broke , NÖN, October 12, 2011

↑ Natural monument in ruins. In: noe.orf.at . October 11, 2011, accessed April 30, 2020.

^ Election result of the 2015 municipal council election in Groß Gerungs. Office of the Lower Austrian State Government, December 1, 2015, accessed on January 31, 2020 .

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