Main Square (Freistadt)
The main square is a large, roughly 6500 square meter, rectangular square in Freistadt in Upper Austria's Mühlviertel . The square was laid out when the city was founded in the 13th century and is located within the city walls of the old town . The main square is the center of the city and has always served as a marketplace; the Pauli market has been taking place here since the 15th century. Today the square offers parking space for 90 cars and, in summer, space for several pub gardens for the neighboring inns.
In addition to the parish church, there are 23 listed houses around the main square. In the two great city fires in 1507 and 1516, all the houses in the city were destroyed, including in this area. Due to the city fires, many old documents from the time the houses were built have been lost.
Listed buildings
Sorted by today's house numbers with details of the former address in brackets in the Middle Ages. These buildings were included in Austria's list of monuments until 2004.
- Hauptplatz 1 (Town Hall, formerly City No. 119 )
The only four-storey building in the old town with an almost square floor plan. The core dates from the Renaissance period and was redesigned in the Baroque period. The facade has a rustic-framed Renaissance portal with the year 1710 on the keystone. In the course of the expansion of the grammar school , the top floor was built in 1868. In 1912 a plaque for the poet Edward Samhaber was placed on the facade . Inside, the wide central passage has a groined vault, as do the upper floor corridors. Numerous rooms have baroque groin and lancet barrel vaults.
- Hauptplatz 2 (community center, formerly town No. 118 )
A three-story house that has been a listed building since 1971. The Renaissance facade is remarkable and numerous structural details have been preserved (window frames, Renaissance walled battlement frieze). The Renaissance plaster decor dates from around 1580/1600. Inside, the central passage has a barrel vault . The upper floor corridors have late Gothic groin vaults. The place rooms have baroque plastered tram ceilings over armor trees, the furnishings partly date from the 19th century (ovens, seating areas, etc.).
- Hauptplatz 3 (community center, formerly town No. 117 )
A three-winged building complex from the late Gothic period with an addition in the Baroque period around a rectangular, late Gothic arcaded courtyard. The main front is adorned by two corner turrets, the left one has an arbor on the ground floor (end of the 15th century). Inside, the wide central passage has a barrel vault. Otherwise there are late Gothic ribbed vaults on the ground floor and a baroque plastered Riemling ceiling on armor trees. Numerous late Gothic window and door frames adorn the facade. The house has been a listed building since 1940.
- Hauptplatz 4 (community center, formerly town no.116 )
A three-axle, three-storey house with a late medieval core and a Baroque extension. The main front has a segmented arched door and on the first floor window walls with late Gothic profiled windows with grooved sills. Inside there are barrel vaults at ground level and on the first floor there is a clad Riemling ceiling above armor tree in the place room. The house has been a listed building since 1971.
- Hauptplatz 5 (community center, formerly town No. 115 )
A medieval building complex around a narrow Renaissance arcaded courtyard that has been a listed building since 1940. The facade has late Gothic profiled window frames. Inside, numerous rooms have barrel vaults. The deep cellar with a lancet barrel vault on a central pillar is remarkable.
- Corner building at Hauptplatz 6 / Samtgasse 1 (community center, formerly town No. 114 )
A mighty, three-story house with a Renaissance arcade courtyard. At the front there is a late Gothic, tower-like central bay window from the end of the 15th century. To the side of the tower is a late Gothic wide bay window. The facade is kept in strict historicism and dates from the fourth quarter of the 19th century. On the first floor there is a hall with a late Gothic ribbed vault. The building, which has been a listed building since 1940, served as the seat of the Soviet headquarters for Freistadt from 1945 to 1955 and is popularly known as the Hagleitner House.
- Hauptplatz 7 (community center, formerly town No. 105 )
A three-storey late Gothic wide bay house with an arcade courtyard from the second half of the 15th century. Adaptations were made in the baroque period. The broad bay window sits on corrugated bricks from around 1510/20. The house used to be the Gasthaus zur Goldenen Krone, which is why the crown is the house symbol. Inside there are barrel vaults on the ground floor and first floor and a plastered tram ceiling on armor tree on the second floor. The inner courtyard has an arcade on two sides. The house has been a listed building since 1940.
- Corner building at Hauptplatz 8 / Böhmergasse 1 (town house, formerly town No. 104 )
A three-storey corner house that has been a listed building since 1940. The house was extended at the end of the 18th century. The upper floor structure of the facade is made by giant pilaster strips and the facade bears the rich late baroque stucco windows. Inside there is a barrel vaulted side corridor as well as a stitch cap barrel vault on the ground floor. On the first floor the Platzstube has a Riemling ceiling on consoles and armor tree, which is marked 1674. Several late Gothic portal garments have been preserved.
- Corner building at Hauptplatz 9 / Böhmergasse 2 (town house, formerly town no.5 )
Another mighty, late-Gothic corner building with a Renaissance arcade courtyard. The three-storey front bears a round corner bay window from around 1600. A round arched portal bears the year 1608. The late Baroque upper floor façade bears the year 1794. Inside, the room structure on the ground floor has been changed and converted into business premises. The corridors have baroque barrel vaults and baroque plastered tram ceilings. The arcade courtyard shows Tuscan columns and a groin vault on two sides. The building has been a listed building since 1940.
- Corner building at Hauptplatz 10 / outer castle courtyard (town house, formerly town no.6 )
A three-story building complex around a late Gothic arcade courtyard on the corner of the outer courtyard. The main front has large arched openings on the ground floor. The upper floors are furnished with delicate neo-classical / Josephine stucco window decor from around 1800. The building, which has been a listed building since 1989, has a wide, barrel-vaulted side corridor on the inside, a room with a two-bay, late-Gothic cross-ribbed vault and a wooden beam ceiling painted in the late Middle Ages with a floral decoration. There are also medieval, tabernacle-shaped light niches.
- Corner building at Hauptplatz 11 / outer castle courtyard (town house, formerly town no.7 )
A narrow, medieval corner house with adaptations in the Baroque period (17th / 18th century). The main front bears a late Gothic, later reinforced wide bay window. Inside there are barrel or groin vaulted side corridors. The plaza has a plastered wooden ceiling with a baroque stucco field. The former stable facing the courtyard has a belt-lined barrel vault, probably around 1703. The house has been a listed building since 1994.
- Hauptplatz 12 (community center, formerly town no.8 )
A building complex typical for Freistadt with the main building, courtyard wings and rear building, which has been a listed building since 1940. Two individual houses were combined under Jakob Ries around 1617. The very broad front has a late Gothic wide bay window on differently designed consoles. There are many late Gothic window and door frames on the entire building complex. Inside, the central passage has a barrel vault, and on the first floor there is a two-aisled hallway from around 1617. The place room has a Riemling ceiling over armor tree. The hook-shaped courtyard has a late Gothic portico in two places.
- Hauptplatz 13 (community center, formerly town no.9 )
A late Gothic building complex with a narrow inner courtyard and largely preserved late Gothic building fabric. The narrow three-axis main house has a side passage and a richly profiled pointed arched gate and several segmented arched windows at ground level. Inside the house has late Gothic barrel vaults and ribbed vaults. On the first floor there is a corridor with a ribbed vault. The Platzstube has a Riemling cover over armor tree. The rear building has a two-aisled, ribbed vaulted hall on an octagonal central pillar on the ground floor. The courtyard has late Gothic flat bay windows and numerous late Gothic portal and window frames. The building has been a listed building since 1989.
- Hauptplatz 14 (community center, formerly town no.10 )
A building with a residential wing and a rear building that has been a listed building since 1940. The core building dates from the second half of the 15th century and was rebuilt in both the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The late Gothic wide bay window was reinforced around 1816. The late Gothic main portal was redesigned several times. Inside there are late Gothic vaults on the ground floor and first floor, some with ribbed vaults. The rear building was built above the Zwingermauer and in the ground floor, former stable there is a two-aisled hall with groin vaults on Tuscan columns.
- Hauptplatz 15 (community center, formerly town no.11 )
The main building was completely rebuilt in 1967/68, but the facade was retained. The facade dates from around 1816–1822, the baroque rear building from 1761, when the Piarists adapted the building. The three-storey facade has a low attic and a tower-like central tower with a curved gable crown. The rear building extends to the inner city wall. Inside there is a two-aisled, groin-vaulted hall on square central and wall pillars on the ground floor. The house has been a listed building since 1971.
- Hauptplatz 16 (community center, formerly town no.12 )
A building complex that was created from two individual houses and encloses an inner courtyard with two-sided arcades. The building, which has been a listed building since 1940, still has numerous late Gothic building details. The four-storey main front has a wide bay window on consoles. The late Gothic segment arch portal has a richly profiled frame. Inside there is a barrel vaulted central passage and on the first floor there is a hall with a late Gothic cross rib vault. In the inner courtyard there are two- and three-storey, late Gothic arcades with round and segmented arcades with transverse barrels on beveled pillars.
- Hauptplatz 17 (community center, formerly town No. 13 )
A late-Gothic house with renovations in the second half of the 17th and 19th centuries has been a listed building since 1995. The main front has a silhouette pilaster structure on the upper floors. The basket arch portal from the 19th century is flanked by supporting pillars with the year 1668. Inside there is a barrel-vaulted side passage on the ground floor with a staircase parallel to the corridor. The stone slab floor is marked with 1820 and 1885. In the courtyard there are late Gothic pillars from former arcades.
- Hauptplatz 18 (community center, formerly town No. 14 )
A small, three-story house on the passage to the Weihermühlstiege. The late Gothic core building was rebuilt and extended in 1896. The facade is late historical, the rectangular portal with a secessionist door dates from the beginning of the 20th century. The upper floor corridor inside has a flat barrel vault. The house has been a listed building since 1995.
- Hauptplatz 19/20 (community center, formerly town No. 15 & 16 )
A three-storey town house with a medieval core from the 16th century. It has been a listed building since 1996 and was previously attached to the post door. Inside there are barrel vaults and extensive cellars near the inner city wall.
- Hauptplatz 21 (administration building, formerly town no.17 )
The former town hall used to consist of two buildings that were assembled around 1570 to 1600 under Joachim Stängl. Major modifications followed around 1969. The main front bears a central bay on consoles and decorated pillars. On the ground floor there are arched Renaissance portals and windows from around 1580. The barrel vaults in the cellar rooms were preserved during the renovation.
- Hauptplatz 22 (administration building, formerly town No. 18 )
A three-storey new building around 1966, whereby the late Gothic components from the years 1510/20 were reused. The wide pointed arched gate has diamond band decoration and segmented arched windows in crossed, dew-studded rectangular frames. The flat bay window has partly renewed, profiled, late Gothic consoles. The building has been a listed building since 1964.
- Hauptplatz 23 (church)
The parish church of Freistadt , the so-called Katharinenmünster stands at the highest point of the square and was consecrated in 1288.
- Hauptplatz 24 / Pfarrgasse 2 (community center, formerly town No. 120 )
A heavily renovated, three-storey corner house with a late Gothic core from the first third of the 16th century. The building has a narrow courtyard wing and was previously connected to Pfarrgasse 4. The main front is adorned by a richly decorated, late Gothic oriel from around 1520. On the parapet there is a rich loop-rib ornament. Inside there are ogival wall niches from the first half of the 16th century on the ground floor. On the first floor is a Riemling ceiling over armor tree. Walled up late Gothic arcades can be seen in the courtyard wing. The building has been a listed building since 1940.
- Fountain
A baroque fountain that has stood in the center of the main square since 1704. The octagonal basin has a field structure. The middle man spouting water is crowned by the figure of Maria Immaculata. The figure was probably made by Johann Baptist Spaz the Younger in the middle of the 17th century.
literature
- Federal Monuments Office Austria (Ed.): Dehio - Upper Austria Mühlviertel . Berger Verlag, Horn / Vienna 2003, ISBN 978-3-85028-362-5 , page 159
- Fritz Fellner: List of monuments 2004 , provided by the Castle Museum
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 30 ′ 40 " N , 14 ° 30 ′ 20" E