Heidenreichstein

Borough Heidenreichstein
coat of arms	Austria map
Basic data
Country:	Austria
State :	Lower Austria
Political District :	Gmuend
License plate :	GD
Surface:	58.44 km²
Coordinates :	48 ° 52 '  N , 15 ° 7'  E Coordinates: 48 ° 52 '0 "  N , 15 ° 7' 0"  E
Height :	561  m above sea level A.
Residents :	3,922 (January 1, 2020)
Postal code :	3860
Area code :	02862
Community code :	3 09 16
Address of the municipal administration:	Kirchenplatz 1 3860 Heidenreichstein
Website:	heidenreichstein.gv.at
politics
Mayor :	Gerhard Kirchmaier ( SPÖ )
Municipal Council : ( 2020 ) (25 members)	12 10 2 1 12 10 2 1
Location of Heidenreichstein in the Gmünd district
View of Heidenreichstein 1906
Source: Municipal data from Statistics Austria

Heidenreichstein is a municipality with 3922 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2020) in the Gmünd district in the northwestern Waldviertel in Lower Austria .

Heidenreichstein owes its name to one of the first burgraves who was called Heidenreich . The privately owned and still inhabited castle Heidenreichstein is a moated castle and is considered a landmark of Heidenreichstein. The market, like the castle, is likely to have originated in the last decades of the 12th century. In 1369 the place was designated as a market with its own seal.

From the second half of the 19th century, Heidenreichstein became the location of several companies, in particular the textile, wood, leather and metal processing industries, which in the 20th century, interrupted by the war and interwar period, created jobs in the region. After the end of the occupation in 1955, both the private small and medium-sized enterprises and the industrial companies belonging to the big banks expanded. As a result of the general structural change, Heidenreichstein lost its importance as an industrial and commercial town at the end of the 1960s and from 1971 onwards, in addition to a significant reduction in the number of jobs, there was also a considerable decline in the resident population.

geography

Geographical location

The municipality is located at an altitude of 561  m above sea level. A. about 20 kilometers northeast of the district capital Gmünd , 16 kilometers south and 12 km east of the border with the Czech Republic .

The Lower Austrian provincial capital St. Pölten is 115 km south and the federal capital Vienna 133 km south-east. The closest border crossings to the Czech Republic , suitable for motor vehicle traffic, are to the southwest at a distance of 14 km at Neu-Nagelberg / Halámky and to the north at Grametten / Nová Bystřice about 16 kilometers away.

The highest elevations in the municipality are over 600  m above sea level. A. , including the Neuteichberg at 636  m above sea level. A. , the Mottenberg at 635  m above sea level. A. and the highest point in the Heidenreichsteiner Moor nature park at 608  m above sea level. A.

The Romaubach comes from the neighboring municipality of Eggern in the northeast to the municipality of Heidenreichstein, after the Pocherteich it flows through the densely populated urban area with the Edelweiss pond, the Hofwehr pond and the Schlossteich and then reaches the village of Kleinpertholz , from where it continues to flow into the neighboring municipality of Amaliendorf the Braunaubach flows.

Coming from Eisgarn , the Braunaubach reaches the municipal area of ​​Heidenreichstein in the cadastral municipality of Eberweis. It flows further into the village of Altmanns , takes a tributary from the Bruneiteich and, after leaving the Heidenreichsteiner municipality, continues to Amaliendorf , Schrems and Gmünd , where it flows into the Lainsitz , a tributary that flows into the Vltava and thus into the North Sea draining Elbe, flows into it.

The municipality of Heidenreichstein is located directly on the European main watershed . In addition to the Braunaubach and Romaubach with their feeder streams, Heidenreichstein's flowing waters drain over the Thaya into the Danube and into the Black Sea .

Larger ponds in the municipality are from south to north the Haslauerteich (about 55 hectares), the Geißbachteich (about 9 hectares), the Winkelauer pond (about 34 hectares), the Kaltenbachteich (about 2 hectares), the municipal pond (about 5 hectares) , the Steinbruckteich (about 9 hectares), the Neuteich (about 3 hectares) and the Streitteich (about 3 hectares). The name pond shows that these still waters did not arise naturally. In the past centuries, the respective manors had the ponds built for fish farming or as protection for castles.

Expansion of the urban area

The municipality of Heidenreichstein covers an area of ​​58.44 square kilometers. Through incorporations in the 1960s and 1970s, the municipal area of ​​the former Heidenreichstein market, which was elevated to a town in 1932, was expanded to its present size.

City structure

Road map of Heidenreichstein (OSM)

After the incorporation in the 1960s and 1970s, Heidenreichstein is divided into the following twelve cadastral communities (in alphabetical order), which at the same time form their own localities of the same name, the approximate location of which can be seen on the map. Details on the individual cadastral communities can be found in the main articles prepared for them. The information in brackets relates to the number of inhabitants as of January 1, 2020:

• Altmanns (693.17 ha; 173 Ew.)
• Dietweis (401.68 ha; 144 Ew.)
• Eberweis (472.11 ha; 207 Ew.)
• Guttenbrunn (189.71 ha; 38 Ew.)
• Haslau (567.34 ha; 46 Ew.) Including Neuhaslau
• Heidenreichstein (1,188.87 ha; 2504 Ew.) Including Edelau, Edelmühle and Pocher
• Kleinpertholz (508.19 ha; 172 Ew.)
• Motten (349.06 ha; 102 Ew.) Including Steinbruckhäuser
• Seyfrieds (610.18 ha; 247 Ew.) Including fire houses, Kirchberghäuseln and Spindelgraben
• Thaures (534.28 ha; 120 Ew.) Including Neuthaures
• Wielandsberg (41.47 ha; 47 Ew.)
• Wolfsegg (288.80 ha; 88 Ew.)

The majority of the city's population lives in the village of Heidenreichstein (2504 people), while some of the operations extend to the village of Kleinpertholz.  Map with all coordinates of: OSM | WikiMap

Neighboring communities

Two of the eight neighboring communities are in the Waidhofen an der Thaya  (WT) district.

Litschau	Ice yarn	Eggern
Brand-Nagelberg		Waidhofen an der Thaya-Land (WT)
Amali village eel fishing	Schrems	Vitis (WT)

geology

The loose sandy soils are poor in lime and therefore acidic and sometimes extremely poor in nutrients. The municipality of Heidenreichstein is located in the geological large unit of the Bohemian Massif , which has the character of a low mountain range. The weathering forms of the granite are characteristic in the north-western part of the Waldviertel . Numerous huge rounded blocks, which formed shell and rocking stones due to further weathering , were placed under nature protection, including the natural monument Hanging Stone . The different types of bog are no longer natural, but have been reforested with spruce after being drained . Due to the silting up of fish ponds and the elimination of moor management, the existing moors are being renatured, for example in the Heidenreichsteiner Moor Nature Park .

climate

The northwestern Waldviertel is located at the transition from the Atlantic to the continental climate with average temperatures of −1.9 ° C in January to + 16.5 ° C in July. The rain wealth forms the basis of oaks - Rotföhren - and birch trees - deciduous forests .

history

The history of the town of Heidenreichstein, which now consists of twelve cadastral communities, was presented in detail by Erich Geppert and Karl Pichler in 2005 and in a commemorative publication in 1982.

Settlement and development in the Middle Ages

Heidenreichstein moated castle

The colonization of the landscape around the present Heidenreichstein was carried out starting from Horner pool and already in the year 1000 proved contiguous space populated Gars - Eggenburg , where in the last quarter of the 11th century, the Thaya limit has been reached and exceeded. The Kuenringers were the clearers . Heidenreich, a son of Wolfker von Gars / Eggenburg, is considered the founder and builder of Heidenreichstein Castle. Like Heidenreichstein Castle, the Heidenreichstein market was probably built in the second half of the 12th century.

As early as the first decades of the 13th century, the marketplace was planned to be laid out at right angles to the axis of the castle and church. The marketplace with an aspect ratio of 1: 4 is a hybrid of a triangle and a rectangle. The main road and cross streets were laid out in such a way that the elongated rectangular shape for setting up the market stalls remained free of traffic. The defense structure and the market settlement were connected with each other in terms of defense technology. The southwest flank of the market was protected by the castle, the north and south by walls and moats and the east side by a pond. Walls and gates have not been preserved.

The Heidenreichstein market consisted of 68 original houses. A citizen was anyone who lived and ran one of these houses. The number of original houses did not change until the 19th century. In 1369 the place was designated as a market with its own seal. The market developed as the administrative and economic center of its own domain, which was separated from Litschau in 1389 . The market had princely freedom , its own regional court with the right to asylum. Annual and weekly markets with special protection and market jurisdiction ( pillory ) were held. At first there was obviously no autonomous administration of the market by self-elected bodies. It is not known when the place had a market judge . The craftsmen united to form mines , which acted as interest groups and self-help organizations . Extensive sheep farming and traditional flax cultivation formed the basis for cloth and linen weaving as early as the 14th century .

Modern times to the end of the 19th century

Documents from the 17th century document the existence of the guilds of tailors , weavers , hafner , millers , binders and blacksmiths in Markt Heidenreichstein . A school was mentioned in the Urbario of 1575. The Heidenreichstein market was hit several times by natural disasters, crop failures, famines and diseases ( plague ). Armed conflicts such as the Hussite incursions in the 15th and the peasant revolts in the Waldviertel at the end of the 16th century led to devastation and great hardship for the population. In the 17th century, during the turmoil of the Thirty Years War, entire villages were looted and cremated. During the French Wars at the beginning of the 19th century, Heidenreichstein was occupied by the French.

In 1784 the cadastral communities that still exist today were established. With the construction of the New Bohemian Road from Göpfritz to Neuhaus , the Heidenreichstein market received a post office in 1833. Until the opening of the Northwest Railway and the introduction of the railway mail in 1845, there was one of the post stations in the market for horse-drawn carriage transports between Vienna and Prague . In 1883 the postal savings bank service was introduced and in 1904 the interurban telephone line was applied for. A telephone and telegraph office was opened in 1911.

In 1849 the Heidenreichstein market belonged initially to the Waidhofen an der Thaya district and from 1900 to the newly founded Gmünd district . The Heidenreichstein market became the location of a district court in 1850, but it was moved to Litschau in 1868 .

In 1850, separate communities were established in the Heidenreichstein market and in the surrounding towns in the areas of one or two cadastral communities. The Heidenreichstein market judge had certain powers in connection with the rule until the end of 1861. The first mayor of the Heidenreichstein market was Franz Ullrich in 1861. In 1882 the gendarmerie post was set up in Markt Heidenreichstein.

The 68 so-called original house owners of the Heidenreichstein market, who have lived and managed the market houses since the Middle Ages, joined forces in the agricultural cooperative and in the following decades made joint contributions to improving the infrastructure in the immediate market area or later city area. In 1902 there was a compromise between the cooperative and the community.

In the Heidenreichstein market and the surrounding area, flax spinning and flax and cotton weaving gained economic importance from the first half of the 17th century. The first textile companies were established towards the end of the 19th century . In 1869 around two thirds of the employees in the districts of Gmünd and Waidhofen an der Thaya were employed in the weaving industry.

In 1880, the Eisert brothers founded the first metal and leather processing company in what is now the municipality, which already before the First World War employed around 1000 people in the production of various bags and containers and was strongly export-oriented. After the First World War, the number of employees fell to 120 and there was no significant expansion until the start of war production from 1939 to 1945.

First half of the 20th century

Heidenreichstein station of the Waldviertel narrow-gauge railways

On July 3, 1900, the 25-kilometer narrow-gauge railway line Gmünd-Litschau was opened with the 13-kilometer branch from Altnagelberg to Heidenreichstein.

In 1986 the regular passenger traffic and 1992 the freight traffic was stopped. Museum trains with steam locomotives have been running on these routes since 1987 . Stops in the municipality are in Kleinpertholz and Heidenreichstein.

In 1904 a community school was built. Elementary school and community school were spatially separated. The kindergarten established in 1908 was looked after by religious sisters.

The Heidenreichstein market was not directly affected by acts of war during the First World War, but agricultural products had to be delivered to the state, meat and fat were rationed and refugees had to be accommodated. Immediately after the war there were thefts from hunger and flu epidemics, with numerous deaths due to a lack of medication. In 1920 the market town received approval to issue emergency money.

In 1922 the power supply began. The electricity in the Rudda mill was generated partly with water power and partly with a suction gas system.

Postbus connections to Horn and Göpfritz via Waidhofen were set up in 1925. In 1932 the Heidenreichstein market was elevated to a town by the Lower Austrian provincial government . After the annexation to the German Empire , the town of Heidenreichstein belonged to the Niederdonau Gau ; after the end of World War II, the town was in the Soviet occupation zone .

Second half of the 20th century

After 1955, job opportunities were created again in the region. The new owners of Eisert AG switched the entire production to gas lighters.

The knitwear factory Honey, which has existed in Heidenreichstein since 1880 and was later renamed Patria AG, manufactured its products at several locations in the upper Waldviertel and temporarily employed around 500 people. Lastly, women's stockings were produced, while competing companies switched to seamless stockings. As a result of restructuring in the Creditanstalt group , the company became a branch of Vöslauer Kammgarn AG in the mid-1970s .

The development of smaller companies was strongly promoted after 1955 through loan financing, investment promotion measures by the federal government, the state and municipalities, and through the raising of own funds by the entrepreneurial families. Examples of the expansion are the knitwear and knitwear factory, founded in 1936, the weaving mill Amstetter founded in 1908, the knitting mill Gobl founded in 1922, the knitwear factory Erhart founded after the Second World War, the knitting mill Haas founded in 1889, the glassworks Eigenschink, the school furniture manufacturer Gebrüder Kollmann ( Brüko) and others.

In 1961 the number of people employed in Heidenreichstein was 2,885, 1,076 of them commuting from other communities, only 82 people were out-commuters. In 1971 the number of employed people had risen to 3,184, 1,367 of them commuters. 203 people commuted.

From the mid-1970s, a crisis began with numerous company failures and a significant reduction in the number of jobs. In 1979, Eisert AG and Vöslauer Kammgarn AG, the two largest Heidenreichstein companies, went bankrupt almost at the same time, and the successor companies were not successful in the long term or employ significantly fewer people than before. Of the previously mentioned expanding small and medium-sized enterprises, the Helglas of the Eigenschink family was the first to go bankrupt, followed by bankruptcies of the school furniture manufacturer Brüko, owned by the Kollmann brothers, and the knitwear and knitwear factory Zimm. In connection with the loss of jobs in Heidenreichstein, a steady decline in the resident population began, which is still ongoing.

In 1989, shortly after the fall of the Iron Curtain, local tradespeople benefited briefly from the buying interest of Czech day-trippers. With the creation of the Hochmoor Gemeindeau Heidenreichstein nature park in 1989, new tourist impulses were set for the city. In 1992 Heidenreichstein received an event center with the Margithalle of the embellishment association.

21st century

In 2002 and 2006, Heidenreichstein was hit by flood disasters. In 2002 a dam broke near the Kaltenbachteich. The main problem was securing the dams of the Pocher, Edel and Hofwehr ponds and the castle pond. The houses along Mühlgasse and parts of Schremser and Pertholzer Strasse as well as Kleinpertholz had to be evacuated. The situation was also tense in Seyfrieds and Eberweis. Overall, the safety measures prevented the breaking of further dams and the associated flooding.

religion

Heidenreichstein parish church

Heidenreichstein Evangelical Church

In the 2001 census, 4102 Heidenreichsteiners stated that they were Roman Catholics , which is 89.9% of the population. 99 people (2.2%) professed Islam . 84 people (1.8%) were Protestants and 222 people (4.9%) were without religious beliefs.

The Catholic parish Heidenreichstein was founded as a manorial in the late 12th or early 13th century and belonged to the Diocese of Passau until 1785 , and since then to the Diocese of St. Pölten . It includes the town of Heidenreichstein with Kleinpertholz and Wielandsberg as well as the villages of Altmans, Thaures with Neuthaures, Eberweis, Dietweis and Motten.

Located in the area of the parish Heidenreichstein next to the parish church, the 1860 benedizierte Sanctuary of the Good Shepherd in Eberweis with pilgrimages to the Good-Shepherd Sunday and Ascension and chapels with measuring license in Altman, Dietweis, Thaures and moths. At the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries, Lutheranism was the dominant creed. Heidenreichstein had Lutheran pastors from 1569 until the 1620s. The Heidenreichsteiners became Catholic again through the Counter-Reformation.

In Heidenreichstein at the end of the 19th century, due to the immigration of Protestant industrial workers, a Protestant parish was established. This built a church in 1908, which was also the seat of a pastor. After the parish seat was moved to Gmünd in 1936, an evangelical preaching station remained in Heidenreichstein.

Population development

Based on the year 1869 with 3,915 inhabitants in the area of ​​the cadastral communities that belonged to the city of Heidenreichstein after the incorporation in the 1970s, a population growth of 8% compared to the province of Lower Austria with 48% shows a significantly below average population growth. In contrast, the population development was favorable in a district comparison, as the number of inhabitants in the Gmünd district fell by 19% in the same period.

While the population of Heidenreichstein increased by almost 40% to 5,465 from 1869 to 1910, it fell by almost 9% to 4,989 by 1923. From 1923 to 1951 the number of inhabitants rose to 5,552, declined slightly in the 1950s to 5,493 and, due to the increase in the following two decades, reached the high of 5,773 in the 1971 census. Since 1971 the number of inhabitants has decreased significantly, with the decrease on December 31, 2008 already amounting to 27% compared to the peak.

As of January 1, 2008, the town of Heidenreichstein had 4,221 inhabitants, 2,069 men and 2,152 women of them, making it the third largest town and municipality in the Gmünd district after Schrems and the district capital Gmünd. The rough age structure of the Heidenreichstein population on January 1st, 2008 shows that 61.5% of the Heidenreichstein population are over 15 and under 65 years old. At 11.4%, around a ninth of the population was younger than 15 and at 27.9%, more than a quarter of the population was older than 65.

Of the 3,934 Heidenreichsteiners who were over 15 years old in 2001, 2,021 (51.4%) are women. 132 Heidenreichsteiners (3.4%) of those over 15 years of age have graduated from a university, technical college or academy; the proportion of women in this context is 50%. Another 321 Heidenreichsteiners (8.1%) of the relevant population group have completed a Matura , here the proportion of women is 46.4%. 1,692 Heidenreichsteiners (43%) of the over 15-year-olds have completed an apprenticeship or vocational middle school, the proportion of women being 36.4%. 1,789 (45.5%) of Heidenreichsteiners, 2/3 women, have a compulsory school certificate.

Origin and language of the population

97.6% of Heidenreichstein's residents are Austrian citizens and 95.1% were born in Austria. 2.9% come from other EU countries, 2.0% from non-EU countries.

The Middle or Danube Bavarian dialect is a Bavarian dialect form that is distributed throughout Lower Austria . The ostösterreichische branch of the middle Bairischen goes to the dialect of the created by the Bavarian Ostsiedlung Babenberg dominion Ostarrichi back.

In the 2001 census, 4,393 people (96.2%) stated German as a colloquial language, 96 (2.1%) Turkish , 33 (0.7%) Czech , 9 (0.2%) Croatian , 4 (0.1 %) %) Serbian and 26 (0.6%) another language.

Culture and sights

Museums

The town of Heidenreichstein has a local history, moor and peat museum in Kleinpertholz , which was honored as Museum of the Year in Helsinki. The museum is located in the immediate vicinity of a gallery of sculptures by the regional artist Mannhard Zeh (main square), the Franz Zeh museum, the Zeh studio and the culture park with sculptures by regional artists. The weaving museum with many old factory objects and old looms was set up by the Amstetter GesmbH company.

During the summer, the museum railway of the Waldviertel narrow-gauge railways runs nostalgic trips between Heidenreichstein and Gmünd - Alt-Nagelberg on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays with the Wackelsteinexpress. Stops are also in Langegg and Aalfang .

Buildings

See also:  List of listed objects in Heidenreichstein

Gothic gabled house and tower of the Catholic parish church

Magic Jet Restaurant

• The Heidenreichstein Castle is a landmark of Heidenreichstein. The older part of Heidenreichstein Castle, especially the keep , was built in the second half of the 12th century, while most of the farm buildings were built in the 15th and 16th centuries. The castle has been owned by the Kinsky family since 1961 and is partially open to the public. Castle tours are offered, during which some of the numerous rooms can be visited.
• The Catholic parish church of Heidenreichstein is consecrated to Saint Margaret and is located west of the town square. At its core, it is a Romanesque hall church from the 12th century with a baroque nave and a late Gothic choir . The baroque tower on the east side received a new roof in 1880. The church was last renovated in 1990. In 1993 the church received a new Rieger organ .
• The Catholic parish church of Seyfrieds has a Romanesque Gothic nave and a modern nave with a choir and tower.
• The Evangelical Reconciliation Church in Heidenreichstein is located at Waidhofener Straße B 5 in the local area. It was built in 1908 with elements of Art Nouveau and renovated in 1968.
• The so-called Böhmhaus next to the castle and the parish church is the oldest building in Heidenreichstein. It was built before 1400 and has a military connection with the castle. The entrance to an underground escape route to the castle is still visible. The house, together with the Romanesque Laibl, was the cornerstone of the fortifications to protect the church. Between 1470 and 1490 the storey was added as a Gothic gabled house. Services were held there during the Thirty Years War because the church burned down. The building has been a listed building since 1929, is in good structural condition despite its more than 600-year history and has been in the possession of the Böhm family since 1965.
• The school building, which was built between 1901 and 1904, was initially used for teaching secondary and high school students and in 1909 was also used to house the community school, which was converted into a four-class secondary school in 1927. In 1963 the management of the elementary and secondary school was separated and the primary school moved into a newly built school building in 1966, while the secondary school remained at its previous location. In 1972, the elementary school returned to the original school building, while the secondary school moved into the building previously used by the elementary school.
• The Käsemacherwelt, which has been located on the site of the former Anderswelt adventure park since 2012 , offers a show dairy including tasting and the cheese specialties produced can be purchased in the adjoining shop.
• In 2000, a restaurant was opened in Heidenreichstein in the commercial area in the village of Kleinpertholz, which is housed in a converted, formerly Czech presidential aircraft. The Russian Ilyushin IL 62 transport plane was completely gutted and the engine was put on display. In 2018 the “Flieger”, as it was affectionately known by the population, relocated to Graz.

Regular events

Theater under the gable

Event center Margithalle

The regular events in Heidenreichstein include the "Theater Summer " of the Heidenreichstein stage, the literature festival Literatur im Nebel , which has been held annually since 2006 in the Margithalle with prominent authors , the Motten summer academy under the direction of Alf Krauliz , the city of open doors (formerly Mini- Fair) of local business people, medieval festivals on the town square and in cooperation with the lord of the castle, actions as part of the town twinning with Nova Bystrice, concerts at Romauplatz and more. The amateur theater group Bühne Heidenreichstein, which has been in existence since 1981, has permanent rehearsal and seminar rooms with the theater under the gable , which are also used for smaller performances and guest performances. The open-air performances have been a fixed point of the Waldviertel cultural summer for many years. Participation in national and international festivals has been particularly successful in 1999 at the European Amateur Theater Days 1999 in Rudolstadt, Germany.

Parks, fountains, monuments, natural monuments

Harlequin statue (Mannhard Zeh)

Natural monument hanging stone

In 2000 the municipality designed the “Ingeborg-Bachmann-Park” in Litschauer Straße. The Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann visited her grandparents several times when she was young.

The park and event space with music pavilion in Mühlgasse east of the castle and below the town square was built in 1990 and is called Romauplatzl. There is also Mannhard Zeh's fishing fountain.

The park-like part of the Heidenreichsteiner Hauptplatz offers a view of the parish church and the town hall to the west. Historical monuments are the city fountain ( Bassena ), the pillory , since the 1950s with a Roland figure by the sculptor Carl Hermann and the Trinity column from 1730.

The project Haupt-Platz in Kleinpertholz is a game with the word Haupt. 16 granite heads stand for the words captain, head, main wife, main task, chief, main thing, general, etc. There are cheerful, strict, sad, philosophical, crowned, arrogant, important heads that Mannhard Zeh created for the cultural park. In the immediate vicinity is the gallery of the artist, who has created a sculpture park with works by regional artists in his garden, as well as the Franz Zeh Museum.

The Hanging Stone is located in the Heidenreichsteiner Moor Nature Park and is a recognized natural monument . This rocking stone is one of the typical examples of granite weathering that can be found several times in the Waldviertel. People often visited these places as places of worship. This also applies to the two other natural monuments in the municipality, the Franz Geyer memorial in Altmanns and the Stone Woman in Wolfsegg .

List of natural monuments in Heidenreichstein

• in the village of Heidenreichstein:
  • Hanging stone : a mighty stone block resting on other blocks, which has only a small support surface (length 7 meters, width 4 m and height 2 m); Natural monument since 1927
  • Stone structure : The stone structure is located on a steep slope in Otto Franke -Gasse and protrudes from the ground with a length of 11 m, a height of 8 m and a width of 4 m; Natural monument since 1985
  • Graselhöhle rock group : group of several mighty and partly stacked boulders on a total area of ​​30 by 12 meters and a height of 0.5 to 5 meters, whereby several caves have formed under the blocks; Natural monument since 1981
  • Shell stone : rock hump with a length of 3 meters, a width of 2.5 m and height of 1.2 m, bowl-shaped depression on the west side; Natural monument since 1991
  • Gugelhupfstein : from two main rocks of 10 by 12 meters each protrude up to 6 meters. The comb-like attachment (3 m long, 2 m wide and 2 to 2.5 m high) with its weathering grooves gives the structure the appearance of a Gugelhupfes; Natural monument since 1983
• Geyer memorial in Altmanns: Rock group named after the Waldviertel composer and pedagogue Franz Geyer consisting of three mushroom-like rocks on an area of ​​10 by 12 meters and a height of 2 to 7 meters; Natural monument since 1981
• Wasserstein in Haslau: 2.5 m high granite block with a width of 4.5 m and a length of 6.5 m. The pool is 1.3 m long, 85 cm wide and 30 cm deep; Natural monument since 1927
• Steinernes Weib in Wolfsegg: 1.7 m high boulder with a width of 0.4 to 1.2 m; Natural monument since 1995
• Several winter linden and summer linden, several linden trees and avenues, a row of trees along the main road, a maple avenue were declared a natural monument in 1927 and in the 1980s.
• The Bruneitich with silting areas, wet meadows and fen areas was declared a nature reserve in 1979.
• The nature park Hochmoor Gemeindeau became a nature reserve in 1980 and a nature park in 1989

Hiking paths, bike paths, bridle paths, cross-country skiing trails

In and around the town of Heidenreichstein and its localities there are precisely described and signposted hiking trails with a length of 2.2 to 12 km and a circular hiking trail with a length of 17.5 km. The total length of the hiking trails is 75.5 km.

The Austrian long-distance hiking trails Thayatalweg, Ostösterreichischer Grenzlandweg and Christopherusweg, the Lower Austrian state circular hiking trail and the European long-distance hiking trail E8 lead through Heidenreichstein .

The Waldviertel cycle path leads from Krems an der Donau north to the town of Litschau and then south again through Heidenreichstein back into the Danube valley to Pöchlarn . Heidenreichstein belongs to the northern forest horse region , for which a separate map has been issued with the entire network of hiking trails. In the municipality of Heidenreichstein there are three cross-country trails with lengths between three and five kilometers.

Sports

A number of sports clubs are active in Heidenreichstein, including the women's soccer club (DFC) Möbel Handel Heidenreichstein, the Volksbank Heidenreichstein soccer club, the Sankt Patrick riding and driving club and the Eberweis sports club. The DFC Heidenreichstein was founded in 1981 as a section of the Heidenreichstein football club, is one of the Austrian first division clubs in women's football and played a total of ten times in the first tier from 1988 to 1990 and from 1992 to 1998. The Heidenreichstein football club was founded in 1925, plays in first class Waldviertel championship operations and looks after a number of youth teams.

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

In Heidenreichstein, Waidhofener Strasse B 5 and Thayatal Strasse B 30 cross two state roads . Furthermore, state and municipal roads as well as goods roads lead to the localities of the municipality and further to the neighboring municipalities. The Heidenreichstein bypass, opened in 1978, noticeably relieved the town square from heavy traffic.

The nearest train stations to the Franz-Josefs-Bahn of the Austrian Federal Railways are in the district town of Gmünd and in Markt Vitis . Regional bus connections exist to the district capital Gmünd and to Waidhofen an der Thaya. There is also a daily bus connection to the federal capital Vienna .

Established businesses

Heidenreichstein is one of the economic centers of the Gmünd district. At the time of the 2001 census there were 207 workplaces with 1,670 employees in Heidenreichstein, of which 1,514 were employed. Compared to 1991, the number of jobs has increased by 8.4%, while in the same period the number of jobs has decreased by 10.1%.

The majority of the 1,670 jobs were in the manufacturing of goods, with 616, in trade including the repair of motor vehicles and consumer goods, with 310 in the construction industry and 107 in the hotel and restaurant industry. The number of employees in the education system is comparatively lower with 64 and 50 each in the health, veterinary and social services and in public administration including social insurance. In 2001, fewer than 50 people were employed in other service sectors such as credit and insurance, real estate and business services, transport and communications and other public service sectors.

In 2001, Heidenreichstein provided jobs for 865 people living outside the community, while 968 Heidenreichsteiners worked outside the community. Most of the commuters come from the districts of Gmünd and Waidhofen an der Thaya. Most of the out-commuters also commute within the Gmünd district and to the Waidhofen an der Thaya district. 115 people commuted to Vienna.

At the time of the relevant survey in 1999 there were 189 agricultural and forestry holdings, 28.9% less than in 1995. Of the holdings listed, 68 were full-time farms, 115 part-time farms and 6 legal entities. A total of 7,485 hectares were cultivated, which is around 2.5% less than in 1995. For commuters, the expansion of the road network in the direction of Gmünd, Waidhofen an der Thaya and Krems or via Horn to Vienna in recent years means one significant improvement.

The employment rate in Heidenreichstein decreased from 46% in 1991 to 44% in 2001. The average number of unemployed in 2005 was 180, 2006 was 188 and 2007 was 170 with 170. The average net income increased from 881 euros in 1997 to 948 euros in 2001.

In 2004, companies with more than 50 employees included Talkner GmbH with 165, Metall- und Kunststoffwarenzeugungsgesellschaft mbH (MKE) with 153, WAKU Böhm Fenster GesmbH with 90 and Framsohn Frottier GmbH with 88 employees. The municipality of Heidenreichstein also employed 57 people in 2004.

The local businesses have come together in an advertising community called "Heidenreichstein Creaktiv".

The Ecoplus Business Park Heidenreichstein is one of 15 business parks run by the Lower Austrian Business Settlement Agency and consists of 12 hectares of land, some of which are still free, with a designated business area , where a number of companies have already settled. The business park is also integrated in the "Location: Active" project, which is operated jointly with several other Waldviertel municipalities, which deals with the professional marketing of commercial areas along the main development axes of the Waldviertel towards Budweis and Jihlava in the Czech Republic . The aim is to set up companies in the municipality.

The only local bank is the Volksbank Oberes Waldviertel , which emerged in 1944 through the merger of the savings and advance payment association founded in 1873 and the Raiffeisen savings and advance payment association founded in 1893 and merged into Volksbank Niederösterreich in 2016. Bank Austria , BAWAG PSK and Raiffeisenbank Gmünd have branches in Heidenreichstein.

Public facilities

In Heidenreichstein there are not only the municipal facilities but also a police station and a post office .

education

Heidenreichstein elementary school

The Heidenreichstein market was initially the location of an elementary school . After the separation of elementary and secondary school in 1963, a new primary school building was erected, the secondary school remained in the school building erected in 1904. In 1972 the new elementary school building received an extension due to the development of the number of pupils, the elementary school moved back into the old school building, while the main school moved into the elementary school building. The secondary school is named after the high-ranking SPÖ politician of the post-war period, Johann Böhm secondary school. There are two state kindergartens and a children's house run by Volkshilfe in Heidenreichstein .

The communities of Amaliendorf-Aalfang, Eggern, Eisgarn and Heidenreichstein have formed a music school association based in Heidenreichstein and run a music school with around 150 hours of music lessons per week with specialists for the various subjects. Adult education is offered, among other things, by the courses offered by the local adult education center in Heidenreichstein. The city ​​library is run by the municipality.

Medical care for the residents is ensured by five general practitioners and two dentists and two specialists. There is also a pharmacy and a practice for a psychotherapist in the village. There is also a local Red Cross office, which is in direct contact with the district office. The necessary emergency services have been set up. The closest hospitals are in the district towns of Gmünd and Waidhofen an der Thaya. Since 1989, Heidenreichsteiners who can no longer cook themselves have been provided with warm meals through the Essen auf Wheels campaign .

The Heidenreichstein volunteer fire brigade , founded in 1878, provides fire protection and general help in the municipality . In some of today's cadastral communities, fire brigades were also founded and corresponding fire stations built. In 1999 the operations center was handed over to its destination by the volunteer fire brigade and Red Cross. At the same time, there are also rehearsal rooms for the town band and classrooms for the music school.

politics

The municipal council has 25 members. After the municipal council elections, the municipal council had the following distributions:

• 1990: 14 SPÖ, 8 ÖVP, 2 FPÖ and 1 BGÖ
• 1995: 15 SPÖ, 8 ÖVP and 2 FPÖ
• 2000: 15 SPÖ, 8 ÖVP and 2 FPÖ
• 2005 : 14 SPÖ, 9 ÖVP, 1 Greens and 1 FPÖ
• 2010 : 12 SPÖ, 10 ÖVP, 2 Greens and 1 FPÖ
• 2015 : 12 SPÖ, 9 ÖVP, 2 FPÖ and 2 Greens

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

12 SPÖ, 10 ÖVP, 2 Greens and 1 FPÖ.

List of mayors of the market or town

• Franz Ullrich (1861, 1873)
• Franz Hacker (1867)
• Ludwig Wais (1868)
• Josef Fieda (1870)
• Valentin Grossmann (1879)
• Franz Schimek (1880)
• Carl Wais (1891, 1894, 1900)
• Anton Ullrich (1902, 1906, 1912)
• Raimund Mader (1916, 1918)
• Karl Wittwar (1921, 1924, 1926)
• Alois Danzinger (1929)
• Johann Böhm (1933)
• Karl Ullrich (1939)
• Josef Kollmann (1945)
• Josef Böhm (1945, 1946)
• Franz Pfleger (1950, 1955, 1960, 1965)
• Alfred Haufek (1966, 1969, 1972, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990)
• Johann Pichler (1991, 1995, 2000, 2005)
• Gerhard Kirchmaier (2010)

The mayors of the formerly independent municipalities that have been incorporated over time are listed in the respective main articles.

City finances

A renovation survey took place in March 2009, the reasons for the strained financial situation being the lower income from the earnings shares due to the loss of residents, the debt service for the assumption of liability for the failed theme park project Erlebnispark Anderswelt , the higher personnel costs, the increased voluntary community subsidies, deficits in the community facilities and fee budgets as well as one-off expenses were cited.

In 2007 the municipality of Heidenreichstein had a total income of 6.5 million euros and total expenditure of 6.4 million euros. The largest sources of income were the income shares from the financial equalization with 2.8 million and the municipal tax with 0.9 million euros. At 986 euros, Heidenreichstein had a slightly higher tax rate per capita at the district level and a slightly lower one at the state level.

coat of arms

Coat of arms and municipal colors as amended in 1955

On the occasion of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the town elevation of Heidenreichstein in 1982, the town elevation that took place in 1932 was documented for the first time by the Lower Austrian provincial government and the right to use the city arms. The coat of arms certificate was made by the graphic artist Emil Jaksch from Wiederfeld (municipality Waidhofen an der Thaya-Land ).

The blazon reads:

"Standing in a silver shield, on a green three-mountain, St. Margaret, who is dressed in a red robe, holds a green palm branch in her right hand, a green laurel wreath in her left hand and a gold crown on her head."

The colors of the city flag that can be derived from this coat of arms are white-red-green.

The coat of arms, Saint Margaretha or Margaritha, was obviously chosen based on the patronage of the parish church in Heidenreichstein. The dragon slayer St. Margaretha appears, like the dragon slayer St. Michael and St. Georg , especially as the patron saint of the old parishes and monasteries founded in gloomy forest or impassable moors. The coat of arms was re-stylized in 1955 on the basis of various coats of arms and seals. At the same time, the colors of the coat of arms were finally determined. The representation on the city coat of arms corresponds to the older illustration corresponding to the legend. The palm branch and the crown on the head symbolize martyrdom, the wreath is a symbol of virginity, the purple color of the robe indicates the martyrdom of the saint.

The coat of arms is affixed several times to buildings in Heidenreichstein, for example as a mosaic on the west wall of the Böhmhaus, which has been a listed building since 1929 , an eighth fiefdom house from the 14th century with a Gothic gable.

Town twinning

Since 2002 there has been a town partnership with the town of Nová Bystřice (German "Neubistritz"), a country town with 3,355 inhabitants in the south of the Czech Republic near the Austrian border and the border crossing at Grametten . The city is located at the confluence of the Bystřický potok in the Dračice in the Vitorazsko region . The Česká Canada Nature Park connects to the east .

Personalities

• Karl Kollmann (1952–2019), sociologist and economist
• Benno Schaginger (1903–1974), Section Head in the Ministry of Commerce, 1955–1968 General Post Director

Honorary citizen of the community

• Johann Böhm, high school supervisor
• Alfred Deuse, property manager of the Heidenreichstein estate
• Rudolf Graf van der Straten , owner of the moated castle Heidenreichstein
• Alfred Haufek , long-time mayor, member of the state parliament from 1979 to 1987 and second state parliament president from 1987 to 1994, vice-president of the Austrian Association of Municipalities
• Anton Hobinger, dean
• Johann Köck, businessman and savings bank director, functionary of the savings and advance payment association Heidenreichstein
• Hans Litschauer , member of the state parliament 1959 to 1964 and 1969 to 1975, chamber office director of the AK Lower Austria
• Leopold Magschitz, headmaster
• Josef Patzak, director of the Patria company
• Franz Pfleger, long-time mayor
• Eduard Pichler, City Councilor
• Jakob Scherer, community doctor
• Alfred Wittig, long-time city office director and chronicler (honorary ring bearer)

Personalities related to the community

• Ingeborg Bachmann (1926–1973), Austrian writer, had maternal grandparents in Heidenreichstein
• Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) was a great-aunt of Count Kinsky, and her library is in Heidenreichstein Castle.
• Franz Flicker (* 1939 in Altmanns), politician (ÖVP) and chamber secretary
• Franz Geyer , teacher, composer (honorary ring bearer)
• Johann Hofbauer (born January 24, 1950 in Kleinpertholz; † March 17, 2020 in Thaures), laboratory manager and politician, member of the Lower Austrian state parliament
• Alf Krauliz (* 1947), founder and head of the summer academy in the seminar center Haus vom freundlichen armchair in Motten
• Heide Pils (born April 2, 1939 in Heidenreichstein), studied at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna , worked as a graphic designer , journalist and ORF - editor since 1975, she is a freelance screenwriter and director . She shot numerous documentaries and feature films for ORF and German television stations. She lives in Vienna and in the Waldviertel .
• Franz Zeh (born February 1, 1900; † May 17, 1999), painter, lived in Kleinpertholz from 1945 until his death . He was self-taught as a painter, used the technique of prima painting to paint landscapes, still lifes and portraits and became known as the Flower Toe for his flower paintings.
• Mannhard Zeh (* 1944) has lived in Kleinpertholz since he was born . He is self-taught as an artist, his works are drawings, prints, watercolor and oil paintings as well as sculptures made of various types of stone.

Personalities and teams with sporting success

• Manfred Trisko from Kleinpertholz won the 1978 Speedway Meeting in Mattersburg against international competition
• Manfred Riener, state champion in the half marathon (1997)
• Several athletes from the Heidenreichstein athletes' club were successful at state, federal and European level in the 1950s, 1960s and 1990s (Günther Matzku, Franz Apfelthaler and others)
• Leopold Killmeyer became dirt track world champion (Speedway)

Others

Regional currency

Waldviertel regional

From 2005 to 2017, Heidenreichstein companies took part in the Waldviertler Regional cash payment project . This was a regional complementary currency in the Waldviertel . More than 50 local companies were member companies of the Waldviertel Regional Association and accepted the Waldviertel Regional as a means of payment. The central exchange office was the Volksbank Oberes Waldviertel in Heidenreichstein, there were also numerous other issuing offices. In March 2017, the project was discontinued after eleven years.

literature

• Erich Geppert, Karl Pichler: 800 years of Heidenreichstein, Waldviertel - culture and history , self-published, Heidenreichstein 2005
• Alfred Wittig and Gerhard Uitz: Festschrift Church and Parish Heidenreichstein , publisher: Parish Heidenreichstein, Heidenreichstein 1993
• Alfred Wittig: Festschrift 50 Jahre Stadt Heidenreichstein 1932–1982 , publisher: Stadtgemeinde Heidenreichstein, Gmünd 1982, with the following articles:
  • Alfred Wittig: historical part
  • Johann Sidl: Church and Parish
  • Hans Litschauer: The development of industry and commerce in Heidenreichstein from 1932–1982
  • Karl Hetzendorfer: Development and structure of agriculture
  • Eduard Vater: The cultural development of Heidenreichstein since the city elevation in 1932
• Rita Garstenauer: Unequal Economy - The Development of Agriculture in Different Regions of Lower Austria , in: Peter Melichar , Ernst Langthaler , Stefan Eminger u. a .: Lower Austria in the 20th Century, Volume 2, Economy, Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-205-78246-9

Web links

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

• 30916 - Heidenreichstein. Community data, Statistics Austria .
• Entry on Heidenreichstein in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
• Entry on Heidenreichstein in the database of the state's memory for the history of Lower Austria ( Museum Niederösterreich )
• heidenreichstein.gv.at Website of the municipality
• The state of Lower Austria: facts and figures from the municipality of Heidenreichstein

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} ( page no longer available , search in web archives: Lower Austria Atlas )
2. ↑ Homepage of the municipality of Heidenreichstein, Facts and Figures Worth knowing , accessed on March 1, 2010.
3. ↑ Statistics Austria: Population on January 1st, 2020 by locality (area status on January 1st, 2020) , ( CSV )
4. ↑ Statistics Austria: “Register Count 2011” (PDF) .
5. ^ Waldviertel Nord ( Memento from April 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Erich Geppert, Karl Pichler: "800 Years Heidenreichstein, Waldviertel - Culture and History", Heidenreichstein 2005
7. ↑ Alfred Wittig: "Heidenreichstein, a city introduces itself", in: "Festschrift 50 years of the city of Heidenreichstein 1932–1982", Heidenreichstein 1982
8. ↑ ^{a b} General information Homepage of the municipality of Heidenreichstein
9. ↑ ^{a b c} Statistics Austria: Demographic data (PDF, table) .
10. ^ Alfred Wittig: "Festschrift Kirche und Pfarre Heidenreichstein", Heidenreichstein 1993, p. 6
11. ↑ Erich Geppert and Karl Pichler: "800 years of Heidenreichstein, Waldviertel - culture and history", Heidenreichstein 2005, p. 168
12. ↑ Statistics Austria: Population development of Heidenreichstein (PDF) .
13. ↑ Statistics Austria: Population level and structure (PDF) .
14. ↑ Statistics Austria: Education (PDF) .
15. ↑ Gratzl Ernst: International recognition for the Moor and Peat Museum: "European Museum Prize"! In: Gmünder Zeitung (Neue NÖN), St. Pölten, Vol. 122, No. 39, September 26, 1991, p. 3
16. ↑ Erich Geppert (design, text and photos), Berg- und Naturwacht Heidenreichstein (owner, editor and publisher), Heidenreichstein, 1992
17. ↑ ^{a b} Statistics Austria: Workplace census (PDF) .
18. ↑ Statistics Austria: Employees by commuting destination (PDF) .
19. ↑ Statistics Austria: Agricultural and forestry holdings and areas by type of acquisition (PDF) .
20. ↑ Office of the Lower Austrian state government, statistics according to LUK = livelihood concept (at least 12 hours of work per week) regionalberatung.at .
21. ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Heidenreichstein Business Park )
22. ^ Result of the local council election 1995 in Heidenreichstein. Office of the Lower Austrian State Government, March 30, 2000, accessed on May 20, 2020 . 
23. ^ Election result of the municipal council election 2000 in Heidenreichstein. Office of the Lower Austrian State Government, February 4, 2005, accessed on May 20, 2020 . 
24. ^ Election result of the local council election 2005 in Heidenreichstein. Office of the Lower Austrian State Government, March 4, 2005, accessed on May 20, 2020 . 
25. ^ Election result of the municipal council election 2010 in Heidenreichstein. Office of the Lower Austrian State Government, October 8, 2010, accessed on May 20, 2020 . 
26. ^ Election result of the 2015 municipal council election in Heidenreichstein. Office of the Lower Austrian State Government, December 1, 2015, accessed on March 4, 2019 . 
27. ↑ Results of the municipal council election 2020 in Heidenreichstein. Office of the Lower Austrian State Government, January 26, 2020, accessed on January 26, 2020 . 
28. ↑ Hans Pichler: On his own account, in: "Heidenreichsteiner Stadtnachrichten", number 3, May 2009, Heidenreichstein 2009, p. 3.
29. ↑ Statistics Austria: Ordinary management of the municipality, tax revenue and municipal taxes per capita (PDF; 144 kB).
30. ^ Alfred Wittig: "Festschrift Church and Parish Heidenreichstein", Heidenreichstein 1993, p. 12.
31. ^ Franz Geyer in: Regiowiki.at.
32. ^ Mourning for former MP Johann "Xandl" Hofbauer. In: Niederösterreichische Nachrichten . March 17, 2020, accessed March 18, 2020 .