Rathausplatz (St. Pölten)
The Rathausplatz is the largest square in the city of St. Pölten . It has been named, with interruptions, since 1876 after the town hall on the south side.
Location and characteristics
The Rathausplatz is located in the west of the old town of St. Pölten. At 6600 m² it is the largest square in the city and was laid out around 1200 in its current form. The square was first mentioned in 1293 as latum forum , and from 1349 at the latest it was called Broad Market . In 1876 it was renamed Rathaus-Platz , between 1938 and 1946 it was called Adolf-Hitler-Platz . After the war, he was sent to the Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev , the commander stationed in Austria Soviet zone of occupation forces, Marshal place named. In 1955 it got its old name again. Between 1988 and 1989 an underground car park was built under it and the square was redesigned; it is now part of the pedestrian zone.
Prior use and creation
Antiquity
Extensive archaeological excavations were carried out during the construction of the underground car park. A dense, multi-phase development of today's square from the second to the fifth century AD was established.
The oldest remains of buildings found were simple wooden structures. These were burned down by the Marcomanni in 170 . Then solid stone buildings were built in the same places, but they were destroyed again around 230. Aelium Cetium , the Roman name of the settlement, did not recover from this destruction for a long time; the area was deserted. Only around 320 did the residents erect new residential buildings that had several heated rooms. At the end of the fourth century there was again devastation. Modest wooden huts were erected on the ruins, but the inhabitants left the area as early as the beginning of the fifth century.
Middle Ages and Early Modern Times
In the following centuries, today's urban area was probably uninhabited; settlements can only be detected again in the late 7th century. Against 791 was from the Abbey Tegernsee from the St. Poelten pen founded. Today's Rathausplatz belonged to the monastery until the early 12th century and was used for agriculture. It was only with the first town houses that the square, which originally corresponded to around two Roman blocks of flats, was created as a marketplace. At the center of each side, alleys led into the square, of which only Prandtauergasse and Marktgasse have survived today. Relatively soon afterwards, the western half was released for building, and in 1757 the area was further reduced by the construction of the monastery on the north side. In the Middle Ages, the level of the square was about one meter lower than it is today, and the square also fell sharply to the north.
Up until the 19th century there were various buildings on the broad market . The first mentioned in writing was a wooden market hall. The so-called Schranne was built in 1349 on behalf of Gottfried von Weißeneck , then Bishop of Passau . The provost of the St. Pölten monastery, who claimed market rights , had it torn down again in 1356. A brick market hall was later built on the site of the wooden structure, of which only the date of removal is known as January 29, 1568. The approximately 31 by 13.5 meter large hall had one meter thick outer walls, which probably supported an upper floor. Various meetings took place there. After today's town hall was bought in 1503 and the market no longer took place in the hall, the building fell into disrepair until it was demolished in 1568. The remaining foundation walls disappeared in the embankment to the current square level. As part of this work, a pillory was erected in 1569 on the northwest corner of the demolished market hall. At that time there was already a fountain south of the market hall, which was in operation until at least 1708. This year Jakob Prandtauer was commissioned to build a new fountain, which was located southwest of today's Trinity Column . This column, erected from 1768, with its basin, took over the function of a fountain on the Breiten Markt.
Modern
From the 19th century the square was used again for market purposes, but during this time mainly the northern half of the square.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, the Rathausplatz was essentially unregulated, only the edge of the square was lined with cobblestone pavement several meters wide. In 1904 the square was redesigned, the cobblestones gave way to an asphalt surface. During the Second World War there was a large extinguishing water pond on the northern half, which was converted into a garden after the end of the war. In the following years the town hall square was mainly used as a parking lot , which only disappeared with the excavations in 1988. After the archaeological investigations were completed in 1989, a multi-storey underground car park was to be built, but this was never realized. A single-storey underground car park was only built in 1995/1996, and the space was redesigned as the work went on and has been car-free since then.
Notable buildings
| object | Number / location | Explanation | image |
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| town hall |
Number 1 location |
The town hall houses the offices of the mayor , the city senate and the municipal council, and parts of the magistrate are also housed in the building. It was first mentioned as a town hall in 1503, when the eastern half of the current building was acquired. The western half was acquired in 1567, the octagonal town hall tower was completed in 1591. The town hall received its current baroque appearance in the first half of the 18th century by Joseph Munggenast . |
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Number 2 location |
The building was erected in 1923 according to plans by Rudolf Frass as a residential and commercial building instead of the main guard barracks, which were demolished in 1900 . It is only five-axis towards the Rathausplatz , by far the largest part of the house is in Hessstrasse and on Roßmarkt. |
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| Dorotheum |
Number 3-4 layer |
The building was built in 1924 according to plans by Rudolf Frass instead of two late Baroque buildings as a branch of the Dorotheum . The building was erected together with Rathausplatz 2. |
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| Palais Montecuccoli |
Number 5 location |
The previous building was first mentioned in 1367 and acquired in 1719 by Maria Antonia Montecuccoli , the widow of Leopold Philipp Montecuccoli . The current building was erected under her. The six-axis building has a representative baroque facade facing the square . It was probably planned by Joseph Munggenast , but the construction was carried out by his son Franz . |
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| former secondary school |
Number 6 location |
The core of the current building was built around 1250, its façade facing the square was then about 10 meters west of the current one. A two-storey porch was built around 1600 and the main wing was renewed in 1695. In 1697 the facade, possibly tracing back to Jakob Prandtauer , was already three-story, but the building was not given its current appearance until 1750 by Josef Wissgrill . In 1776, Empress Maria Theresia purchased the building and moved the German secondary school from Krems here. The house was used as a school until 1875 and has been used for residential purposes ever since. The city burial has been housed on the ground floor since 1958. |
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| Headquarters of the Leiner company |
Number 7-10 position |
The core of the house goes back to a conversion of an existing building in the early 17th century, which was converted to Baroque style in the first half of the 18th century . A bed spring dealer had been in the building since 1838 at the latest. Rudolf Leiner Senior acquired the building in 1910, making it the parent company of the Leiner chain . For the last years of his life it served Rudolf Leiner as a residential building. In the place of buildings 8-10 there was a city palace built by Joseph Munggenast , which had to give way to a neo-Gothic building as early as 1850. After the Second World War, Rudolf Leiner GmbH acquired the building and converted it into a department store. After a fire in 1991, the building was redesigned and optically separated into two buildings. |
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| State Theater of Lower Austria |
Number 11 location |
In the place of today's theater there were two buildings that were destroyed in the town fire in 1657. The city of St. Pölten took over the ruins and built the so-called military stock house (prison) there. In 1820 the Theater Building Society in St. Pölten acquired the house and had it converted into a theater. After financial difficulties, the building stood empty between 1837 and 1849, until the city repurchased the theater and continued the theater business. After the ring theater fire in 1881, the theater was closed, the stage sets and the curtain were temporarily stored. In the following years the theater was mainly used as a ballroom, in 1886 theater operations were provisionally resumed after a fundamental renovation. In 1892 a comprehensive renovation took place, the auditorium was given fixed rows of seats. After temporary closings in the 1920s and 1930s, the German Reich had the theater completely renovated in 1939. The last major renovation took place in 1968, under Paul Pfaffenbichler the building was extended and a three-storey warehouse was built behind the theater. The theater was renovated in 1996, and the former St. Pölten City Theater has been state-owned since 2004 and has been called the Lower Austria State Theater since then |
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| Franciscan church - and monastery |
Number 12 location |
The late baroque building, which takes up the entire north side of the town hall square, is dominated by the rococo facade . In 1707 the Carmelite Order settled in St. Pölten at the request of the founder, Maria Antonia Montecuccoli , and the men's convent was to be located on the north side of the square. Although the construction plan and financial resources were available, construction did not begin until 1757; Empress Maria Theresa had not received a building permit . The church was then built according to plans by Johann Pauli until 1768 , the construction of the monastery was completed in 1773. Just 10 years later, the monastery was closed by Emperor Joseph II . Due to its favorable location, the church became a parish church in 1785, and pastoral care was taken over by the Franciscan order , which was not affected by the dissolution . |
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Number 13 location |
The building is first mentioned in 1367, the core can be traced back to a renovation in the middle of the 16th century. The building, which is now partially used by the Cinema Paradiso , was redesigned in Baroque style in 1757, and the facade was given a historicist in 1876 . In 1927 it was given its present appearance by adding a third floor. |
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Number 15 location |
The current building originally consisted of two buildings that were united under one property in 1721. From 1724 the building facing the square was redesigned in Baroque style, and from 1877 the part located in Marktgasse was raised and newly faced. | ||
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Number 16 location |
In place of the current building were originally two buildings, which were purchased in 1734 by an employee of Joseph Munggenast . He had the buildings unified and gave them their current form by 1738. |
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| Former Gasthaus Zum Weißen Kreuz |
Number 19 location |
In the Middle Ages, a tower building, which also included today's house number 20, stood on the site of the house built in 1879. Around 1550 the tower house was converted into a town house, in 1611 the ownership of houses 19 and 20 was separated. A structural separation only took place in 1879, when the house was rebuilt by Johann Wohlmeyer . | |
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Number 20 location |
The house was a single building with house number 19 until 1879, when the facade was redesigned. | ||
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Number 21 location |
The building was first mentioned in 1367, and in the 18th and early 19th centuries it was used to house three companies. In 1854 the newly founded Sparkasse St. Pölten was housed in the building, in 1864 it was rebuilt and the upper floors were used for residential purposes. Between 1864 and 1968 there was a coffee house on the first floor. |
literature
- Thomas Karl among other things: The art monuments of the city of St. Pölten and its incorporated localities. Berger, Horn 1999, ISBN 3-85028-310-0 , pp. 192-212: Chapter Rathausplatz ( Austrian Art Topography 54).
- Thomas Karl (Ed.): 500 years of the St. Pölten Town Hall. Magistrat der Landeshauptstadt St. Pölten, St. Pölten 2003, pp. 11–15: Chapter The town hall in its historical setting: From the broad market to the town hall square.
- Peter Scherrer : St. Pölten, state capital with Roman roots. Results of urban archeology 1988–1998. Austrian Archaeological Institute, St. Pölten et al. 1998, ISBN 3-900305-26-9 , chapter The craft district on Rathausplatz.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Manfred Wieninger : St. Pöltner tell street names . Löwenzahn, Innsbruck 2002, ISBN 3-7066-2208-4 , p. 310: Entry Rathausplatz .
- ↑ 3D cultural tour of the city of St. Pölten ( Memento of the original from October 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , State Theater.
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