St. Leonhard near Freistadt

market community St. Leonhard near Freistadt
coat of arms	Austria map
Basic data
Country:	Austria
State :	Upper Austria
Political District :	Free City
License plate :	FR
Surface:	35.01 km²
Coordinates :	48 ° 27 '  N , 14 ° 41'  E Coordinates: 48 ° 26 '40 "  N , 14 ° 40' 40"  E
Height :	810  m above sea level A.
Residents :	1,370 (January 1, 2020)
Postal code :	4294
Area code :	07952
Community code :	4 06 17
Address of the municipal administration:	Hauptstrasse 9 4294 St. Leonhard near Freistadt
Website:	www.stleonhard.at
politics
Mayor :	Andreas Derntl ( ÖVP )
Municipal Council : (2015) (19 members)	13 6th 13 6th  A total of 19 seats ÖVP : 13 SPÖ : 6
Location of St. Leonhard near Freistadt in the Freistadt district
Source: Municipal data from Statistics Austria

St. Leonhard bei Freistadt (also Sankt Leonhard bei Freistadt ) is a market town in Upper Austria in the district of Freistadt in the Mühlviertel with 1,370 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2020). The community is located in the judicial district of Freistadt .

View from the Herzogreitherfelsen to St. Leonhard near Freistadt

Winter town view

geography

St. Leonhard bei Freistadt is 810 m above sea level on the north-western slope of the Predigerberg in the Mühlviertel. The extension is 8.2 km from north to south and 7.2 km from west to east. The total area is 34.9 km².

Division of space

Community structure

The municipality includes the following 19 localities (population in brackets as of January 1, 2020):

• Dirnberg (16)
• Ennsedt (88)
• Freudenthal (45)
• Haid (36) including Haiderleiten
• Haslach (53) including Gschwandt and Obergschwandt
• Herzogreith (52)
• Langfirling (95)
• Maasch (61) including Attenedt and Seiledt
• Oberarzing (22) with fence ring
• Promenedt (52)
• Rebuledt (17)
• Rehberg (27) including Hellmannsedt
• Reith (19)
• Sankt Leonhard near Freistadt (630)
• Schwaighof (31)
• Foundation (61) including Irrenedt and Steghammer
• Unterarzing (36)
• Waltrasedt (14)
• Little Firling (15)

The community consists of the cadastral communities Herzogreith, Maasch and St. Leonhard.

Neighboring communities

St. Oswald		Weitersfelden
Gutau		Kaltenberg
	Schönau	Unterweißbach

history

The entire area around St. Leonhard once belonged to the Gutau parish, which in turn belonged to the St. Florian monastery . The first written mention of the place St. Leonhard comes from the year 1150. At that time, according to the document, it was owned by the Lords of Hagenove. The names Stechelberg and Flenitz were also mentioned in this document. The Stechelberg is a mountain in the village of Schmierreit, the Flenitz is a stream that rises in Erdmannsdorf. The parish church was first mentioned in a document around 1220, at that time it was still a chapel.

→ Burgstall Strafenberg

In 1281 the Roman-German King Rudolf I pledged the property of St. Leonhard to Ulrich von Capellen . This Ulrich received more possessions mortgaged around this time and became an important ruler in this area. After the family died out, the property passed to the Hardegg family . Since 1490 it has been assigned to the principality 'Austria ob der Enns'. In 1536, Count Julius zu Hardegg sold the St. Leonhard property to Count Zelking. In 1587 the area was sold on to Mr. Haym auf Reichenstein . Selling continued and the area of ​​today's St. Leonhard went to the Sprinzenstein family in 1632 and to the Lords of Hoheneck in 1732 and finally to the Harrach family . At the end of the 18th century, nine lordships owned land in today's parish.

In 1644 St. Leonhard was given a market regulation similar to that of Weitersfelden. There were regular market days. There are hardly any craftsmen in the history of St. Leonhard; most of the people lived from the meager agriculture. The market residents were allowed to pour beer, as St. Leonhard was a place of pilgrimage . There was hardly any fruit growing, as the trees' blossoms froze to death due to the weather and therefore no fruit ripened.

During the Napoleonic Wars the place was occupied several times, so in January 1806 around 2000 soldiers were billeted. On October 16, 1825, a great fire broke out that affected large parts of the town.

Since 1918 the place belongs to the federal state of Upper Austria. After Austria was annexed to the German Reich on March 13, 1938, the place belonged to the "Gau Oberdonau". After 1945 St. Leonhard was in the Soviet occupation zone . The infrastructure has been expanded and modernized since 1955 . Until the end of 2002, the community belonged to the Unterweißbach judicial district and was assigned to the Freistadt judicial district on January 1, 2003 .

population

Population development
year	Residents		year	Residents
1869	1,624		1951	1,549
1880	1,560		1961	1,556
1890	1,538		1971	1,555
1900	1,508		1981	1,474
1910	1,447		1991	1,502
1923	1,546		2001	1,476
1934	1,600		2008	1,434
1939	1,484		2012	1,432

Development and structure

In 1869 there were 1,624 people living in the municipality, the highest level in history. The population fell very little until 1971, and a more pronounced decline has been recorded since 1971, which is probably due to the decentralized location. In 1991 the community had 1,502 inhabitants, in the 2001 census only 1,476, which corresponds to a decrease of 1.8%. On January 1st, 2012 the community had 1,432 inhabitants.

In the 2001 census, the proportion of residents who were 60 years of age and older was 19.8%; 18.8% were under 15 years old. The proportion of the female population was 48.2%.

Of the 1199 residents of St. Leonhard who were over 15 years old in 2001, 3.8% had graduated from a university , technical college or academy . Another 4.9% had completed a Matura , 42.8% had completed an apprenticeship or a vocational middle school and 48.5% of all Leonharders had compulsory school as the highest degree.

Origin and language

The German dialect that is commonly spoken in the St. Leonhard area and in Upper Austria is Middle Bavarian . In 2001, 99.2% of Leonhard residents stated that German was their everyday language. Another 0.3% spoke mainly Bosnian , 0.3% Czech , the rest spoke other languages.

The proportion of St. Leonhard residents with foreign citizenship was 0.6% in 2001, well below the average in Upper Austria. 0.2% of the Leonhard population was citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina , 0.3% of Germany and 0.6% were citizens of other countries. In 2001, around 1.2% of Leonhard residents were born in a country other than Austria.

politics

The municipal council and mayoral elections take place every six years, at the same time as the state elections. Since 1945 the ÖVP has always achieved an absolute majority. The second strongest party was always the SPÖ . The FPÖ was always the third strongest party, but did not take part in 2003. In 2003 the ÖVP became the party with the strongest vote with 61.1%. In 2009 the ÖVP was able to expand its absolute majority slightly.

The municipal council election in 2009 with a turnout of 87.0% gave the following result:

Party / political grouping	voting share	Verän- alteration	Seats on the local council	Verän- alteration
ÖVP	61.8%	+ 0.6%	12	0
SPÖ	38.2%	-0.6%	7th	0

Mayor of the community has been Andreas Derntl from the ÖVP since December 2019. The municipal council consists of 19 members.

The next municipal council election will be held regularly in 2021.

St. Leonhard is a member of the Association for Regional and Tourism Development Mühlviertler Alm .

In December 2019, Josef Langthaler resigned from his position as mayor after 17 years. Andreas Derntl was elected as his successor in the municipal council with 15 of 18 votes, who was Vice Mayor from 2018. Derntl's successor as Vice Mayor was Gerhard Piber.

mayor

• 2002–2019: Josef Langthaler (ÖVP)
• since 2019: Andreas Derntl (ÖVP)

coat of arms

The municipal coat of arms shows Saint Leonhard in blue on a green shield base walking left in a black monk's robe, with a golden halo and a golden breast cross, holding a golden crook in his right hand and a silver chain in his left hand. Saint Leonhard is the church patron of the parish. In the left background is a silver, square and tinned round tower with a red, closed arched gate and two black windows. The tower and the chains identify the saint as the intercessor of the prisoners.

The time of the award of the municipal coat of arms is not known. The coat of arms itself has been used for a long time and can be seen on a seal imprint from the 19th century. The seal bears the inscription MARCKT St. LEONHARD and only shows St. Leonhard. A documented impression is missing.

Culture and sights

See also:  List of listed objects in St. Leonhard bei Freistadt

The ten box (tithe tower)

Buildings

• Parish Church of St. Leonhard : pilgrimage church
• Burgstall Strafenberg
• Susi-Wallner-Warte : Lookout tower on the Hohen Predigtberg, built in 1962.
• Toe box: To pay your tithe to Gutau

Natural monuments

Doomsday stones

• Doomsday stones

The doomsday stones are two boulders on the Mühlberg, which, according to legend, move towards each other. While farmers with hay wagons were supposed to have passed between the stones in the past, there is now only a narrow footpath. As soon as the two boulders touch each other, the world should end . In fact, however, only the north of the two stones is moving, as can be read on an information board there.
In a rock niche on the resting boulder stands a Madonna that was carried on foot from Pöstlingberg to St. Leonhard in 1917 . Next to it is a disused, 38 m deep well with a sacrificial bowl.

The climb to the Herzogreitherfelsen

• Herzogreitherfelsen

Visible from afar, the Herzogreitherfelsen rises up on the Herzogreitherberg, on the summit of which a wooden castle is said to have once stood. It is believed that it served as protection for the population in times of war. In some places, abutments for posts and palisades can still be seen, as well as some sacrificial bowls that suggest cult activities.
The cross on the Herzogreitherfelsen, according to a plaque from the beautification and tourism forum St. Leonhard b. Fr. , was set by a farmer out of gratitude that his wife miraculously survived after she fell while carrying wood, by hanging almost unharmed on the branch of a tree.

• Offering bowls

Sacrificial bowls are located on Herzogreitherberg, Mühlberg, Predigtberg and on Wimberg.

Museums

• Upper Austrian Falconry : Museum of Falconry

Economy and Infrastructure

Greetings at the entrance to the village

traffic

St. Leonhard bei Freistadt is crossed by Gutauer Bezirksstraße (L 1478) from northeast to southwest. In the northeast, the Waldfeld Bezirksstraße (L 1479) coming from the north joins this street. The supraregional hiking and pilgrimage route Johannesweg leads through the village .

Public institutions and education

A kindergarten , a primary school and an NMS are available in the village . There is also a library . There is also a general practitioner in the community.

In the municipality, the St. Leonhard volunteer fire brigade and the Langfirling volunteer fire brigade provide fire protection and general help.

Personalities

• Susi Wallner (* 1868 St. Leonhard near Freistadt; † 1944), poet
• Franz Friedrich Altmann (* 1958), crime and screenplay writer, lives in St. Leonhard near Freistadt

literature

• Historical bibliography in the forum OoeGeschichte.at
• Brigitte Scheuchenpflug: St. Leonhard pilgrimage church near Freistadt. Kunstverlag Hofstetter, Ried im Innkreis.

Web links

Commons : Sankt Leonhard bei Freistadt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the market town of St. Leonhard bei Freistadt
• Geomix St. Leonhard
• Tourism St. Leonhard
• Further information about the community of St. Leonhard bei Freistadt can be found on the geographic information system of the federal state of Upper Austria .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The official spelling is specified or shown in the list of the municipalities of the Upper Austrian provincial government on the Internet and on Statistics Austria: A look at the municipality
2. ↑ Statistics Austria: Population on January 1st, 2020 by locality (area status on January 1st, 2020) , ( CSV )
3. ↑ Statistics Austria: Population and components of population development (download as pdf; 35 kB)
4. ↑ ^{a b c} 2001 census: demographic data (download as pdf; 10 kB)
5. ↑ Local council elections Percentages: Local elections St. Leonhard  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed October 29, 2008)  
6. ↑ Elections in Upper Austria  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on December 3, 2009)  
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Roland Wolf: St. Leonhard has a new mayor. December 3, 2019, accessed December 4, 2019 . 
8. ^ Province of Upper Austria, regional history: coat of arms of the municipality of St. Leonhard (accessed on October 29, 2008)