Town square (Steyr)

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View to the north from the entrance of the Grünmarkt . The tower on the right belongs to the town hall
The square around 1875 still without the savings bank building. The Dominican Fountain, which was broken off in 1880, can be seen at the front right

The Steyrer Stadtplatz is the city center of Steyr and one of the best preserved old town ensembles in the German-speaking area. It is limited to the north by Enge (alley) and to the south by Pfarrgasse and Grünmarkt .

history

The square dates back to the middle of the 13th century when two older settlement centers merged around the Stirapurc and the parish church . The lens shape probably resulted from a former street course and the terrain. To this day, it is parceled out in the Middle Ages and the cores of many houses are Gothic , even if later conversions and new facade designs, for example in the Baroque style, hide this.

Franz Schubert

Franz Schubert stayed in Steyr in 1819, 1823 and 1825. The first two times he lived in the Stalzerhaus (no. 34), the last time in house no. 16 (Schuberthaus). A memorial plaque installed in 1890 reminds of this.

buildings

Houses

House No. 14 (Café Stark)
Ernst Oeters / Carl Ludwig , 1941
Photo archive Marburg (photo no.96.934)

Link to the picture
(please note copyrights )

The oldest house on the square and at the same time Steyr's landmark is the Bummerlhaus (No. 32), with a largely preserved Gothic appearance from the 1490s. The Marienkirche at the southern end is in today's appearance a baroque church from the time of the Counter Reformation . Parts of a late Gothic previous building (vault of the congregation chapel) are integrated. The rococo town hall was built from 1765 to 1778, the plans come from Johann Gotthard Hayberger . The star house (No. 12) shows a magnificent rococo facade with the representations of the five senses . The core of the house is, however, Gothic, which can also be seen from the preserved corbels and the Gothic portal. The left side of the facade was destroyed in World War II and later restored true to the original. The neighboring late Gothic house No. 14 (Café Stark) was bombed on February 24, 1944. The facade of the Meditzhauses (no. 9) is baroque, but behind it lies a arcaded courtyard of the Renaissance . The newest building is the Sparkasse (no. 20/22) in neo-Gothic style from 1900. Two older houses were demolished for this, including the Reichlhaus .

Fountain

The Leopoldi Fountain was erected in 1683. The granite parts come from the former Windhaag monastery in the Mühlviertel . The Dominican fountain, which was broken off in the summer of 1880, can still be seen on a photo from around 1875. It was at the southern end of the square in front of the Marienkirche. The fountain figure is now placed in the Pfarrgasse in front of the parish church.

Renovation and redesign

The town square has been renovated and redesigned by the city of Steyr since 2018 with a view to the Upper Austrian State Exhibition 2021. The newly created promenade on the town square widened the pedestrian area in 2019 and created new consumption-free zones and more space for pavement gardens in the city center. In 2020, the renovation work on the Grünmarkt and Neutor was also completed, and seven mobile trees in planters were purchased to green the city center.

Pictures of the buildings

  • Bummerlhaus

  • Marienkirche

  • town hall

  • Star house

  • Schuberthaus

  • Leopoldi Fountain

  • Neo-Gothic savings bank building

  • Seven star house

Regular facilities and events

  • The city ​​festival in June is a multi-day event with live music. It took place for the first time in 1980 for the 1000th anniversary.
  • Every year in July there is a "beach volleyball show" where not only professionals but also teams from different companies compete against each other.
  • The participants of the Ennstal-Classic oldtimer rally drive up every year.
  • There are regular markets on the square, such as the Steyr Old Town Advent market with handicrafts , which continues as a New Year's Eve market from December 24th until the end of the year , a flower market on one day in April or a “ delicacy market” every Friday during the warm season.
  • From Advent to New Year's Eve , Steyr old-timer buses of the models 380q and 480a travel from the Marienkirche to the rectory in the Christkindl district , the journey time is 15 minutes. It is a few steps from the rectory to the special post office of the same name . The post in the mailbox at the Marienkirche stop is sent via Christkindl and receives a special stamp. On some days, the Martini market in the cadastral community of Gleink and the Advent market in the neighboring community of Garsten are served . The first buses between Stadtplatz and Christkindl left in December 1993.

photos

  • “Beach volleyball show” in July

  • Christmas Market

  • Vintage post bus in front of the Marienkirche

Controversy

Hingerlgate

In November 2018, the newly designed promenade became known throughout Austria when neighbors discovered that the newly laid paving stones formed the name of a magistrate from the city of Steyr. The responsible construction site manager of the Magistrate Steyr Franz-Michael Hingerl first denied the action and pointed out that the letters laid in the pavement should represent the surrounding shops: "H" ohlrieder (café), "I" mperial (pizzaria), "N" anu (shoe shop), “G” röger (jeweler), “E” banking (bank), “R” athaus, “L” eopold (café). The letters were discovered during the construction phase, the year "2018", which was also commissioned, was no longer relocated by the construction workers. In response, the city of Steyr had the paving stones removed and demanded compensation from the responsible officer in the amount of the material costs.

Guardian of Time

The decision of the city administration to purchase three statues by the Upper Austrian artist Manfred Kielnhofer for the summer of 2020 is considered controversial . The three golden “Guardians of Time” were bought by the city government and exhibited in the city square. This controversial purchase led to the resignation of the gallery owner Frieda Pohlhammer from the Steyr City Culture Advisory Board, whose chairwoman Mag. Beate Seckauer asked for her committee to have more say in the purchase of art.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Little guide through Steyr . P. 49 ff.
  2. ↑ steyr.at buildings: Stalzerhaus. Viewed on October 8, 2010
  3. ↑ New history of Steyr , p. 45
  4. ↑ Neue Geschichte von Steyr , p. 55 f.
  5. ↑ Steyr in the course of time , chapter: From everyday life in the city, p. 44
  6. ↑ The quiet end of the "Mister Stadtfest" OÖN (accessed on March 18, 2011)
  7. ↑ Stefan Minichberger: Steyr beach volleyball show: winning team did not hand out any guest gifts ( memento from July 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Article in OÖN from July 8, 2014 (accessed on July 15, 2014)
  8. ↑ Gabriel Egger: Seyffenstein also drives up in his oldtimer ( memento from July 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Article in OÖN from July 11, 2014 (accessed on July 15, 2014)
  9. ↑ Advent market old town Steyr (accessed on February 3, 2019)
  10. ↑ Oldtimer Postbusfahrten (steyr.info) accessed on February 3, 2019
  11. ^ Official Journal of the City of Steyr , December 2018. P. 10
  12. ↑ SPÖ municipal council immortalized in Steyrer Stadtpflaster , article on diepresse.com dated November 7, 2018, accessed on July 30, 2020
  13. ↑ Hannes Fehringer: The city ​​had the "signature" of its official removed from the new cobblestones. In: Upper Austrian news. November 8, 2018, accessed July 22, 2020 .
  14. ^ Vortex about gold figures on the town square: "A wrong understanding of art". In: Upper Austrian news. July 21, 2020, accessed July 30, 2020 (paid article).

Web links

Commons : Stadtplatz (Steyr)  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Town Square  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 2 '20.6 "  N , 14 ° 25' 8.8"  E