Downstream from Maria Taferl, on the southern side of the Danube, nestles the old world little town of Pöchlarn (213m/699ft), with a 15th century tower and defensive walls. The Late Gothic church, remodeled in Baroque, boasts altarpieces by Kremser Schmidt. The Welserturm houses a local museum, with finds from the Roman Danube port of Arelapus. In the "Nibelungenlied" Bechelaren is the seat of the Margrave Rüdiger, who welcomed the Burgundians as guests.
As the Danube passes Marbach, on the right, comes Pöchlarn, the Roman Arelape and the Bechelaren of the "Niebelungenlied", once the residence of Margrave Rüdiger.
The painter Oskar Kokoschka was born in Pöchlarn in 1886 and died in Montreux, Switzerland in 1980. A memorial has been set up in the house where he was born (open: June-December), with exhibitions of his work. Adjoining it is a Kokoschka research center.
On the bank of the Danube opposite Pöchlarn lie Kleinpöchlarn (211m/693ft) and, to the north of it, Schloss Artstetten, with the tombs of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, whose murder at Sarajevo in 1914 led to the First World War (Archduke Franz Ferdinand Museum).
The castle and its park (360m/1180ft) is (5km/3mi north of Klein-Pöchlarn, on the left bank of the Danube. Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, were buried here at the request of the Archduke, because the Countess - who was not of noble birth - could not be interred in the Capuchin vault.
Address: Schloss Artstetten, Schlossplatz 1, A-3661 Artstetten, Austria
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