The busy industrial and commercial town of St Pölten, situated 40km/25mi west of Vienna on the left bank of the Traisen, is the largest town and capital of Lower Austria. It is noted for its Baroque architecture; some of the leading Baroque architects and artists, such as Jakob Prandtauer, lived and worked here. During the first four centuries after the birth of Christ the area which is now St Pölten old town was the Roman town of Aelium Cetium. In the 11th century it received its market rights and in 1159 its town charter. In the 13th century the town, by then the see of a bishop, was extended in the area where the Rathausplatz now lies, and remained thus as a royal provincial town until 1860. After having been considerably enlarged as the result of the absorption of various adjoining parishes in 1922 and 1972 St Pölten became the capital of Lower Austria in 1986.
St Pölten has several theatres and museums such as the Lower Austrian State Museum, the Diocese Museum, and a modern art museum. Ratzersdorf Lake offers a bathing pond with a nudist beach, beach volleyball, and miniature golf.
Kremser Gasse, to the west of the Domplatz, is St Pölten's shopping street, studded with both Baroque and Neo-Classical houses; particular mention should be made of No. 41, an Art Nouveau house by Joseph Olbrich.
8km/5mi northeast of the St Pölten town center lies the district of Pottenbrunn, with its 16th century moated castle, which houses the Austrian Museum of Tin Figures. Fifty dioramas of varying size portray historical events (battles, etc.); in all there are about 35,000 figures.
To the southwest of the strung out St Pölten Rathausplatz will be found the Carmelite Church (1708-12 by J. Prandtauer) with its rich Baroque facade. The convent itself was dissolved in 1782.
Immediately north of Herrenplatz in St Pölten lies the Domplatz, on the site of the very center of the Roman settlement of Aelium Cetium. A Benedictine monastery was founded here c. 760, and in 1081 this became the Augustinian Abbey. In the 17th C. the Bishop's Palace (Bischofshof), a Baroque monastic building, was constructed around five courtyards; note the cloister with numerous gravestones. The former prelature is now an episcopal seat.
On the northern side of the St Pölten Rathausplatz stands the Franciscan Church (Roccoco; 1757-79), containing four altar paintings by Kremser Schmidt.
On the left bank of the Traisen - and on the "Lower Austria Baroque Highway" - lies Herzogenburg, with an Augustinian monastery founded in 1112. The present monastic buildings (1714-40) were designed by Jakob Prandtauer, Josef Munggenast and J. B. Fischer von Erlach, and are now a museum and library. The magnificent Baroque church (1743-50) has a sumptuous interior (paintings by Bartolomeo Altomonte, an altarpiece by D. Gran and a beautiful organ loft); the 70m/230ft high tower (1767) is crowned by the Ducal cap.
Address: Herzogenburg Tourist Office, A-3130 Herzogenburg, Austria
In Dr-Karl-Renner-Promenade in the southeast of the town of St Pölten stands the old Synagogue (restored), now used for concert performances and the like.
Address: Institute for the History of Jews in Austria, Promenade 22, A-3100 St Pölten, Austria
Following Linzer Strasse, which runs southwestward from Riemerplatz in St Pölten, we reach the Institute of the English Ladies (Institut der Englischen Frauen, a convent founded by Mary Ward in 1609), a sumptuous Baroque building of 1715-69. One of the well known pupils there was Paula von Preradovicà, who wrote the words of the Austrian National Anthem.
Jakob Prandtauer (1660-1726), who worked and died in St Pölten, lived at No. 1 Klostergasse (further to the north of the Domplatz). By making full use of their natural qualities he was able to turn large building blocks into things of beauty.
In the market village of Lilienfeld (alt. 377m/1,237ft) stands a Cistercian abbey founded in 1202. The church, a Romanesque-Gothic basilica, dates from the 13th C; the Baroque interior is 18th C. The cloister (1230-60), showing a Burgundian influence, is supported by more than 400 columns; the hexagonal fountain house was renovated in the 13th C. The monastic buildings (Imperial Apartments and Library) are 17th/18th C.; there is also a beautiful park. A chairlift ascends the Klosteralpe (1,122m/3,682ft), on the slopes of the Muckenkogel (1,311m/4,301ft), from which there are fine views.
Address: Lilienfeld Tourist Office, A-3180 Lilienfeld, Austria
In 1988 the "Lower Austria Path of Wayside Shrines" was opened in Inzersdorf-Getzersdorf, on the western edge of the Traisen valley. Two paths for walkers ( 8 and 7km/5 and 4.5mi long) and a cycle path (13km/ 8mi long) lead past 21 wayside shrines, crosses and crucifixes, some of which have recently been renovated. These shrines, erected as monuments or to mark boundaries, have differing designs, sculptural ornamentation and color; informatory brochures are obtainable.
The St Pölten convent buildings (Prandtauerstrasse No. 2), endowed as such by Princess Montecuccoli, have been used for cultural purposes since 1972; it houses the Municipal Museum, the Lower Austrian Documentation Center of Modern Art and a computer center. Open air theatrical performances are given in the courtyard in the summer months.
In the center of the St Pölten old town, with its fine Baroque buildings, lies the little Riemerplatz, built as the center of the 11th C. episcopal settlement at the meeting place of the Wiener Strasse and the Linzer Strasse. Beautiful palaces with Baroque fronts, wrought iron balconies and interior courtyards surround the square. In 1987 the area between the Riemerplatz and the Herrenplatz to its east (note the Mariensäule - a column bearing a figure of the Virgin - of 1718) was redesigned, and the centerpiece of the Riemerplatz which now catches the eye is a statue by the Dutch sculptor Hein Mader.
In St Pölten, Rathausgasse runs eastward from the Rathausplatz to the old town; above the doorway of No. 2, the house with a Baroque front, can be seen a relief carving of Schubert; when Schubert stayed in St Pölten in 1821 he and the librettist Schober performed the first "Schubertiade".
North of Traismauer a Dinosaur Park has been laid out on a 20,000 sq.m/ 5 acre area of meadowland near the rivers Danube and Traisen. In as accurate a representation as possible of the animal world as it was in the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic Ages, models of dinosaurs and other reptiles measuring between 50cm and 30m/ 20 ins and 100ft in height are displayed. When the park is finally completed it is expected that there will be more than 100 models of animals made of iron, concrete and plastic.
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