Page 141 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Austria

L OWER A USTRIA AND BURGENLAND  139

6 Wiener Neustadt
Road map G3. * 42,000. £ @
n Neunkirchner Strasse 17, (02622)
373-311. ∑ wiener-neustadt.at
This large town, some 40 km
(25 miles) south of Vienna, is an
industrial city and an important
road and rail transport hub, and
also the largest shopping city of
Lower Austria.
In the centre of the town is
the attractive Hauptplatz, with
a part-Gothic Rathaus (town
hall) rebuilt in Baroque style.
Gothic houses line the northern
side of the square, and the
St Mary’s Column (1678) stands
Franzensburg Castle, a mock-Gothic folly in Laxenburg in the centre. The Dom (cathedral
church of the Ascension of
main altarpiece shows the sky International Institute for Our Lady) was built in the
resting on four columns, with Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), 13th century. Its outstanding
God the Father sitting on his and it also houses the Austrian features include 12 wooden
throne, holding the Earth in his Film Archives. The palace is statues of the apostles by the
hand. The altar painting of the surrounded by a landscaped, columns of the central nave,
Last Supper is the work of Franz English-style Schlosspark, one and the Baroque main altar.
Anton Maulbertsch. of the grandest such palace The Brautportal (Portal of the
Burg Kreuzenstein, on the parks in Europe at the time of Betrothed) dates from 1230.
road to Stockerau, is a fascinat ing Emperor Joseph II. In Stift Neukloster (Holy
folly of a Gothic castle. Built in the The park is dotted with many Trinity church) you can see a
19th century by Count Johann follies, and one particularly worth beautifully carved stone on the
Nepomuk Graf Wilczek, on the visiting is the early-19th-century tomb of Eleanor of Portugal,
site of a former fortress (1140) that Franzensburg, a mock-Gothic wife of Emperor Friedrich III,
was almost entirely destroyed castle, built on an island in an by Niklas Gerhaert of Leyden,
by Swedish forces during the artificial lake within the palace dating from 1467.
Thirty Years’ War, it holds the grounds at the height of the The former castle now houses
count’s extensive collection of fashion for all things historic. the prestigious Military Academy,
late-Gothic art and handicrafts. It was furnished with original once commanded by General
objects collected and pillaged Rommel. In its west wing is
from all over the empire, such the 15th-century St-Georgs-
5 Laxenburg as the 12th-century columns Kathedrale (St George’s
with capitals in the chapel, from Cathedral), with the tomb of
Road map G3. @ n Schlossplatz
7–8, (02236) 711 010. ∑ laxenburg.at Klosterneuburg, and the ceiling Maximilian I under the main
in the Hungarian Coronation altar. A corner tower, a remnant
This small town, situated 15 km Room from the Hungarian town of the old fortified city walls, now
(9 miles) outside Vienna, is a of Eger. In the summer, open-air houses a criminology museum
favourite place for daytrips theatre performances take place and a gruesome exhibition of
from the capital. It began as a on the castle island. instruments of torture.
hunting lodge, Lachsenburg,
around which a settlement
grew. Destroyed during the
last Turkish wars, but restored
and enlarged in the 17th
century, it became a favourite
retreat for Maria Theresa and
other members of the imper ial
family. Laxenburg was chosen
as a venue for the signing of
many important state treaties,
includ ing the Pragmatic Sanction
which made it possible for a
woman, Maria Theresa, to accede
to the throne. Today, the former
imperial palace is the seat of the The town hall on Hauptplatz, Wiener Neustadt

138-139_EW_Austria.indd 139 12/09/17 3:03 pm