Page 206 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2016 - Austria

204  A USTRIA REGION b y REGION

e Kremsmünster The pride of Kremsmünster are 1443, was remodelled in the
its earliest exhibits; these include Neo-Gothic style, but it has
Road map E3. A-4450 Kremsmünster.
@ £ Tel (07583) 5275-0. Open May– the gilded-copper chalice and preserved some elements of
Oct: guided tours 10am, 11:30am, candel abras of Duke Tassilo, the its original 15th-century decor,
2pm, 4pm daily; Nov–Jan & Mar: legendary founder of the abbey, the work of Hans Puchsbaum,
11am, 2pm, 3:30pm Tue–Sun. and the Codex millenarius (c.800), builder of the Stephansdom in
Stern warte: 8 May–Aug: 10am, 2pm, an illuminated manuscript. Vienna, as well as some lovely
4pm daily; Sep & Oct: 2pm Mon–Fri, wrought-iron grilles. The south
10am, 2pm Sat & Sun. Call ahead for wall has magnificent 15th-cen-
tours in English (min four people). r Steyr tury stained-glass windows; the
& ∑ stift-kremsmuenster.at sculptures in the north portal
Road map E3. * 38,000. @ £
n Stadtplatz 27 (07252) 53 229. and the former cemetery chapel
Perched high above the Krems of St Margaret (1430), also by
river stands the 8th-cen tury Steyr, one of Austria’s largest Hans Puchsbaum, date from
Benedictine Abbey of industrial centres, is also a the same period.
Kremsmünster, its present very attractive town which has The Schloss (castle), first
appearance dating mostly from managed to preserve its old mentioned in 10th-century
the 17th century. The town almost intact. annals, stands in the oldest
abbey was completed The townscape is part of the town. Today it has
by Jakob Prandtauer, punctuated in the a Baroque façade and a mostly
to designs by Carlo north by the turrets Rococo interior. The house at
Carlone. Two of its most of the castle and in No. 26 Grünmarkt, formerly a
remarkable features are the south by the towers granary, is now a museum.
the 17th-century fish of the Stadtpfarrkirche,
ponds, surrounded by the parish church at Environs: In Gleink, a northern
columns, corridors and Brucknerplatz. The centre suburb of Steyr, stands a worthy
sculp tural fountains, of town is the elongated Benedictine Abbey. Some 3 km
and the unusual Stadtplatz (town (2 miles) west of the town centre,
Sternwarte, a 50-m The Tassilo Chalice in square) with most of in the suburb of Christkindl, is
(165-ft) high observa- Kremsmünster the historic sights. The the church of the same name
tion tower, which Bummerlhaus (1497) (meaning “Infant Christ”), the
holds collections of at No. 32, is a well preserved joint work of Giovanni Battista
palaeontology, physics, Gothic house with a high- Carlone and Jakob Prandtauer.
anthropology, astronomy and pitched roof and three arcaded In 1695, a devout person placed
zoology. The Stiftskirche courtyards, that is now a bank. a wax figure of the Infant Jesus
(abbey church) has rich stucco The Rococo Rathaus (town hall), in the hollow of a tree and
decorations and angel statues. with its slender steeple, was prayed there every day for a
The abbey museum comprises designed by Johann Gotthard cure. His prayers were answered
works by Austrian and Dutch Hayberger. The inner courtyards and soon the crowds of pilgrims
masters from the Baroque and of houses around the square drawn to the site of the miracle
Renaissance periods, wood are also worth seeing. The were so large that in 1702 the
carvings and gold objects. Stadtpfarrkirche, built in abbot from nearby Garsten

Steyr town panorama as seen from the river
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp296–7 and pp320–21

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