Freistadt

Freistadt
Freistadt
	; Coat of arms
	; Coat of arms
	Freistadt Location within Austria
	Location within Freistadt district
	Coordinates: 48°30′42″N 14°30′22″E / 48.51167°N 14.50611°ECoordinates: 48°30′42″N 14°30′22″E / 48.51167°N 14.50611°E
Country	Austria
State	Upper Austria
District	Freistadt
	Government
• Mayor	Christian Jachs (ÖVP)
	Area
• Total	12.88 km2 (4.97 sq mi)
Elevation	560 m (1,840 ft)
	Population (1 January 2012)
• Total	7,468
• Density	580/km2 (1,500/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	4240
Area code	07942
Vehicle registration	FR
Website	www.freistadt.at

For other uses, see Freistadt (disambiguation).

Freistadt (help·info) (literally "Freetown") is a small Austrian town in the state of Upper Austria in the region Mühlviertel. With a population of approximately 7,500 residents, it is a trade centre for local villages. Freistadt is the economic centre of a district of the same name District Freistadt. The nearest sizeable cities are Linz, the capital of Upper Austria, about 40 km in the south, and České Budějovice, the capital of Southern Bohemia, about 60 km in the north.

Freistadt was an old medieval town (founded around 1220) that separated the Habsburg and Bohemian lands. It stood at crossroads of the salt and iron trade route during the Middle Ages from the Danube to Bohemia. The outer and inner walls, towers and gates of the old city, built mainly between 1363 and 1393 still exist today.

The main entrance to the Old Town is through the Linzer Tor (Linz Gate). The spacious Hauptplatz (main square) is surrounded by painted fronts of renovated burghers' houses. On the highest point of Freistadt stands the parish church of St Catherine (14th-15th century, remodelled in Baroque style in 1690 and rebuilt in Gothic style in 1967); note in particular the interlaced ribbed vaulting in the roof of the choir. At the northeastern corner of the square a gateway leads to the 14th century Schloss Freistadt, with a 50m/165 ft high keep which now houses the Mühlviertler Schlossmuseum, a local museum with a large collection of verre églomisé (glass decorated with a layer of engraved gold). Outside the Böhmertor (Bohemian Gate) stands the little 15th century Liebfrauenkirche with beautiful "pillars of light" of 1484.