Hardegg

Hardegg
Hardegg town and castle
Hardegg
Country	Austria
State	Lower Austria
District	Hollabrunn
Mayor	Heribert Donnerbauer, ÖVP
Area	39.28 km2 (15 sq mi)
Elevation	309 m  (1014 ft)
Population	1,384 (1 January 2011)
- Density	35 /km2 (91 /sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal code	2082
Area code	02948
Website	www.hardegg.gv.at

Hardegg is a town in the district of Hollabrunn in Lower Austria, Austria. It is situated in the Waldviertel region on the river Thaya, directly at the border with the Czech Republic. The Thaya valley is protected as a national park, adjacent to the Podyjí National Park on the Czech shore.

Since 1975 the municipality comprises the Katastralgemeinden of Hardegg, Felling, Heufurth, Mallersbach, Merkersdorf, Niederfladnitz, Pleissing, Riegersburg, Umlauf (unpopulated, is entirely located within the Thayatal national park and comprises a mere 12 fishermen's huts), and Waschbach. As Hardegg proper has only 78 inhabitants, it is often referred to as Austria's smallest town.

History

Hardegg Castle in the March of Austria was first mentioned in a 1145 deed, it was acquired by the Counts of Plain about 1187. Hardegg itself is first documented as a town in 1290. Located at the border with the Kingdom of Bohemia, the area was devastated during the Hussite Wars in 1425. In 1483 Hardegg was bequested to the Habsburg archdukes of Austria.

Emperor Maximilian I granted Hardegg to his ministeriales of the Prueschenk noble family and elevated them to immediate Counts of Hardegg in 1499. Two years later Count Ulrich purchased the Bohemian County of Kladsko from the Dukes of Münsterberg. From the Thirty Years' War onwards the castle decayed, until it was acquired by the Khevenhüller dynasty and rebuilt in the late 19th century according to plans designed by Carl Gangolf Kayser.

Thaya bridge

After World War II until the raise of the Iron Curtain, Hardegg was particularly isolated. The only connection to the Czech Republic exists via a bridge built in 1874 across the Thaya to the neighbouring village of Čížov (part of the Horní Břečkov municipality) in Moravia.

Economy and infrastructure

The remote situation was also mirrored in a decreasing number of inhabitants. The only economical factor of the town today is tourism. The highest population ever officially recorded was then also noted in 1890 with a number of 3,209. Ever since, except for the period between 1939 and 1951, the number of inhabitants is steadily decreasing. This is moreover significant for the Hollabrunn district which has had no population increase since 1980.

In 2001 there were 56 non-agricultural businesses, according to a 1999 census there were 108 farmsteads and forestral businesses. In 2001 the number of economically active persons was 597, the employment ratio was at 40.8%. In Riegerburg lies a former coal mine and Felling is the seat of RM Austria – Perlmuttdesign, Austria's last mother of pearl turnery. In Mallersbach and Niederfladnitz, kaolinite was mined.

After the seasonal opening of the Thaya bridge border crossing from Hardegg to Čížov on 12 April 1990, the crossing point was opened hourly throughout the year for pedestrians, cyclists and ski sportsmen on 9 May 2006. In July the crossing Felling to Podmyče was opened to pedestrians and cyclists. After the expansion of the European Union's Schengen Area, the border may now be crossed anywhere at any time and formal checkpoints are obsolete.

Politics

As of 2010, Heribert Donnerbauer of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) is the town's mayor. The council comprises 19 seats divided into the following mandates from the 14 March 2010 elections: ÖVP 15, SPÖ 4.

Sights

• Thayatal National Park
• Hardegg Castle
• Riegersburg Castle
• Ruins of Kaja Castle near Merkersdorf
• Brick pillars of a former gallows between Niederfladnitz and Oberretzbach
• Annual Retzerland pumpkin festival

Notable people

• Freddy Quinn (born 1931 in Niederfladnitz), singer and musician

Honorary citizens

• Erwin Pröll, governor of Lower Austria

External links

This article incorporates information from this version of the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.