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Sankt Pölten

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Template:Infobox Ort in Österreich Sankt Pölten (St. Pölten) is the capital city of the Austrian State of Lower Austria. With 49,121 inhabitants (counted 2001) it is Lower Austria's largest city. Sankt Pölten is a city with its own statute (or Statutarstadt) and therefore it is both a municipality and a district in the Mostviertel.

Geography

The city lies on the Traisen river and is located north of the Alps and south of the Wachau. It is part of the Mostviertel, the southwest region of Lower Austria.

Traffic

The city is located directly on the Austrian Western Railway of the ÖBB and is also the terminus of the Leobersdorfer Railway, the Mariazellerbahn, the regional railway to Tulln and the regional railway to Krems. It is at the intersection of the Western Motorway A1 and the Kremser Speedway S33, and is traversed by the Vienna Road B1. Sankt Pölten is a junction of the Wieselbus bus lines, which provides radial connections between the capital and the different regions of Lower Austria.

In the city

Between 1911 and 1976, a tramline operated in Sankt Pölten. Today, a network of eleven bus lines operates at regular intervals within the city. Every summer, a free tourist train in the city centre connects the ancient parts of the city with the government district.

City division

Sankt Pölten is divided into the following subsdistricts: Altmannsdorf, Dörfl at Ochsenburg, Eggendorf, Ganzendorf, Hafing, Harland, Hart, Kreisberg, Matzersdorf, Mühlgang, Nadelbach, Oberradlberg, Oberwagram, Oberzwischenbrunn, Ochsenburg, Pengersdorf, Pottenbrunn, Pummersdorf, Ragelsdorf, Ratzersdorf at the Traisen, Reitzersdorf, Schwadorf, Spratzern, Sankt Georgen on the Steinfelde, Sankt Pölten, Stattersdorf, Steinfeld, Teufelhof, Unterradlberg, Unterwagram, Unterzwischenbrunn, Viehofen, Völtendorf, Waitzendorf, Wasserburg, Weitern, Wetzersdorf, Windpassing, Witzendorf, Wolfenberg, Wörth and Zwerndorf.

History

the baroque cathedral of Sankt Pölten

The oldest part of the city is built on the site of the ancient Roman city Aelium Cetium that existed between the 2nd and the 4th century. In the year 799, it was called Treisma. Sankt Pölten became a town in 1050 and officially became a city in 1159. Until 1494 Sankt Pölten was part of the diocese of Passau, and then became property of the state. A Benedictine monastery was founded in 771. In 1081 it hosted the Augustinian Chorherren and in 1784 their Kollegiatsstift closed. Since 1785, this building has hosted the cathedra of Sankt Pölten. The city became the capital of Lower Austria with a resolution by the Lower Austrian parliament on July 10, 1986. The Lower Austrian government has been hosted in Sankt Pölten since 1997.

The name Sankt Pölten is derived from Hippolytus of Rome. The city was renamed to Sankt Hippolyt, then Sankt Polyt and finally Sankt Pölten.

Politics

Municipal council and City's senate

Municipal council

The municipal council consists of 42 members and since the municipal elections in 2001 it consists of the following parties:

The next municipal elections in Sankt Pölten will be held in October 2006.

City's senate

City hall of Sankt Pölten

The city's senate consists of 11 members:

  • SPÖ: Martin Fuhs, Mag. Renate Gamsjäger, Engineer Franz Gunacker, Robert Laimer, Wolfgang Nowak, Mag. Johann Rankl, Mag. Ingrid Heihs
  • ÖVP: Alfred Neuhauser, Josef Fraberger
  • Greens: Silvia Buschenreiter
  • FSP: Hermann Nonner

Mayor

On July 9th, 2004 the municipal council elected the former senator for culture Mag. Matthias Stadler (SPÖ) as the new mayor of Sankt Pölten. The first vice mayor is Susanne Kysela (SPÖ); the second vice mayor is Engineer Johannes Sassmann (ÖVP).

The City's Seal

Coat of arms, colours and seals

The arms' blazon is argent and azure; on the left a fess gules, on the right a wolf rampant argent langued gules and armed Or.

The colours of the city are red and yellow. The seal of the city contains its coat of arms surrounded by the text Landeshauptstadt St. Pölten. The administration's seal of the magistrate also contains the city's coat of arms with the text Magistrat der Stadt St. Pölten.

Economy

As of May 15, 2001, 40.041 people worked in 2,711 companies in the city. 23 of those companies are large-scale enterprises with more than 200 employees each.

Media

Several media companies are based in Sankt Pölten. These are "@cetera", a literary-cultural magazine; "City-Flyer", an online magazine describing the cultural offerings of the city, which is published on paper monthly; "Campus Radio", a radio station from the University of Applied Sciences; "HiT FM", a radio station broadcasting in Lower Austria; "LetHereBeRock", an online youth magazine about the alternative rock scene; "NÖN", a Lower Austrian newspaper; the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation for Lower Austria; and the local television channel "P3tv".

Large-scale Enterprises

The largest companies based in Sankt Pölten are Leiner, Salzer and Voith.

Public facilities

Population trend

Educational facilities

  • Bundesgymnasium and Bundesrealgymnasium St. Pölten [1] (public gymnasium)
  • Public educational facility for kindergarten pedagogy and social pedagogy
  • Public economics school and economics academy
  • Bundesreal- and Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium (BORG) Schulring (public high-level gymnasium)
  • University of applied sciences (fields: computer simulation, media management, social work, telecommunication and media)
  • Public higher educational facility for professions in economics and school for social professions
  • Public higher technical educational facility and laboratory (fields: EDP and organisation, electronics, electrical engineering, machine engineering, economic engineering) with university of applied sciences for machine construction
  • New Design University (interior architecture and graphics design)
  • Lower Austrian state academy
  • Philosophical-theological university
  • Folk high school
  • Lower Austrian institute for promotion of economy development (WIFI)

Leisure and sports sites

Aerial photo

Swimming is available at Aquacity (indoor swimming pool), the St. Pölten outdoor swimming pool and Ratzersdorf Lake (a bathing pond where a nudist beach, beach volleyball, and miniature golf) are available. For fitness training there is the City-Treff - Pueblo, the Lifeline, the Reebok and the Seepark. In addition, the city has:

Sankt Pölten hosts a primary base of the Lower Austrian state sports school.

Tennis

Every year in the third week of May the ATP tournament takes place in Sankt Pölten. There are multiple local tennis stadiums, including the Arena im Aufeld, the tennis centre Allround, the tennis courts by the local ice sport association 1872, the courts in St. Georgen, the courts at the Ratzersdorfer Pond, the courts in the Lower Austrian state sports school and the courts of the leisure park Megafun.

City partnerships

Sankt Pölten is a twin town with the following cities:

Culture and objects of interest

Theatres

Museums

  • Diocese museum St. Pölten
  • Museum im Hof
  • Lower Austrian state museum
  • Lower Austrian documentation institute for modern art
  • Private museum "Wilhelmsburger ornament and utensil dishes"
  • City museum St. Pölten

Others

East side of the government district: the Lower Austrian parliament; in background the Klangturm
The tower Klangturm, Sankt Pölten's landmark
  • Repertory theatre Cinema Paradiso
  • Former Synagogue
  • Klangturm (tower), the city's landmark
  • Stadtsäle (public event hall)
  • Youth culture hall frei.raum
  • capella incognita, baroque music ensemble from Sankt Pölten
  • VAZ (Veranstaltungszentrum, event-centre)
  • Drunter & Drüber (≈"haywire"; "higgledy-piggledy"; "topsy-turvy"), a pub in the inner city
  • Tonkünstler Orchestra

Regular Events

  • ATP tennis tournament
  • Cinema at the cathedral (Film am Dom)
  • Capital city festival
  • International culture and film festival
  • Parliament festival
  • Sankt Pölten festival weeks "Klangweile"
  • Sankt Pölten Höfefest

Famous people

Literature

  • Klaus Nüchtern: Kleines Gulasch in St. Pölten (German): ISBN 3-85439-306-7
  • Thomas Karl: St. Pölten - Ein Wandel durch die Zeit (German): ISBN 3-89702-641-4
  • Otto Kapfinger, Michaela Steiner: St. Pölten neu (German): ISBN 3-21182-954-7
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