Loosdorf | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 48°12′N15°24′E / 48.200°N 15.400°E | |
Country | Austria |
State | Lower Austria |
District | Melk |
Government | |
• Mayor | Thomas Vasku (SPÖ) |
Area | |
• Total | 11.89 km2 (4.59 sq mi) |
Elevation | 234 m (768 ft) |
Population (2018-01-01) [2] | |
• Total | 3,794 |
• Density | 320/km2 (830/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
Postal code | 3382 |
Area code | 02754 |
Website | www.loosdorf.at |
Loosdorf is a town in the district of Melk in the Austrian state of Lower Austria.
The first-known mention of Loosdorf, then referred to as "Ladestorf," dates to 1145. Even from this period, the town had a strong connection to the nearby Schallaburg Castle. Documents from the reign of King Ottokar prove that saffron played a major role in Loosdorf's economy from an early stage. [3]
The town experienced a major period of prosperity in the 16th century, under the reign of Hans Wilhem of Losenstein, who expanded the Schallaburg, rebuilt the town church, which had been destroyed by Turkish soldiers in 1588 and, opened a protestant school in Loosdorf, called 'die Hohe Schule' ('the High School'). During this period, Loosdorf also achieved the right to organize a market (1584) and a weekly market (1588), solidifying its status as a market town (Marktgemeinde), which it bears to this day. [3]
Under Hans Wilhelm von Losenstein, Loosdorf became a hub of Protestantism in Austria. [4] The Hohe Schule started as a private school, especially for the children of the Lutheran nobility. The statutes of the Lutheran German gymnasium of Loosdorf were printed in Augsburg in 1574. Two original copies still exist. The school statutes are an important source for the study of the history of pedagogy in Austria. It is regarded as original, although some parts show much resemblance to that of the Lutheran gymnasium of Strasbourg. During the counter-reformation, pressure from the Catholic authorities became too great, and in 1627 the school was forced to close after the local prince sent the teachers and administrators of the school into exile. [5]
Due to its location and relative size, Loosdorf was given a train station on the Western Railway (Westbahn) upon its opening in 1858. Loosdorf's train station was an important water stop for the steam locomotives used at the time. [6] The connection to the Western Railway was of such importance that Loosdorf was referred to as "Loosdorf an der Westbahn" (Loosdorf by the Western Railway). [7] The economic boom brought by the railway came hand-in-hand with a societal realignment, as the connection to nearby industrial hubs led to the conservative, bourgeois population being largely replaced by a new, predominately social democratic working class. [8]
In 1843 the Austrian Polish count Antoni August Halka Ledóchowski, a brother of the later Archbishop and Cardinal Mieczysław Halka Ledóchowski, acquired the estate Sitzenthal near Loosdorf. He was married to Countess Seilern and they had three sons, Timothy, Anthony, and Casimir. After the early death of his first wife, he married Countess Josephine Salis-Zizers.
In 1862 Anthoni Halka Ledóchowski built a manor house in Loosdorf, where he moved, together with his family. [9] In 1863 Mary Theresa was born in this house. Then followed Julia (later called Ursula, after becoming a nun), then Wlodimir, Mary, Ernestine, Frances and Ignatius. Two others died soon after their birth. [10]
Due to the bank crash of 1873, Antoni Halka Ledóchowski lost most of his capital, so in 1874 he sold his house in Loosdorf and moved to St. Pölten. Julia and Mary Theresa attended the Institute B.M.V., [11] then a grammar school for girls run by nuns of the congregation founded by Mary Ward. In April 1882 Count Antoni Halka Ledóchowski acquired an estate in Lipnica in Lower Poland, about 48 km from Kraków. Mary Theresa conducted the renovation and enlargement of the manor house, and in 1883 the family moved there. [12]
In 1883 Julia Halka Ledóchowska became an Ursuline nun in Kraków and after a year she got the name Ursula. She became a missionary in Russia and Scandinavia. She founded the Congregation of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus, also called the Grey Ursulines, because of their grey habits. Her brother Wlodimir Halka Ledóchowski was the 26th general of the Jesuits. Mary Theresa founded the Soladity of Saint Peter Claver, [13] that acted against slavery in Africa. Ignatius became a general in the Polish army. In 1975 Mary Theresa was beatified by Pope Paul VI. In 1983 Ursula Halka Ledóchowska was also beatified, by Pope John Paul II. In 2003 Ursula Ledóchowska was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint by Pope John Paul II.
In 1883 the Ledóchowska House came into the property of the Counts of Montecuccoli. It changed hands several times. From 1928 until 1938 it belonged to the Chamber of Agriculture of Lower Austria, which opened an agricultural winter school in the building. Finally, the Soladity of Saint Peter Claver of Salzburg, that was founded by Mary Theresa Ledóchowska, acquired the house. [9]
The River Pielach flows through Loosdorf. The meandering river is home to a multitude of wildlife and the rare Huchen, the Danube salmon.[ citation needed ]
Ytong has its Austrian manufacturing in Loosdorf.[ citation needed ]
Ursula is a legendary Romano-British Christian saint. Her feast day in the pre-1970 Calendarium Romanum Generale is 21 October. There is little information about her and the anonymous group of holy virgins who accompanied and, on an uncertain date, were killed along with her at Cologne. They remain in the Roman Martyrology, although their commemoration does not appear in the simplified General Roman Calendar of the 1970 Missale Romanum.
Melk Abbey is a Benedictine abbey above the town of Melk, Lower Austria, Austria, on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Danube river, adjoining the Wachau valley. The abbey contains the tomb of Saint Coloman of Stockerau and the remains of several members of the House of Babenberg, Austria's first ruling dynasty.
Mauer is a village in the municipality of Dunkelsteinerwald, in the Mostviertel in Lower Austria, Austria.
Włodzimierz Halka Ledóchowski was a Polish Catholic priest who served as the 26th Superior-General of the Society of Jesus from 11 February 1915 until his death in 1942. Prior to taking holy orders, he was briefly a page in the Habsburg Court.
Mieczysław Halka-Ledóchowski, was born in Górki in Russian-controlled Congress Poland to Count Josef Ledóchowski and Maria Zakrzewska. He was uncle to Saint Ursula Ledóchowska, the Blessed Maria Teresia (Theresa) Ledóchowska and Father Włodzimierz Ledóchowski, General Superior of the Society of Jesus.
Mary Theresa Ledóchowska, SSPC; 29 April 1863 – 6 July 1922), was a Polish religious sister in the Roman Catholic church. She founded the Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver, dedicated to service in Africa. She has been beatified in 1975.
Julia Ledóchowska, USAHJ, religious name Maria Ursula of Jesus, was a religious sister and the foundress of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus. Ledóchowska was a prolific supporter of Polish independence which she often spoke about at conferences across Scandinavia while she settled in Russia for a time to open convents until her expulsion. But she continued to found convents across Scandinavian countries and even translated a Finnish catechism for the faithful there while later founding her own order which she would later manage from Rome at the behest of Pope Benedict XV.
Sankt Veit an der Glan is a town in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the administrative centre of the Sankt Veit an der Glan District. It was the historic Carinthian capital until 1518. The famous chef Wolfgang Puck was born there in 1949.
Trumau is a town in the district of Baden in Lower Austria in Austria.
Theresianum is a private boarding and day school governed by the laws for public schools in Vienna, Austria. It was founded in 1746 by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.
The Ledóchowski family is a Ruthenian, Polish and Austrian noble family of Ruthenian origin from Volhynia. Members of the family have over the centuries distinguished themselves through services to the Catholic Church, the Austrian Crown as well as the Polish Crown.
The Hohe Schule in Loosdorf near Melk was a Protestant school open from ca. 1574 until 1627. It was built in 1574 or a few years earlier by John William of Losenstein as a private Lutheran German grammar school in Lower Austria. According to the school statutes the school was for the youth of the nobility and non-nobility. John William also restored the nearby castle 'Schallaburg' and parish church in Loosdorf in renaissance style. The Hohe Schule has a small inner courtyard and is noted for its characteristic arcades and the rib vaults in the corridors.
The Western Railway is a two-track, partly four-track, electrified railway line in Austria that runs from Vienna to Salzburg via St. Pölten and Linz Hauptbahnhof and is one of the major lines of Austria. It was originally opened as the Empress Elisabeth Railway in 1858 (Vienna–Linz). The line is owned and operated by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB).
Stiftsgymnasium Melk is a Roman Catholic Benedictine-run gymnasium located in Melk, Austria. The gymnasium is located within and run by the well-known monastery Melk Abbey. Founded in the 12th century as a monastic school, it is also the oldest continuously operating school in present-day Austria.
The Wachau is an Austrian valley with a picturesque landscape formed by the Danube river. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations of Lower Austria, located midway between the towns of Melk and Krems that also attracts "connoisseurs and epicureans" for its high-quality wines. It is 36 kilometres (22 mi) in length and was already settled in prehistoric times. A well-known place and tourist attraction is Dürnstein, where King Richard I of England was held captive by Leopold V, Duke of Austria. The architectural elegance of its ancient monasteries, castles and ruins combined with the urban architecture of its towns and villages, and the cultivation of vines as an important agricultural produce are the dominant features of the valley.
Schallaburg Castle is a castle in the village of Schallaburg in the municipality of Schollach, near the Wachau valley, Lower Austria, north of the Alps. Schallaburg Renaissance Castle is 5 kilometres (3 mi) from Melk, in the region known as Mostviertel. The central part of the castle was built in the German Renaissance Age, beginning around 1540, by the Losenstein dynasty.
The Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver are a Catholic religious congregation of women dedicated to serving the spiritual and social needs of the poor around the world, particularly in Africa. They were founded in Austria by Mary Theresa Ledóchowska and received their first official apporbation in 1893. They are devoted to the legacy of Peter Claver.
St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Louisville, Kentucky. It is the fourth parish in the city and one of the oldest in the Archdiocese of Louisville. Founded as a church for German immigrants on the east side of Louisville in 1853, the church building was completed and dedicated on August 20, 1854. Expanded in the 1860s and renovated in the 1890s, the church building remains one of the oldest large structures and one of the few remaining antebellum public buildings in Louisville.
Dobl-Zwaring is a market town with 3,445 residents in Styria, Austria. It lies in the southwest part of Graz-Umgebung District.
The Ostrong is a small 13 km long mountain range in the Waldviertel region in Austria. Its highest is peak is the Großer Peilstein with an altitude of 1062 m, which makes it also the second highest mountain of the whole Waldviertel.