Sankt Pölten
Sankt Pölten (also
St. Pölten) is the capital city of the
Austrian State of
Lower Austria. With 49,121 inhabitants (circa
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.
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Sankt Pölten in Lower Austria |
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.
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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
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.
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.
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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:
*25
Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) â€" the mayor and the first vice mayor
*11
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) â€" the second vice mayor
*3
Austrian Green Party*3 Fraction 'for St. Pölten' (FSP)The next municipal elections in Sankt Pölten will be held in October
2006.
City's senate
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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).
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 for Lower Austria; and the local television channel "P3tv".
Large-scale Enterprises
The largest companies based in Sankt Pölten are Leiner, Salzer and
Voith.
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
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:
*
American Football Club - St. Pölten Invaders
*
Badminton Club
*
Golf club St. Pölten
*
Skittles at the leisure park Megafun
*
Miniature golf at the Tennis-Allround Center
*
Model aircraft airport of the
BSV VOITH*
Riding club St. Pölten-Wagram
*
Shooting range of the private
Schützenkompagnie*
Skating fun park
*
Gliding club St. Pölten
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.
Sankt Pölten is a
twin town with the following cities:
*
Altoona, Pennsylvania,
USA*
Brno,
Czech Republic*
Clichy,
France*
Heidenheim,
Germany*
Kurashiki,
Japan*
Wuhan,
ChinaTheatres
* Lower Austrian state theatre
* Bühne im Hof
* FestSpielHaus St. Pölten
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
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east side of the government district: the Lower Austrian parliament; in background the Klangturm |
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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"), a pub in the inner city
*
Tonkünstler OrchestraRegular 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*
Martin Fiala, composer
*
Julius Raab, politician
*
Bernhard Wicki, actor and director
* 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
*
Official site (in English)*
Official site of BG/BRG St.Pölten*
Drunter & Drüber
