Kremsmünster is a town in

Kirchdorf an der Krems District Bezirk Kirchdorf an der Krems is a district of the state of Upper Austria in Austria. Municipalities Towns (''Städte'') are indicated in boldface; market towns (''Marktgemeinden'') in ''italics''; suburbs, hamlets and other subdivisions of a m ...

, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Settled in 777, it is home to the Kremsmünster Abbey. The Abbey was founded 777 by Duke

Tassilo III of Bavaria Tassilo III ( 741 – c. 796) was the duke of Bavaria from 748 to 788, the last of the house of the Agilolfings. The Son of Duke Odilo of Bavaria and Hitrud, the Daughter of Charles Martell. Tassilo, then still a child, began his rule as a Frankis ...

and is one of the oldest abbeys of central Europe. On a striking ice-age terrace above the town, it dominates the whole Krems valley. The monks ( Order of Saint Benedict), lead a famous gymnasium which has existed since 1549, and an astronomical and geophysical

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

("Mathematical tower"). The First Slovak Republic ceased to exist here when the exiled Slovak government capitulated to General Walton Walker leading the XX Corps of the

3rd US Army The United States Army Central, formerly the Third United States Army, commonly referred to as the Third Army and as ARCENT, is a military formation of the United States Army which saw service in World War I and World War II, in the 1991 Gulf Wa ...

on 8 May 1945.

Science and culture

Kremsmünster is a traditional place of culture, astronomy and natural science. For instance,

Placidus Fixlmillner Dom Placidus Fixlmillner, O.S.B., (May 28, 1721 – August 27, 1791) was a Benedictine monk and priest and was one of the first astronomers to compute the orbit of Uranus. Biography Born in the village of Achleuthen Schloss Achleiten bei Limbac ...

(1721–1791), the first astronomer to compute the orbit of Uranus, was born and lived in Kremsmünster. The observation tower itself (built 1749–1756) represents the first high-rise of Europe. In this vicinity the eldest geomagnetism station of the world was established, and also the first weather station of Austria-Hungary. The nearby ''Gusterberg'' (450 m) is the fundamental point of the former

national survey A national mapping agency is an organisation, usually publicly owned, that produces topographic maps and geographic data, geographic information of a country. Some national mapping agencies also deal with cadastre, cadastral matters. According to ...

of Upper Austria. An observation tower at the summit marks the geoscientific importance of the mountain. It is also crossed by the

Meridian arc In geodesy and navigation, a meridian arc is the curve between two points on the Earth's surface having the same longitude. The term may refer either to a segment of the meridian, or to its length. The purpose of measuring meridian arcs is to de ...

'' Großenhain-Kremsmünster-

Pola Pola or POLA may refer to: People *House of Pola, an Italian noble family *Pola Alonso (1923–2004), Argentine actress *Pola Brändle (born 1980), German artist and photographer *Pola Gauguin (1883–1961), Danish painter *Pola Gojawiczyńska (18 ...

'', an 800 km

triangulation In trigonometry and geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by forming triangles to the point from known points. Applications In surveying Specifically in surveying, triangulation involves only angle me ...

which was measured in the 19th century to determine the alpine curvature of the geoid. Besides schools and the baroque library, Kremsmünster also has some institutions of

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralp ...

, e.g. ''Subiaco'' for Spiritual Exercises and a Vocational school. The castle Kremsegg houses a special museum of music instruments. The monastery library (built 1680–1689 by Carlone) contains about 160,000 volumes. Among the 1,700 manuscripts is the ''

Codex Millenarius The Codex Millenarius is an ancient book, containing all four Gospels in Latin. Believed to have been written around 800 at Mondsee Abbey, it is housed in the great library of Kremsmünster Abbey in Austria, which contains other items of paramou ...

,'' a Gospel Book written around 800 in

Mondsee Abbey Mondsee Abbey (german: Kloster Mondsee) was a Benedictine monastery in Mondsee in Upper Austria. History The region of the ''Mondseeland'', in which Mondsee is located, was formerly part of Bavaria. In 748 Mondsee Abbey was founded by Odilo, Duk ...

.
The showpiece of the monastery's treasury is the Tassilo Chalice of about 770, created in copper and silver and holding 1.8 litres. It is still used in religious services, e.g. at Easter. Architecture outside the monastery: * Gothic architecture: late gothic houses, gothic judge and

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

: pilgrimage church Heiligenkreuz (1687–90, C.A. Carlone); Kalvarienberg (1736–38, J.M. Prunner/ B. Altomonte) * Rococo:

filial church A filial church, in the Roman Catholic Church, is a church to which is annexed the cure of souls, but which remains dependent on another church. The term comes from the Latin ''filialis'', from ''filia'', “daughter”. Description The term ''fili ...

at Kirchberg (1753/54) *Castles: :de:Schloss Kremsegg and Schloss Achleiten /Kematen

Economy

Kremsmünster is also a place of modern technology with about 3,000 employees (62% of them in production), e.g. in * Petroleum industry (headquarters of

Rohöl-Aufsuchungs Aktiengesellschaft RAG Austria AG (RAG) is the largest gas storage operator and thus energy storage company in Austria. The company focuses its business activities on the storage of natural gas and other gaseous energy and the development of green-gas technologies ...

in Krift) *Plastics industry (

Greiner Holding AG Greiner may refer to: * Greiner (surname), a surname * USS Greiner (DE-37), USS ''Greiner'' (DE-37), an ''Evarts''-class destroyer escort See also

* Grainer * Greener (disambiguation) * Greiner-Petter-Memm {{disambig ...

, worldwide 7,000 employees) *

Packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a co ...

and glass industry (e.g. Gablonzer) * Construction companies,

Arts and crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

*Summer tourism (20–25,000 nights).

References

External links

Kremsmünster Website (german)Kremsmünster Abbey WebsiteKremsegg Castle & museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kremsmunster Cities and towns in Kirchdorf an der Krems District