Regau is a municipality in the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n state of

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...

near

Vöcklabruck Vöcklabruck () is the administrative center of the Vöcklabruck district, Austria. It is located in the western part of Upper Austria, close to the A1 Autobahn as well as the B1 highway. Vöcklabruck's name derives from the River Vöckla which ...

, which is the capital of the district.

Geography

Regau is bordered on the north by the river Ager. Another important body of water is the Baggersee, an artificial lake where many people like to stay in summer for swimming or other sports. Regau's football stadium, used by the Union Regau, is located nearby. The municipality is composed of 36 smaller villages of which Schalchham with more than 1000 inhabitants is the largest. Other important villages are of course Regau, Rutzenmoos (a predominantly Protestant village with a church), Wankham, and the Lixlau. About 53,5% of Regau's area is used for agriculture, another third is covered by forests.

History

Regau's was first mentioned in a deed more than 1200 years ago, in 800 CE. At that time, Regau was the seat of the ''Earls of Rebegau'' Their castle is thought to have been near the village of ''Burgstall'' (translated: castle stable), which still exists. The origin of the name Regau was the Latin ''Repagauve''; later, this became ''Rebengau'' in German. Over time, this name was shortened and nowadays the municipality is called ''Regau''. All its names show that Regau once was famous for

viniculture Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ra ...

. From the twelfth century Regau has been part of the Duchy of Austria, before that it was part of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

. Since 1490 Regau has been part of the princedom ''Austria above the Enns'', today called

, of which Regau has been a part since 1918. June, 28th of 1981 Regau was officially given a coat of arms. In 2000 Regau was elevated from village to ''market''. (In Austria there are three different kinds of municipalities: villages, ''markets'' and cities.)

Culture and sights

Rutzenmoos is the home of the ''Protestant Museum of Upper Austria'' In Regau there are many traditional associations such as: * The ''Regau civil guard'' * The ''Regau civil guard's band'' * a group of ''Goldhauben'' and one society for contemporary culture, which is named ''Treffpunkt Kulturverein Regau''. Moreover, there are many other societies. There are three churches in Regau: * ''St. Peter's'' church in Regau's centre, a gothic building * ''St. Vitus'' church in ''Upper Regau'' * the Protestant church of Rutzenmoos Regau is connected to the

Way of St. James The Camino de Santiago ( la, Peregrinatio Compostellana, "Pilgrimage of Compostela"; gl, O Camiño de Santiago), known in English as the Way of St James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the Twelve Apostle ...

. The ''Union Regau'' is the municipality's most important sporting club.

References

External links

*
Official website of Regau
*
Official website of the ''Treffpunkt Kulturverein Regau''
Cities and towns in Vöcklabruck District {{UpperAustria-geo-stub