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

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 ...

. Settled in 777, it is home to the

Kremsmünster Abbey Kremsmünster Abbey (german: Stift Kremsmünster) is a Benedictine monastery in Kremsmünster in Upper Austria. History The monastery was founded in 777 AD by Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria. According to the foundation legend, Tassilo founded the ...

. 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 An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

terrace above the town, it dominates the whole Krems valley. The monks (

Order of Saint Benedict The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict ( la, Ordo Sancti Benedicti, abbreviated as OSB), are a Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), religious order of the Catholic Church following the Rule of Saint Benedic ...

), 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 Walton Harris Walker (December 3, 1889 – December 23, 1950) was a United States Army four-star general who served with distinction in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, where he commanded the Eighth United States Army before dyin ...

leading the XX Corps of the 3rd US Army on 8 May 1945.

Science and culture

Kremsmünster is a traditional place of culture,

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

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 A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include tempera ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. 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 An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, an ...

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 Großenhain (also written as Grossenhain; hsb, Wulki Hojn) is a Große Kreisstadt (German for major district town) in the district of Meissen, Saxony, Germany. It was originally known as Hayne. The current name simply means "big Hayne" History ...

-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 Gojawiczyńsk ...

'', 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 The geoid () is the shape that the ocean surface would take under the influence of the gravity of Earth, including gravitational attraction and Earth's rotation, if other influences such as winds and tides were absent. This surface is extended ...

. 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 The ''Spiritual Exercises'' ( la, Exercitia spiritualia), composed 1522–1524, are a set of Christian meditations, contemplations, and prayers written by Ignatius of Loyola, a 16th-century Spanish priest, theologian, and founder of the Society ...

and a

Vocational school A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...

. The castle Kremsegg houses a special museum of music instruments. The monastery

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

(built 1680–1689 by Carlone) contains about 160,000 volumes. Among the 1,700

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

s 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 A Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels (Greek: , ''Evangélion'') is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament – normally all four – centering on the life of Jesus of Nazar ...

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 The Tassilo Chalice (german: Tassilokelch; la, Calix Tassilonis) is a bronze chalice (cup), chalice, gilded with silver and gold, dating from the 8th century AD. The chalice is of Anglo-Saxon design, and has probably been at Kremsmünster Abbey, ...

of about 770, created in copper and silver and holding 1.8 litres. It is still used in religious services, e.g. at

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

. Architecture outside the monastery: *

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It e ...

: 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 Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

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 Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

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, 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 Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

industry (e.g. Gablonzer) *

Construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

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 Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

(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