Attnang-Puchheim, Austria

 

Attnang-Puchheim is a municipality in the Hausruckviertel in the Vöcklabruck district in Upper Austria, at the intersection of the Vienna – Salzburg (Westbahn) railway with the Salzkammergutbahn, with 9100 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2020). The responsible judicial district is Vöcklabruck. The confluence of the Aurach and the Ager lies near Attnang-Puchheim.

 

Sights

Puchheim Palace
Around 800 years ago, a so-called fortress was built, completely destroyed by fire in 1585, and then the castle was rebuilt in its present form. Today Puchheim Castle houses a gallery for contemporary art - the Puchheim Castle Gallery, and an art library.
Pilgrimage basilica Maria Puchheim
The ground-breaking ceremony for the sanctuary took place on February 24, 1886 and the consecration on August 5, 1890. However, the interior decoration and furnishing lasted until August 1896. In 1951 the church was consecrated by Pope Pius XII. It was raised to the status of "Basilica minor" and has also been a parish church since the parish church "Maria Puchheim" was appointed on February 1, 1968.
Attnang Parish Church
Due to the strong growth of the town and the relocation of the center to the station, the construction of a larger parish church became necessary. It was not until 1951 that the completed church, which was built according to plans by Hans Feichtlbauer, was consecrated by Prelate Leopold Hager, the provost of the St. Florian monastery. Most of the interior fittings, in a modern form but cast in one piece, come from the Klothilde Rauch sculptor's workshop in Altmünster. The focal point above the high altar is a crucifix by the sculptor Franz Forster from St. Florian, the glass windows that match the style of the interior design come from the Viennese company Greyling and are based on designs by the Viennese painter Lucia Jirgal. The large and beautiful nativity scene is a work by F. Binder (figures) and N. Stüger (landscape) from Steinkogl near Ebensee.
Branch Church Alt-Attnang
First documented mention in 1367, probably built between the 9th and 11th centuries. Since the completion of the Holy Spirit Church in the center of Attnang in 1936, the Martinskirche has served the population mainly as a funeral and wedding church.
Basement stage Puchheim
In 1965, Werner Böhm and a few like-minded people founded a basement stage in the basement of the Puchheim Basilica. Since then, 85 theater productions have been realized there. A total of around 300 theater enthusiasts from Attnang-Puchheim and the neighboring communities worked on it. In 1993 they started their own children's and young people's branch. Since 1998, "N2O", the improv group of the Puchheim basement stage, has provided monthly challenges. Some conversion phases - most recently in 2009 - required investments in the higher six-digit range. One of the results of this is the smallest revolving stage, probably not only in Upper Austria but in the whole of Austria. Today the auditorium offers space for 127 people with consistently good visibility.

 

Geography

Attnang-Puchheim is 416 m above sea level in the Hausruck district. The extension is 4.8 km from north to south and 4.1 km from west to east. The total area is 12.32 km². 38.7% of the area is forested, 36.3% of the area is used for agriculture.

 

History

Attnang and Puchheim developed from settlements of Bavarian immigrants in the late 8th century to the beginning of the 11th century. Puchheim was first mentioned in a document in 1135 as Pucheman ('Heim bei der Buche') and Attnang in 1242 as Otinange ('Wang des Otto'). It was not until 1912 that the community name Puchheim was changed to Attnang-Puchheim due to the growing importance of the district of Neu-Attnang.

In some writings, the year 1050 is mentioned as the date of construction of the fortress on the grove on the beech hill, but this cannot be documented. In 1585 the fortress burned down completely. Puchheim Palace, which was built in the years that followed, essentially corresponds to its current form.

The history of Attnang and Puchheim was mainly influenced by the owners of the Puchheim Fortress until 1870. Today the castle with the beautiful arcaded courtyard is a monastery and is owned by the Redemptorists who were called to Puchheim for pastoral care. These were summoned in 1851 by Archduke Maximilian Joseph of Austria-Este, who was then the lord of Puchheim Castle. The forelock is owned by the municipality and the diocese of Linz.

The last Spanish pretender to the throne of the first Carlist dynasty, Alfonso Carlos (I.) of Bourbon and Austria-Este, who died in 1936, and his wife Maria das Neves of Portugal, as well as the Duchess Maria Antonia of Bourbon, were in the palace chapel, which is dedicated to St. George -Parma 1959 and her son Prince René de Bourbon-Parma 1962 buried.

The last Austrian Empress, Zita von Bourbon-Parma, visited Austria in 1982 after a long exile after Federal Chancellor Bruno Kreisky had made it possible for her – contrary to the law – to enter Austria without renouncing the throne. She came to Puchheim to commemorate her mother, Maria Antonia von Bourbon-Parma, at the grave.

Under Rector P. Matthias Paprian, the large pilgrimage basilica Maria Puchheim was built from 1886 to 1890, which was inaugurated in 1951 by Pius XII. was elevated to the status of a minor basilica. It contains a Breinbauer organ from 1891. With 1,647 pipes on 24 registers, it is an instrument of medium-sized construction, which is quite large for the period of the romantic organs of the 19th century. Orgelbau Kuhn from Männedorf renovated the instrument in 2006. The valuable instrument is also used in concerts.

With the construction of the Salzkammergut Railway and its commissioning in 1877, the development of the town became a significant railway junction, since Attnang-Puchheim was already the terminus and transhipment point of the Niederstrasser Railway, Austria's first coal railway.

Towards the end of the Second World War, Attnang-Puchheim was severely damaged by American bombing raids on April 21, 1945, mainly because the Allies feared supplies for the alleged Nazi Alpine fortress. The attack by 300 aircraft lasted three hours. At least 700 people died in the hail of bombs (from 2340 bombs with 640 tons of explosives), including many refugees from the eastern territories and from Silesia who were hit on trains at the station. The station also served as a transfer station for a secret rocket test facility in the Redl-Zipf concentration camp. The attack made Attnang-Puchheim the city with the highest death rate in Austria during World War II.

After the end of the war, Attnang-Puchheim became an important place with industry and trade as well as a large train station due to the reconstruction; here the locomotives had to be re-tensioned because electrification ended in Attnang.

In 1955 it was decided to make Attnang-Puchheim a market town because of the great reconstruction effort after the war. On March 3, 1990, it was elevated to the status of a city.

 

Religion

There are two Catholic parishes in Attnang-Puchheim, the parish church in Puchheim and the parish of the Holy Spirit in Attnang. The Evangelical parish church of Rutzenmoos is located around five kilometers south of Attnang-Puchheim in the municipality of Regau.

 

Economy and Infrastructure

Attnang-Puchheim has a number of large companies. The largest company is the STIWA Group. Over 1000 people are employed with external locations. Around 650 employees at the Spitz company produce food that is sold through the Hofer retail chain.

Traffic
Attnang-Puchheim is a traffic junction.

Rail transport
See also: Attnang-Puchheim station

The two-track, electrified Western Railway runs through Attnang-Puchheim, giving the town supra-regional importance. In addition, the station offers connection options to the Salzkammergutbahn in the direction of the Gmunden district up to Styria to Stainach-Irdning, as well as a railway line to Schärding via Ried im Innkreis. The single track section to Stainach-Irdning is electrified, but the single track to Schärding is not. Since the timetable change in 2007, trains have been running from Linz to Stainach-Irdning and vice versa in order to reduce the number of changes at Attnanger station. Although the Kammerer Bahn only branches off from the Westbahn in the municipality of Timelkam, some trains run from Attnang-Puchheim to Schörfling am Attersee. Due to the many connection options, Attnang-Puchheim acts as a railway junction where InterCity trains also stop. A renovation of the station was completed in 2014.

Road traffic
The federal highway 1 - from Salzburg to Vienna - runs parallel to the West Autobahn A 1 and leads through the municipality.
About eight kilometers south of the city center is the Regau motorway exit to the West Autobahn A 1.

Bus transport
Surrounding communities are easily accessible by bus from Monday to Saturday during the day. In addition to the bus connections to Vöcklabruck, Schörfling am Attersee and Schwanenstadt, there is also a city bus and city taxi in Attnang-Puchheim.

 

Politics

The City Council has 37 members.
With the municipal council and mayoral elections in Upper Austria in 2003, the municipal council had the following distribution: 20 SPÖ, 8 ÖVP, 5 FPÖ, 3 GRÜNE and 1 KPÖ.
With the municipal council and mayoral elections in Upper Austria in 2009, the municipal council had the following distribution: 17 SPÖ, 10 ÖVP, 7 FPÖ and 3 GRÜNE.
With the municipal council and mayoral elections in Upper Austria in 2015, the municipal council had the following distribution: 15 SPÖ, 10 FPÖ, 9 ÖVP and 4 GRÜNE.
With the municipal council and mayoral elections in Upper Austria in 2021, the municipal council has the following distribution: 16 SPÖ, 9 ÖVP, 8 FPÖ and 4 GRÜNE.

 

Mayor

1912-1918 Matthias Stadlmaier
1918-1919 Matthias Plotzeneder
1919-1926 Karl Tober
1926-1927 Alois Weeder
1927-1930 Karl Jakubetz
1930-1934 Ferdinand Kohlbacher
1934-1938 Johann Maier
1938-1939 Fritz Krassnitzer
1939-1942 Alois Rail
1942-1945 Karl Loidl
1945-1946 Fritz Krassnitzer
1946-1961 Friedrich Kuhberger
1962-1968 Franz Schurer
1968-1980 Franz Bogner
1980-1987 Franz Noehammer
1987-2007 Ludwig Glaser (SPÖ)
since 2008 Peter Groiß (SPÖ)

 

Coat of arms

Blazon (Official description of the municipal coat of arms): Divided and half-split; above in gold over red flames a black phoenix ready to fly; lower right in blue a golden heraldic lily, lower left split three times by silver and red. The community colors are red, yellow and blue.

The coat of arms was awarded to Attnang-Puchheim on the occasion of the market survey in 1955. The phoenix rising from the ashes symbolizes the reconstruction of the town after it was severely damaged by bombs in World War II. The lily comes from the family coat of arms of the people of Salburg, the former owners of the Puchheim dominion, and is also a symbol of Maria, patroness of the Puchheim pilgrimage church. The white and red posts are taken from the Upper Austrian coat of arms.