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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.