Mödling

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Mödling
Coat of arms Location
Wappen or image_coa
Mödling (Austria)
Mödling
Administration
Country Flag of Austria Austria
State Lower Austria
District Mödling
Mayor Hans Stefan Hintner
Basic statistics
Area 9.95 km² (3.8 sq mi)
Elevation 246 m  (807 ft)
Population 23,288  
 - Density 2,341 /km² (6,062 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 2340, 2342
Area code 02236
Website www.moedling.at

Coordinates: 48°5′0″N 16°16′0″E / 48.08333, 16.26667

Modling is the capital of the Austrian district of the same name located approximately 14 km south of Vienna.

The settlement dates back to the Neolithic. In medieval times, the town was the residence of a branch of the Babenberger family, as a result of which it received the nickname Babenbergerstadt - i.e., 'Town of the Babenbergers'. Through the centuries, the name of the town evolved from Medilihha to Medelikch, Medling and, finally, Mödling. Today there is a quaint old town with a pedestrian area.

Mödling lies in Niederösterreich's industrial zone. The Mödlingbach, a brook which rises in the Wienerwald, flows through the town. Near Achau it joins with the Schwechat. Woodland occupies a large part of the municipality, part of the Föhrenberge ('Pine Mountains').

Located immediately south of Vienna, and within the boundaries of the district of Mödling, is one of the largest shopping centres in Europe: Shopping City Süd (SCS). It opened in 1976, and occupies an area of approximately 270,000 m². There are more than 330 shops, employing some 4500 staff.

The SCS offers 10,000 parking spaces, and attracts customers not only from Austria, but also from various Eastern European countries, such as Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia. In 2004, the SCS had about 25 million customers.

Contents

[edit] Geography

Grapes are grown on the slopes of the Wienerwald; the area is called 'Thermenregion', where one can find much 'Heurigen' (new wine).

Wiener Neudorf to the east, and Maria Enzersdorf to the west, merge directly into Mödling. South of Mödling is Gumpoldskirchen, separated by the 'Eichkogel', with a very special flora. In the west a narrow street runs through Vorderbrühl, formally a village in its own rights, and leads to Hinterbrühl. This narrow valley is called Klausen, above it the remains of the Mödling castle, once belonging to the Babenberger, the then ruling family. On the other side of the Klausen is the Kalenderberg, with the castle of Liechtenstein on its far side. The beginning of the Klausen is marked by the large red-brick aqueduct of the 'Erste Wiener Hochquellenwasserleitung'. The steep, rocky valley sides grow the typical 'Wienerwald Schwarzföhren'.

[edit] History

Traces of the first settlements of the Hallstatt culture from the Neolithic were found on the Kalenderberg, also Roman coins and a tomb near today's railway station.

After Charlemagne's victory in 803 AD against the 'Awaren', a people coming from the East, settlers from today's Bavaria came. About 500 graves from the Awaren were found in the area of the 'Goldenen Stiege' (very close to today's old city).

The first ancient document mentioning 'MEDILIHHA ULTRA MONTEM COMMIGENIUM' is dated September 8, 903, when two bishops (of the then Roman-Catholic church) exchanged lands. In 907 the settlement seems however to have been destroyed again. After the battle on the 'Lechfeld' settlement in the area of today's Mödling started again.

After this for some time Mödling housed a relative of the then ruling 'Babenberger' family. Hence their castle's ruin. 1177 AD Henry the Elder, son of Henry II Jasomirgott, became landlord in an area reaching from Liesing to Piesting and Bruck. You can read this in old documents kept in the nearby monastery of Heiligenkreuz. In Henry's days arts and culture dominated in the castle of Mödling; the famous minnesinger Walther von der Vogelweide stayed there more than once. The Spitalkirche and today's St. Othmar were built in the 15th century, the Karner (charnel house) in the 12th.

Already in those days Mödling grew vine, next to Langenlois it was the largest vine growing community in Niederösterreich.

Duke Albrecht II. in 1343 granted the rights of a 'Market' to Mödling.

1529 AD the Turks devastated Mödling the first time. 1679 many citizens died of the Black Death. When the Turks came again in 1683 almost all citizens of Mödling were killed. The second epidemic of the Black Death only brought death to 22 inhabitants, hence the survivors built the monument of the Holy Trinity (Dreifaltigkeits- or Pestsäule, Freiheitsplatz).

1875, November 18, Mödling became 'City'.

1938, when Austria lost its identity in the 'Third Reich', Mödling became part of the 24th District of Vienna. Not before 1954 it became independent and part of Niederösterreich again.

To remember the murdered victims of the NS-regime, amongst them Sr Restituta, Gunter Demnig, a present day German artist, put Stolpersteine into the pavement in front of the places which once housed the victims.

Also see history of Niederösterreich, and history of the Wienerwald.

[edit] Today's name of Mödling

From Medilihha to Medelikch and Medling to today's Mödling. The traces go back to old Slavic and mean 'slowly running water'.

[edit] Population

1971 1981 2001
18.835 19.276 20.290

Source: Bevölkerungsentwicklung 1869-2001, Statistik Austria (http://www.statistik.at/blickgem/blick1/g31717.pdf)

[edit] Politics

Election ÖVP ('Conservatives') SPÖ ('Labour') Grüne ('Green') WfM (Wir für Mödling, formally Liste Pepi Wagner') FPÖ (Nationalistic) LIF ('Liberals') M 2000 (Mödling 2000)
2005 18 12 7 2 2 -- --
2000 15 10 5 5 4 1 1
1995 16 8 2 7 4 4 --
1990 17 11 1 10 2 -- --

[edit] Traffic

The Südbahn runs right through the city, this is a fast connection to Vienna. Buses go into all directions.

The entry/exit to motorway A2 is near, it also leads to the SCS (Shopping Center South).

You pay for parking via m-parking.

Of historical interest is the first electrical tram from Mödling to Hinterbrühl, also the tram number 360, which ran from Mödling via Maria Enzersdorf, Brunn am Gebirge und Perchtoldsdorf to Vienna/Rodaun.

[edit] Economy

In the old days, because of the rail-connection to the north/Vienna and the south, several large industries had their plants here. Today most of the firms are SMEs. The large ones moved to Wiener Neudorf into the 'Industriezentrum Niederösterreich Süd'.

[edit] Culture and sights

The well preserved and revitalized Old City is protected by the Hague Convention. The town hall holds the registry office. Because of the lovely environment many couples chose to marry here. Schrannenplatz and Kaiserin-Elisabeth-Strasse in 1976 became a very early pedestrian area, the first time a 'Bundesstraße' had been declared a pedestrian area.

The Eichkogel is a nearby nature reservoir, with rare flora, like 'Knollen-Brandkraut' (phlomis tuberosa) and others, on 'Halbtrockenrasen'. Also the rocks in the Klausen grow rare plants, like the 'Mödlinger Federnelke' (dianthus plumarius subsp. neilreichii), which was found as late as in the middle of the 19th century by the botanist August Neilreich, or the 'Deutsche Alant' (inula germanica).

[edit] Theater

  • Stadttheater
  • Bühne Mayer
  • Mödlinger Puppenkiste (MÖP)
  • Theater im Bunker (in a former air raid shelter in Vorderbrühl)
  • Komödienspiele (summer plays in the Stadttheater)

[edit] Museums

  • Museum Mödling
  • Volkskundemuseum
  • Stadtverkehrsmuseum
  • Essinger-Haus (where a famous painter used to live)
  • Beethoven-Gedenkstätte
  • Schönberghaua

[edit] Buildings

  • St. Othmar church and charnel
  • Spitalkirche
  • ruins of the Mödling castle
  • Husarentempel on the top of the 'Kleine Anninger'
  • Schwarzer Turm
  • Amphitheater

[edit] Schools

  • Elementary and secondary schools
  • Bundesgymnasium und Bundesrealgymnasium Franz-Keim-Gasse
  • Bundesgymnasium und wirtschaftskundliches Bundesrealgymnasium Untere Bachgasse
  • Höhere Technische Bundeslehr- und Versuchsanstalt
  • Vienna Business School Mödling, Handelsakademie der Wiener Kaufmannschaft
  • Höhere Lehranstalt für Mode & Bekleidungstechnik oder Produktmanagement & Präsentation
  • Beethoven Musikschule
  • Chorschule der Sängerknaben vom Wienerwald
  • Volkshochschule
  • Polytechnische Schule

[edit] Institutions

  • Bezirkshauptmannschaft
  • Finanzamt
  • Bezirksgericht
  • Veterenärmedizinisches Institut, with importance over and above the area of Mödling

[edit] Famous citizens

  • (Blessed) Maria Restituta, nun and nurse
  • Josef Schöffel, mayor, 'Retter des Wienerwaldes'
  • Paul Harather, director, producer, author
  • Michael Jursa, Teacher and researcher in Orientalism
  • Alfred Maleta, politician, president of the Austrian parliament ('House of Commons')
  • Albert Drach, poet
  • Robert Eder, local history, ornithologist
  • Hermann Ullrich, composer and musical writer
  • Anton Wildgans, poet
  • Helmut Prodinger, mathematician

[edit] Twin towns

Mödling is twinned with [1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Große Linksammlung und Download hilfreicher Programme

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Municipalities in district Mödling