Kremsmünster is a town in
Kirchdorf an der
Krems , in Upper Austria, Austria
. Its
population is 6,450, as of 2001.
Settled in 777, it is home to the Kremsmünster
Abbey
.
The Abbey was founded 777 by duke
Tassilo III of Bavaria and is one of
the eldest abbeys of central Europe. Situated on a striking
ice age terrace above the town, it dominates
the whole Krems valley. The monks (order of
S. Benedict) lead a famous
gymnasium which has existed since 1549,
and an astronomical and geophysical
observatory ("Mathematical tower").
Science and culture
Kremsmünster is a traditional place of Culture,
Astronomy and Natural science. For instance,
Placidus Fixlmillner
(1721–1791) was the first astronomer to compute the orbit of
Uranus.
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 of Austro-Hungary.
The nearby
Gusterberg (450 m) is the
fundamental point of the former
national survey of Upper Austria. An
Observation tower at the summit
marks the geoscientific importance of the mountain.
It is also crossed by
the Meridian arc Großenhain
-Kremsmünster-Pola
, an 800
km triangulation which was measured in
the 19th century to determine the alpine curvature of the geoid.
Besides schools and the baroque library, Kremsmünster has also some
institutions of
Adult education,
e.g.
Subiaco for
Spiritual
Exercises and a
Vocational
school. The castle
Kremsegg
houses a special museum of music instruments.
The monastery
library (built 1680–1689 by
Carlone) contains about 160,000 volumes.
Among the 1,700
manuscripts is the Codex Millenarius, a Gospel Book written around 800 in Mondsee Abbey
.
The showpiece of the monastery's treasury is the
Tassilo Chalice of about 770,
created in copper and silver and holding 1.8 litres. It is still
used in religious services, e.g. at
Easter.
Architecture outside the monastery:
Economy
Kremsmünster is also a place of modern technology with about 3,000
employees (62% of them in production), e.g. in
External links
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