Gmünd

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the city in Germany, see Schwäbisch Gmünd.

For the town in Lower Austria, see Gmünd, Lower Austria.

Gmünd
Coat of arms	Location

Administration
Country	Austria
State	Carinthia
District	Spittal an der Drau
Mayor	Josef Jury
Basic statistics
Area	31.59 km² (12.2 sq mi)
Elevation	741 m (2431 ft)
Population	2,605 (12/06/2008)
- Density	82 /km² (214 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal code	9853
Area code	04732
Website	www.stadt-gmuend.at Coordinates: 46°54′0″N 13°32′0″E / 46.9, 13.53333

Gmünd is a town and municipality in Spittal an der Drau District, Carinthia, Austria.

1 Municipality breakdown
2 History
3 Sights
4 Twin town
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Municipality breakdown

The municipality is divided into three parts for cadastral, but not for political, purposes: Gmünd, Kreuschlach and Landfrass. There are the following constituent villages (2001 pop. in parentheses):

Burgwiese (16)
Gmünd (1,547)
Grünleiten (15)
Karnerau (56)
Landfrass (216)
Moos (20)
Moostratte (94)

Oberbuch (27)
Oberkreuschlach (65)
Perau (98)
Platz (37)
Treffenboden (245)
Unterbuch (108)
Unterkreuschlach (61)

Main Street of Gmünd in winter.

[edit] History

Once a mansio at the Roman road leading to the Katschberg Pass and Iuvavum (Salzburg), the town of Gmünd was probably founded by Archbishop Eberhard II of Salzburg, as it was first documented in 1252. Gmünd was mentioned as a market in 1273 and received city rights in 1346.

To avoid Allied bomb raids the Porsche vehicle manufactoring company from 1944 on was headquartered in Gmünd until it moved to the Zuffenhausen district of Stuttgart in 1950. Here in Gmünd Ferry Porsche together with Erwin Komenda designed and built the first Porsche 356 sports cars, including the prototype "No.1" from 1948.

[edit] Sights

Above the Old town with the palace of the Lodron noble family from 1654 is the ruin of Gmünd castle built in 1252, now a place for theatrical performances, concerts and lectures.

Near the former Porsche factory, a private museum today shows a choice of historic Porsche cars.

North of the town at the old Roman Road is the Kreuzbichl divided church from 1588. The road runs right between the altar and the nave, which was added in 1784.