Korneuburg

Korneuburg (German pronunciation: [kɔʁˈnɔʏbʊʁk] ^ⓘ; Central Bavarian: Korneibuag) is a town in the Weinviertel region of the state of Lower Austria, famous for its abundant white and red wines, such as Gruner Veltliner. Situated about 12 km northwest of Vienna, the town itself covers an area of 9.77 square km and has, as of January 2025, 13,805 inhabitants. It also serves as the administrative centre of the much larger district of Korneuburg.

Originally a riverside settlement called Nivenburg, it lies on the left bank of the Danube, opposite the Augustinian abbey town of Klosterneuburg, with which it has historical links. Korneuburg was first mentioned in 1136 as a busy market and in 1298 it received the right to formally separate from Klosterneuburg. Nowadays, the two towns are linked by a chain ferry, an unusual type of reaction ferry, which uses the river current to propel itself back and forth on a sunken chain. Very popular with cyclists, it can also accommodate a handful of cars and passengers.

At the beginning of the 15th century, moated defence walls were erected around the town with four gateways. Short sections are still visible but the main historic feature today is the mighty watchtower, completed around 1455, which looms over the colourful main square. From its symmetrically placed dormer windows, it affords excellent views over the surrounding town and countryside. This once allowed a watchman to spot and warn of fires or approaching soldiers. Once part of a mediaeval church, demolished in the 19th century, the tower was cleverly incorporated by the architect Max Kropf into his design for the neo-Gothic town hall which now dominates the main square. Decorated in the historicist style, it contains glorious tile and fresco ornamentation throughout, culminating in the striking council chamber with its coffered ceiling. The tower and town hall can both be visited during office hours, though currently the tower is closed for restoration.

Due to its strategic location on the Danube not far upstream from the capital, the town frequently suffered partial destruction by marauding armies, for example, during the long conflict between the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus and the Habsburg emperor Frederick III.^[4] A number of other major military campaigns ravaged the town, including the Battle of Vienna, the Thirty Years' War, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Oil Campaign of World War II. However, each time the industrious citizens managed to re-build so that today it presents a mix of original and newer buildings in the maze of passage ways and side streets running off the main square.

Along one of these, not far from the main square is the sadly neglected synagogue, erected in the 14th century, which lost its religious significance with the expulsion of the Jews from the Habsburg lands in 1421. Over the centuries it suffered various types of misuse, including for a time as a horse-powered mill (hence the name of the side street on which it stands, Rossmuhlgasse. Even in its ruinous condition and barely recognisable as a former place of worship, it remains the oldest building of any kind in the town and is known to be one of the oldest surviving synagogues in Central Europe. Efforts to acquire and restore the building, now in private ownership and utilised as a garage workshop, have failed due to the costs involved, although rather ironically it is catalogued as a protected historic landmark.

In 1852, the famous "Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft“ or Danube Steamboat Company, opened a shipyard there for the repair of its fleet and barge construction. After the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938, the shipyard was integrated into the Hermann-Göring-Werke, and significantly enlarged. In 1941, 16 barracks for Germans, forced labourers and prisoners of war were added. In 1945, the Red Army captured the shipyard.^[5] Closed in 1993, with its four remaining assembly halls under protection as historic landmarks, the Korneuburg Shipyard is nowadays the site of a branch of the Museum of Military History, Vienna comprising two patrol boats, Niederösterreich and Oberst Brecht. These were the Austrian Army's last patrol ships on the Danube, and the successors of the KuK Kriegsmarine.^[6]

• 1900: 8,292
• 1939: 9,893
• 1971: 9,023
• 2012: 12,267
• 2025: 13,805

• Johann Georg Lickl (1769–1843), Austrian composer, organist and piano teacher.
• Rudolph Philip Waagner (1827–1888), civil engineer
• Max Burckhard (1854–1912), director Burgtheater, the national theater of Austria in Vienna, 1890 to 1898.
• Nico Dostal (1895–1981), Austrian Operetta and film music composer
• Viktor Matejka (1901–1993), Austrian writer and politician
• Fritz Cejka (1928–2020), an Austrian football forward who played over 430 games
• Edith Hörandner (1939–2008), folklorist and educator.
• Kurt Binder (1944-2022), Austrian theoretical physicist
• Helmuth Lehner (born 1968), singer and guitarist of the Blackened death metal band Belphegor
• Mario Majstorović (born 1977), footballer, played over 300 games

• KO2100 Korneuburg Community
• Website
• "Municipal data for Korneuburg". Statistik Austria.
• Entry about Korneuburg in the database Gedächtnis des Landes on the history of the state of Lower Austria (Lower Austria Museum)
• Revisiting the Transit Camp at Korneuburg after 58 Years