Mattighofen

Mattighofen, Upper Austria, town in the district of Braunau, alt. 454 m, pop. 4,715, area 5.14 km², centre of trade and industry on the bank of the River Mattig, situated at the western edges of the Kobernaußerwald hills in the northern part of the Innviertel (one of Upper Austria´s four main regions).- District court, forestry enterprise of the Österreichische Bundesforste AG (Austrian Federal Forests), branch office of the district commission responsible for the education and welfare of young people, counselling centre run by the Lebenshilfe charity, office of the Caritas Roman Catholic welfare organization, branch office of the local health and social insurance company, waste material centre, vocational school of trades and crafts. In 1991 approximately 60 % of a total of 3,204 persons worked in the industrial and commercial sectors (e.g. engine construction, car industry, manufacture of heaters and cookers, plastics industry, electrical precision engineering, leather factory, numerous trading companies (DIY hypermarket, large stores selling shoes and electrical appliances)). - In the 7^th century the territory around Mattighofen was made a palatinate of the Bavarian Agilolfinger family; first documented mention of Mattighofen between 757 and 788; became one of the seats of the Carolingian Dynasty; fell to Austria in 1779; was granted its town charter in 1986. - Baroque parish church (1774-1779) with both the choir and the west tower designed in Gothic style, frescoes by J. N. della Croce (1780), Early Classicist altars, statues by T. Schwanthaler (1676), tombs with stone monuments created between the 15^th and the 17^th centuries. Gothic cloisters (1438) with Renaissance ornamentation (1550) in the provost´s house (1739-1741), which had belonged to the former collegiate monastery (monastery building now houses the presbytery); town houses erected between the 17^th and 19^th centuries; Renaissance Palace (16^th century), redesigned at the beginning of the 19^th century, now houses the town´s forestry administration.

Literature: F. Sonntag, Heimatbuch Gemeinde Mattighofen, 1984.