Retz

Retz, Lower Austria, town in the district of Hollabrunn, alt. 252 m, pop. 4,284, area 45.01 km², located between the Weinviertel and the Waldviertel regions, close to the border with the Czech Republic. - District court, district Chamber of Agriculture, surveying office, customs office, road maintenance services, local health and social insurance office, branch office of the Federal Office and Research Centre for Agriculture, Caritas home for the disabled, public library, commercial college, training institution for the hotel and catering industry, ÖAMTC leisure centre, waterworks; services sector dominates (mainly personal, social and public services, trades), building trade, concrete factory, wine growing and merchandising, some tourism. - Finds from the Neolithic period; first documented mention 1180, expanded in 1305, consists of the "grown" old part of town and the rectangular planned town (between 1280 and 1290); first documented mention of viniculture 1150. Fortification with corner towers and 2 gates preserved; extensive (approx. 10 km) cellars under the town (mainly 18^th century); Baroque parish church with altarpieces by L. Kupelwieser (1852) and M. Altomonte (1730); high-Gothic Dominican church (end of 13^th century) with neo-Gothic high altar and Baroque interior, altarpiece by M. J. Schmidt (1749); Dominican monastery (mainly 17^th century) with library, main building with Gothic core, with chapel of the Virgin Mary (alterations 16^th -18^th centuries, late-Baroque frescoes); main hall of town hall with murals by M. J. Schmidt (1740/41); Baroque castle (rebuilt 1660-1670); former monastery estate of St. Pölten (1698-1702, today primary school and parsonage); town houses (16^th /17^th century): "Verderberhaus" (16^th century), "Sgraffitohaus" (1576); Baroque Calvary Hill. Museum of local history and culture in the Altes Bürgerspital. A windmill (1722), located west of the town, is the landmark of Retz. Wine festival in September.

Literature: R. Resch, R. Heimatbuch, 2 vols., 1936-1951; Österreichisches Städtebuch vol. IV, part 3, Die Städte NÖ., 1982; S. Jell, Entwicklung einer Grenzlandgemeinde am Beispiel der Stadtgemeinde Retz, master´s thesis, Vienna 1987.