Zistersdorf

Zistersdorf, Lower Austria, town in the district of Gänserndorf, alt. 199 m, pop. 5,524, area 88.61 km², in the eastern Weinviertel region, in the Lower Austrian oil production region. - Local court, branch office of the District Commission, Labour Market Service (with training centre), local chamber of agriculture, branch office of the EVN (short for "Energie-Versorgung Niederösterreich AG"/Lower Austrian Power Supply), soil conservation station of the Lower Austrian local agricultural authority, local health and social insurance agency with dental clinic, project office of the Lower Austrian Bildungs- und Heimatwerk (educational and local history organisation), social-welfare centre, cultural centre, vocational school; 1,473 people employed (1991), construction of vehicles (trailers), wood processing, surface technology, petroleum and natural gas production (Maustrenk production plant of the OMV (short for "Österreichische Mineralölverwaltung"/Austrian Mineral Oil Agency), office of Rohölaufsuchungs Ges. m. b. H. - Documented mention 1160, foundation of a town planned from the 1^st half of the 13^th century (town wall, documented mention 1284, town fortification partly preserved), used to be an important border stronghold, opened up to traffic early on, economic upswing since the first successful oil explorations in 1931. - Baroque parish church (former Franciscan church), parish since 1160, present church building 1627-1640, high altar from the 18^th century, Baroque side altars (1750) with altar pieces by B. Altomonte; former Franciscan monastery (today parsonage); Maria Moos pilgrimage church outside the town wall, parish church of Zistersdorf until 1811, originally Romanesque building (mid-12^th  century), rebuilt in Gothic style in 13^th /14^th  centuries, splendid Baroque interior, richly decorated high altar with altar painting by P. Troger, Baroque St. Anna altar (mid-18^th  century, Holy Trinity altar (1698), Baroque organ with case by J. G. Hueber; four-winged town palace (documented mention 1278, altered mainly in 17^th and 18^th  centuries, today vocational school); old town hall with late historicist façade; plague column (1747).

Literature: F. Binder, 800 Jahre Wallfahrtskirche Maria Moos und 800 Jahre Zistersdorf, 1960; idem, Z. Heimatbuch, 1966; R. Streihammer, Studien zur Geschichte der Stadt Zistersdorf, doctoral thesis, Vienna 1971; F. W. Jahn, Zistersdorf in alten Ansichten, 1992.