Altmelon

• ÖVP: 12
• FPÖ: 2
• SPÖ: 1

Altmelon is a market town with 861 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2013 ) in Zwettl district in the forest area in the north west of Lower Austria.

• 2.1 Population development

• 4.1 parish
• 4.2 Museums
• 4.3 Sport
• 4.4 Regular events

• 6.1 traffic

Geography

The market town Altmelon forms with the communities Arbesbach, United Gerungs, long stroke and Rappottenstein the so-called Waldviertel Highlands, comprising the western part of the district Zwettl. Altmelon is located on a hilly plateau at 900 m asl and is dominated by forest and moorland, from small structured agriculture and not to forget - the local inhabitants refer to themselves as " filthy rich " - from many granite formations that give this landscape its rustic character. In the municipality, in Weinberger forest near Kleinpertenschlag, springs from the Small Kamp, a smaller part of its territory drained direction Naarn. The Klaus pond, a former Stranded calibration is now used as a fish and bathing pond. It lies on the border of Upper Austria and is accessible via a short walk.

Community structure

The municipality includes the following 11 places (in brackets population as of 31 October 2011):

• Altmelon (284 )
• Dietrich Bach ( 79)
• Dürnberg ( 0)
• Fichtenbach (53 )
• Großpertenschlag (121)
• Kleinpertenschlag (136)
• Kronberg (36 )
• Kronegg (68 )
• March Stone (22 )
• Perwolfs (36)
• Schwarzau (33 )

The municipality comprises the cadastral Altmelon, Dietrich creek, spruce creek, Großpertenschlag, Kleinpertenschlag and Perwolfs.

Neighboring communities

Climate and vegetation

The climate is due to the unprotected altitude rough and inhospitable in the winter cold and snow- sure in the summer pleasant. As forest cover outweighs spruce mixed forest, in the marshes pines. The vast cultural form is the grassland, next you will find crops such as potato, barley and rye. Particularly limited is the fruit-growing, one finds only isolated apple, greengage and cherry trees.

History

Altmelon originated as late medieval deforestation beginning of the 13th century and was first mentioned in 1259 as " Mailan ". Founded in 1263 Henry IV of Kuenring, then lord of Castle Rappottenstein, a Cistercian monastery, but was soon abandoned. The surrounding rural settlements Perwolfs and Perth beat ( today Großpertenschlag ) were first mentioned in documents in 1371. Dietrich Bach was founded in 1700 by Ferdinand Freiherr von Dietrich Stein, owner of the domain Arbesbach, and had a glass factory and a brewery. Still later, in the 18th century, Kleinpertenschlag, Fichtenbach and Kronegg emerged (formerly Cronets ) as woodcutters settlements. 1854 constituted the community Altmelon with the cadastral Altmelon, Dietrich Bach and Perwolfs and the community Großpertenschlag consisting of the cadastral Großpertenschlag, Kleinpertenschlag and Fichtenbach. In 1970, the two communities merged under the name Pertenschlag - Melon and on the occasion of the market survey in 1985 the name was changed according to the name of the parish in Altmelon.

Demographics

Source: Population Development of Statistics Austria The development of the population, negative due to the economic boundary position for a long time, could be stabilized in the last decade.

Policy

Mayor of the municipality is Manfred Stauderer, Office Manager Martin Höchtl.

In the market there are a total of 15 council seats after the municipal elections of 14 March 2010, the following distribution of seats: 12 ÖVP, SPÖ 1, FP 2

Culture and sights

Parish Church

The parish church, dedicated to St. James the Great, shows a mixture of different styles. According to the initial declaration in 1259 are the oldest parts, the presbytery and the side-mounted bell tower, of Gothic origin. After the independence acquired by the parish Arbesbach end of the 18th century the nave was increased.

Museums

A peasant museum shows everyday objects of yesteryear. Both work equipment and clothing to give an impression of the arduous daily life in the area. Of particular interest is the museum of farm machinery, especially old internal combustion engines. In the near Arbesbach a blacksmith museum exists.

Sports

• There are many hiking, mountain biking and equestrian trails
• Tennis
• Cross-country skiing
• Curling

Regular events

• Kirtag the Iron image, each on Trinity Sunday, the Sunday after Pentecost
• Jakobi market days, on Sundays or after the day of the Patron Saint James the Greater

Personalities

• Christine Nöstlinger, writer

Economy and infrastructure

Most of the residents of the community Altmelon must commute, by those in the local community workers in turn accounts for the largest part of the sector Agriculture and Forestry. More and more and more important as tourism, mainly in the summer.

Traffic

Altmelon is right on the well-developed Greiner Road ( B119 ), as are the places Fichtenbach, Kronegg, Kleinpertenschlag and Marchstein.