Gnesau

Gnesau is a municipality with 1,100 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2013 ) in the district of Feldkirchen in Carinthia.

• 6.1 municipal
• 6.2 Coat of Arms
• 6.3 Partner community

Geography

Geographical location

Gnesau is in the upper Gurktal in the Gurktaler Alps. The main town is 973 meters above sea level, the highest point of the municipality is located on the light plane in 1966 m.

The municipality is crossed by the Gurk from northwest to southeast. Law it is fed from Haidenbach and Kircher grave creek, on the left side of the Görzbach and the Peiningerbach.

Community structure

Gnesau is divided into four cadastral Gnesau, Gurk, Mitteregg and Zedlitzdorf. The municipality includes the following 12 places (in brackets population as of 31 October 2011):

• Bergl (90 )
• Eben ( 19)
• Gnesau (420 )
• Görzberg (18)
• Görzwinkl (17)
• Gurk (90 )
• Haidenbach (96 )
• Maitratten (48 )
• Mitteregg ( 1)
• Sonnleiten (121 )
• Weissbach (31 )
• Zedlitzdorf (186 )

Neighboring communities

History

Gnesau was first mentioned in 1160 as Gnesov in a note of the monastery Admont, where the name Gnesau described the area of the entire upper Gurktals up to Radenthein in the West. Until the mid- 19th century, the land for the most part owned by ecclesiastical and secular lords.

In the formation of municipalities in Carinthia in 1850, sometimes relatively large areas were grouped together, while some towns rebelled. The cadastral Gurk and Gnesau (then belonging to the community Himmelberg ) and Mitteregg and Zedlitzdorf ( Reichenau ) have therefore applied in 1890 to be combined into one 's own community Gnesau, which was finally approved in 1895 also by the Carinthian parliament after some debate.

Population

The municipality has 1,244 inhabitants Gnesau ( 2001). 95.7 % of the population possess Austrian citizenship, the nationals of other nations, the Germans 1.6%, the largest share. As a religion give 62.0 % Roman Catholic and 33.4 % of Protestant, 3.5 % have no religious confession.

Culture and sights

• The parish church of St. Leonard is a Romanesque choir tower church, church hall was built in the core before 1213, the tower in the core in the 14th century and in 1723 increased by a Baroque onion dome. The earliest mention of the church dates from the year 1213, in 1499 it was first mentioned as a parish. → Main article: Parish Gnesau
• At the site of the present Protestant church at the southeast end of the village a wooden prayer house was originally 1782, immediately after the Edict of Toleration of Emperor Joseph II, built, which was replaced in 1803 by a stone building. The foundation stone for the present church building in neo-Gothic style took place on 29 June 1870 it was completed a year later by the architect Antonio Missoni. → Main article: Protestant parish church Gnesau
• Wood Museum " designerzeit " (opened in 2004): founder and operator of the museum is Bruno Marktl that has housed the museum in an at least 300-year old barn in which tools for woodworking and wood processing, agricultural and forestry equipment, exhibits such as appliances are shown from yesterday. Furthermore, pieces of furniture such as armchairs, chests, tables and sideboards are issued. Youngest area are works of art by famous painters, as wood inlays are modeled (eg, Adele Bloch -Bauer I by Gustav Klimt).
• The " Arboretum " is a walk- tree garden, where many well-known, but also rare native tree species can be viewed and studied, and is located adjacent to the Culture House in Gnesau. Here is also the starting point or end point of the Gnesauer Holzkulturlehrpafades, which for half- day hikes ( approximately 6 km) is suitable. Along the way you learn based on 20 information boards know about the domestic wood types and their applications.

Economy and infrastructure

Until the mid-20th century, most of the working population in agriculture and forestry worked, in recent decades also won the tourism importance.

According to the census of 2001, 242 of 340 employees in the manufacturing sector operates, the wood industry - forest covers 59 % of the municipality - the largest employer in Gnesau is. The company operates throughout Europe wood Leeb, one of the largest manufacturers of balconies ( " LEEB balconies " ) plays an important role worldwide. Given the importance of Fortstwirtschaft in nine municipalities of the region, in 1995, a commonality of interests Carinthian wood road together, who is also Gnesau and has been extended to seven other villages in April 2007.

Policy

Parish council

The local council of Gnesau has 15 members and is composed as follows since the municipal elections in 2009 together:

• 6 ÖVP
• 5 FPK
• 4 SPO

Directly elected mayor since 1991 Franz Mitter (ÖVP ).

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of Gnesau the Bible and thus the life of faith in Gnesau to content. The confusing colors play on the co-existence of Catholics and Protestants, of which latter represent a third of the population today. This unusually high proportion of Protestant faith member goes back to a strong encouragement to the Lutheran doctrine of the 16th century, which has continued despite harsh measures of the authorities in the 17th and 18th century to today.

The official blazon of the arms is: " A split of red and silver shield, at the heart spot a Bible, occupied by a cross and four metal buttons in confused colors. "

The flag is white and red with integrated crest.

Partner community

• Hornstein, Burgenland, since 1986