Sankt Pölten, Lower Austria, Austria

🇦🇹 Sankt Pölten, mostly abbreviated to the official name St. Pölten, is the capital and largest city of the State of Lower Austria in north-east Austria. St. Pölten is a city with its own statute and therefore it is both a municipality and a district in the Mostviertel.

History The oldest part of the city is built on the site of the ancient Roman city of Aelium Cetium that existed between the 2nd and the 4th century. In the year 799, it was called Treisma. St Pölten did not become a town until 1050 and officially became a city in 1169. Until 1494 St Pölten was part of the diocese of Passau, and then became the property of the state. A Benedictine monastery was founded in 791. In 1081 it hosted the Augustinian Chorherren and in 1784 their Kollegiatsstift closed. Since 1785, this building has hosted the cathedral of St Pölten. The city replaced Vienna as the capital of Lower Austria with a resolution by the Lower Austrian parliament on 10 July 1986. The Lower Austrian government has been hosted in St Pölten since 1997.

The name St Pölten is derived from Hippolytus of Rome. The city was renamed to Sankt Hippolyt, then St Polyt and finally St Pölten.

Geography The city lies on the Traisen river and is located north of the Alps and south of the Wachau. It is part of the Mostviertel, the south-west region of Lower Austria.

Subdistricts St Pölten is divided into the following subdistricts: Altmannsdorf, Dörfl at Ochsenburg, Eggendorf, Ganzendorf, Hafing, Harland, Hart, Kreisberg, Matzersdorf, Mühlgang, Nadelbach, Oberradlberg, Oberwagram, Oberzwischenbrunn, Ochsenburg, Pengersdorf, Pottenbrunn, Pummersdorf, Ragelsdorf, Ratzersdorf at the Traisen, Reitzersdorf, Schwadorf, Spratzern, St Georgen on the Steinfelde, St Pölten, Stattersdorf, Steinfeld, Teufelhof, Unterradlberg, Unterwagram, Unterzwischenbrunn, Viehofen, Völtendorf, Waitzendorf, Wasserburg, Weitern, Wetzersdorf, Windpassing, Witzendorf, Wolfenberg, Wörth and Zwerndorf.

Economy As of 15 May 2001, 40,041 people worked in 2,711 companies in the city. 23 of those companies are large-scale enterprises with more than 200 employees each.

Media Several media companies are based in St Pölten. These are "@cetera", a literary-cultural magazine; "City-Flyer", an online magazine describing the cultural offerings of the city, which is published on paper monthly; "Campus Radio", a radio station from the University of Applied Sciences; "HiT FM", a radio station broadcasting in Lower Austria; "LetHereBeRock", an online youth magazine about the alternative rock scene; NÖN, a Lower Austrian newspaper; the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation for Lower Austria; and the local television channel "P3tv".

Large-scale enterprises The largest companies based in St Pölten are the furniture producer Leiner, the paper manufacturer Salzer, and the family owned engineering conglomerate Voith.

Education • Bundesgymnasium and Bundesrealgymnasium St. Pölten (public gymnasium) • Public educational facility for kindergarten pedagogy and social pedagogy • Public economics school and economics academy • Bundesreal- and Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium (BORG) Schulring (public high-level gymnasium) • St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences (fields: computer simulation, media management, social work, telecommunication and media) • Public higher educational facility for professions in economics and school for social professions • Public higher technical educational facility and laboratory (fields: EDP and organisation, electronics, electrical engineering, machine engineering, economic engineering) with university of applied sciences for machine construction • New Design University (interior architecture and graphics design) • Lower Austrian state academy • Philosophical-theological university • Folk high school • Lower Austrian institute for promotion of economy development (WIFI).

Theatres • Lower Austrian state theatre • Bühne im Hof • Festspielhaus St. Pölten

Museums • Diocese museum St. Pölten • Museum im Hof • Lower Austrian state museum • Lower Austrian documentation institute for modern art • Private museum "Wilhelmsburger ornament and utensil dishes" • City museum St. Pölten

Culture: Others • Repertory theatre Cinema Paradiso • Former synagogue • Klangturm (tower), the city's landmark • Stadtsäle (public event hall) • Youth culture hall frei.raum • VAZ (Veranstaltungszentrum, event-centre) • Drunter & Drüber (≈"haywire"; "higgledy-piggledy"; "topsy-turvy"), a pub in the inner city • Tonkünstler Orchestra • Business Center Niederösterreich • Apotheke zum goldenen Löwen (pharmacy since 1545), oldest shop in town, famous baroque facing

Regular events • ATP tennis tournament • Cinema at the cathedral (Film am Dom) • Capital city festival • International culture and film festival • Parliament festival • St Pölten festival weeks "Klangweile" • St Pölten Höfefest • FM4 Frequency Festival • Pro Golf Tour tournament.

Leisure and sports sites Swimming is available at Aquacity (indoor swimming pool), the St. Pölten outdoor swimming pool and Ratzersdorf Lake (a bathing pond where a nudist beach, beach volleyball, and miniature golf are available). For fitness training there is the City-Treff - Pueblo, the Lifeline, the Reebok and the Seepark. In addition, the city has: • American Football Club - St. Pölten Invaders • Badminton Club • Golf club St. Pölten • Skittles at the leisure park Megafun • Miniature golf at the Tennis-Allround Center • Model aircraft airport of the BSV VOITH • Riding club St. Pölten-Wagram • Shooting range of the private Schützenkompagnie • Skatepark • Gliding club St. Pölten

St Pölten hosts a primary base of the Lower Austrian state sports school.

Tennis Every year in the third week of May the ATP tournament takes place in St Pölten. There are multiple local tennis stadiums, including the Arena im Aufeld, the tennis centre Allround, the tennis courts by the local ice sport association 1872, the courts in St. Georgen, the courts at the Ratzersdorfer Pond, the courts in the Lower Austrian state sports school and the courts of the leisure park Megafun.

Transport The city's main railway station, St. Pölten Hauptbahnhof, is located directly on the West railway of the ÖBB and is also the terminus of the Leobersdorfer Railway, the Mariazellerbahn, the regional railway to Tulln and the regional railway to Krems. It is at the intersection of the Western Motorway A1 and the Kremser Speedway S33, and is traversed by the Vienna Road B1. St Pölten is a junction of the Wieselbus bus lines, which provides radial connections between the capital and the different regions of Lower Austria.

In the city Between 1911 and 1976, a tramline operated in St Pölten. Today, a network of eleven bus lines operates at regular intervals within the city. Every summer, a free tourist train in the city centre connects the ancient parts of the city with the government district.