Petronell-Carnuntum is a community of

Bruck an der Leitha Bruck an der Leitha (; "Bridge on the Leitha") is a town in the Austrian state of Lower Austria on the border of Burgenland, marked by the Leitha river. In 2018 it had a population of around 8,000. History In and around Bruck parts of Neolithi ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. It is known for its proximity to the former

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

Carnuntum Carnuntum ( according to Ptolemy) was a Roman legionary fortress () and headquarters of the Roman navy, Pannonian fleet from 50 AD. After the 1st century, it was capital of the Pannonia Superior province. It also became a large city of app ...

History

The village derives the second half of its name,

, from the ancient

Roman legion The Roman legion (, ) was the largest military List of military legions, unit of the Roman army, composed of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens serving as legionary, legionaries. During the Roman Republic the manipular legion comprised 4,200 i ...

ary fortress and headquarters of the Pannonian fleet from 50 AD, and later a large city of 50,000 inhabitants. Carnuntum Amphiteater Zivilstadt

A 2000-year-old

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (American English, U.S. English: amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ('), meani ...

, which was built outside the

city walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as curtain walls with to ...

around the late 2nd century is still partly standing. The

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

was originally surrounded by

stadium seating Stadium seating or theater seating is a seating arrangement where most or all seats are placed higher than the seats immediately in front of them so that the occupants of further-back seats have less of their views blocked by those ahead of them. ...

for 13,000 spectators. A hexagonal basin, speculated to be a

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

, was built in the 4th century AD. The Romans gave up the city in the 5th century, but the settlement remained inhabited.

Agnes of Poitou Agnes of Poitou ( – 14 December 1077) was the queen of Germany from 1043 and empress of the Holy Roman Empire from 1046 until 1056 as the wife of Emperor Henry III. From 1056 to 1061, she ruled the Holy Roman Empire as regent during the ...

(d. 1077), the widow of

Emperor Henry III Henry III (, 28 October 1016 – 5 October 1056), called the Black () or the Pious, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 until his death in 1056. A member of the Salian dynasty, he was the eldest son of Conrad II and Gisela of Swabia. Henry was rais ...

, gave the lands, which extended to Rohrau Castle, to Count Palatine Rapoto V of Bavaria. He possibly dedicated the local church to the patron Saint Petronilla in her honour. This gave the name to the first half of the town name, ''Petronell''. At the beginning of the 12th century Henry's descendent

Diepold III, Margrave of Vohburg Diepold III, Margrave of Vohburg (c. 1079 – 1146) was a Bavarian noble from the House of the ''Diepoldinger-Rapotonen''. He was an influential follower of Emperor Henry V and is best known as the father-in-law of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. ...

, gave the lands to Hugo von Liechtenstein (d. 1156). Hugo built Liechtenstein Castle about 45 km to the west. He was the progenitor of the

House of Liechtenstein The House of Liechtenstein (), from which the principality takes its name, is the family which reigns by hereditary right over the principality of Liechtenstein. Only Dynasty#Dynast, dynastic members of the family are eligible to inherit the thro ...

, the ruling family of the

Principality of Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a doubly landlocked German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east and north and Switzerland in the west and south. Liechtenst ...

. Petronell and Rohrau, which became his own property in 1142 from feudal property, remained important Liechtenstein seats during the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...

After the Liechtensteiners, the lords of Kranichberg took over the property by marriage in 1306. From 1496 the estate was in the hands of different owners until it came to Ernst III of Traun by marriage in 1650 who was made Count of Abensberg-Traun in 1653. Petronell Castle was rebuilt after previous buildings (medieval castle, Renaissance castle) from 1660 to 1667 by Dominico Carlone (around 1615-1679) in the form of a four-winged castle complex for the Abensperg-Traun family in the early Baroque style. It was owned by the Abensperg-Traun family for 17 generations and was sold to a private investor in 2006.

Geography

Petronell-Carnuntum lies in the Industrieviertel area of Lower Austria. About 26 percent of the municipality is forested. It lies on the southern bank of the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

, southwest of

Hainburg an der Donau Hainburg an der Donau (also referred to simply as Hainburg) is a town located in the Bruck an der Leitha District, Bruck an der Leitha district in the state of Lower Austria of eastern Austria. In 2021 it had a population of about 7,000. Geography ...

Transport

Trains

Petronell-Carnuntum Bahnhof is served by services to Rex 7 and S7 to

Wolfsthal Wolfsthal is a town in the district of Bruck an der Leitha (district), Bruck an der Leitha in Lower Austria in Austria. It along with neighboring Berg, Austria, Berg were part of the municipality of Wolfsthal-Berg until 1996. It is the end of the l ...

and Vienna.

Population

Population development

From 1991 to 2001, both the birth balance and the migration balance were negative. After that, immigration was stronger than the negative birth balance. Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:age014 value:rgb(0.3,0.3,1) id:age1564 value:rgb(0.5,0.5,1) ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:1400 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = late ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:500 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:100 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo PlotData= color:skyblue width:14 shift:(-50,-5) fontsize:M anchor:till bar:1869 from:0 till:834 text:834 bar:1880 from:0 till:898 text:898 bar:1890 from:0 till:971 text:971 bar:1900 from:0 till:954 text:954 bar:1910 from:0 till:1072 text:1.072 bar:1923 from:0 till:1180 text:1.180 bar:1934 from:0 till:1163 text:1.163 bar:1939 from:0 till:1137 text:1.137 bar:1951 from:0 till:1256 text:1.256 bar:1961 from:0 till:1214 text:1.214 bar:1971 from:0 till:1236 text:1.236 bar:1981 from:0 till:1241 text:1.241 bar:1991 from:0 till:1202 text:1.202 bar:2001 from:0 till:1158 text:1.158 bar:2011 from:0 till:1192 text:1.192 bar:2021 from:0 till:1269 text:1.269 TextData= fontsize:S pos:(35,20) text:"Population; Source: Statistik Austria"

Culture

The World Theatre Festival Art Carnumtum () is held each year in the ancient amphitheatre. Art Carnuntum is a cultural organisation that aims support the cultural and philosophical heritage of Europe and promotes classical drama in both traditional and contemporary styles. The festival was founded around 1988 by Piero Bordin, who died suddenly in March 2021. His daughter Constantina Bordin is artistic director. Collaborators from Greece include Irini Pappas, Michalis Kakogianis, and Theodoros Terzopoulus, and the popular festival has become known as an international centre for ancient drama as well as European classical and modern music. The festival was held in August in 2021.

Politics

The local council has 19 members. * 1990: 11

SPÖ The Social Democratic Party of Austria ( , SPÖ) is a social democratic political party in Austria. Founded in 1889 as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (, SDAPÖ) and later known as the Socialist Party of Austria () from 1945 unt ...

, 5

ÖVP The Austrian People's Party ( , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since January 2025, the party has been led by Christian Stocker (as an acting leader). It is currently the second-largest p ...

and 3 Petronell citizens' list. * 1994: 10 SPÖ, 5 ÖVP and 4 Petronell citizens' list. * 1995: 8 SPÖ, 7 ÖVP and 4 Petronell citizens' list. * 2000: 12 ÖVP, 5 SPÖ and 2 Petronell citizens' list. * 2005: 10 ÖVP and 9 SPÖ. * 2010: 11 ÖVP, 7 SPÖ and 1

FPÖ The Freedom Party of Austria (, FPÖ) is a political party in Austria, variously described as far-right, right-wing populist, national-conservative, and Eurosceptic. It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the largest of five par ...

. * 2015: 9 ÖVP, 9 SPÖ and 1 FPÖ. * 2020: 11 SPÖ and 8 ÖVP.

Mayor

* 1947–1948: Franz Braun (SPÖ) * 1948–1953: Anton Glaser (SPÖ) * 1953–1983: Viktor Schneider (SPÖ) * 1983–1995: Viktor Schneider jun. (SPÖ) * 1995–2004: Sven Ladek (ÖVP) * 2004–2017: Ingrid Scheumbauer (ÖVP) * since May 2017: Martin Almstädter (SPÖ)

References

External links

* {{authority control Cities and towns in Bruck an der Leitha District Populated places on the Danube