The almost 60 m high town tower was built as a bell and watch tower by the citizens between 1564 and 1568. It combines stylistic elements of the outgoing Gothic with the Renaissance. Over 157 steps you reach the gallery, from where you have a wonderful view.
City history:
Already the Romans established the legionary camp Lauriacum here around 15 BC on the ground previously settled by the Celts.
South and west of the camp was the civilian settlement of the same name. Lauriacum was a bishop's see from the 4th century onwards and was the place of activity of St. Florian*) and St. Severin. Lauriacum was destroyed by the Hun storms 451/453. From 550 onwards, Styria, to which Enns and also Steyr then belonged, became part of Bavaria. The dukes of Agilolfingen (Tassilo I - III) and later the Guelphs appointed margraves with seat in Steyr for the administration of the county of Styria.
In the 11th century the Styrian Otacans rebuilt the market Ense.
The dispute between the Staufer Friedrich I Barbarossa and the Guelph Heinrich the Lion ended in 1180 with the separation of Styria from the Duchy of Bavaria.
On 17 August 1186 a bilateral treaty was signed, which has gone down in history as the Georgenberg Treaty. After the extinction of the Styrian Otakare, this contract secured the succession of the Babenbergs in the newly founded Duchy of Styria.
Enns received its town charter on 22 April 1212. This document represents the oldest preserved town charter in Austria.
The main square with Baroque and Renaissance houses
The parish church of Enns - St. Mary's
is one of the oldest mendicant churches in Austria and was built around 1276 and extended in the 14th and 15th centuries.
The attached Wallseerkapelle is a jewel of Austrian Gothic. The Secco painting (1625) and the Madonna (1300) decorate this interesting chapel.
The cloister was added in the 15th century as a structural link between church and monastery (of the Minorites).
palm-shaped fanning of the gothic ribs
Madonna in the Wallseer Chapel
Ennsegg castle
Around 900, the "Enisiburg", a fleeing castle, was built on the Georgenberg as a protection against the invasions by the Hungarians. It is likely that the Ennsegg Castle emerged from it, which was extended in the second half of the 17th century after changing ownership.
Basilica of St. Lawrence
The Basilica St. Lawrence is located in the district of Lorch, directly on the Way of St. Jacques through the city. The 3-nave pillar basilica was built around 1290. The lowest 12 m of the church tower are from the Roman period. Remains of the Roman temple complex from 180 AD, the first Christian basilica around 370 and the early Carolingian church complex from 740, as well as Roman heating systems can be seen in the church and lower church.
The large paintings by Dallinger, the Sacrament House (1480), the Pieta (1430) and the Madonna (1330) are well worth seeing. To the east of the church there is a charnel house with a Gothic chapel. Remarkable is the group of figures "Ecce Homo", in which Pilate is depicted in the garb of a Turkish grand vizier.
More on the subject
St. Pantaleon - Enns
Enns - St Florian
