The best road cycling routes around Schweiggers

Arbesbach Castle is a top highlight that you should definitely plan a visit to. Even from a distance, you can recognize the so-called "Waldviertel's fang" (Stockzahn des Waldviertels). Once you arrive at the site, 126 steps lead up to the entrance where admission (currently €2.50) is payable in coins or by card. Then it continues inside upwards to the platform, which offers a fantastic view. There is also a circular path around the tower, which however requires some surefootedness and suitable shoes.

The Zwettl City Museum is a modern museum designed to appeal to both children and adults! We don't just want to preserve history, but to present it in an engaging, memorable, informative, and interesting way. Therefore, this museum is designed according to the latest museum education principles. All activities are geared towards achieving this goal. The museum features a model of the city where visitors can modify all the elements—houses, city walls, and bridges. With the help of instructions, the city's development from its founding in the 12th century to the 20th century can be traced. In addition to the most important documents of the city of Zwettl, the collection includes numerous weapons, among them original "Kuenringer weapons" from the 13th century, which were discovered during excavations in Zwettl.

The City Museum – Enriched with Many Attractions On Saturday, June 21, 2003, the Zwettl City Museum, redesigned as part of the "Urban Renewal in Lower Austria" initiative, celebrated its reopening. During the interior renovation, new spaces for the City Museum were created in the attic. Part of these rooms is dedicated to the theme of "Collecting" and houses the exhibits of the "Anton Collection" in a permanent display. Among the exhibited objects are numerous unique pieces and outstanding works of art, such as a Romanesque Madonna and precious glass rarities from the Baroque period. In addition to the exhibition spaces for the "Anton Collection," a generously sized room was also created for special exhibitions. The old wooden framework of the roof truss remains almost entirely visible and contributes significantly to the ambiance of the newly created exhibition spaces.

The local authorities succeeded in persuading the master artist Hundertwasser to design and construct a fountain in the main square. The presentation of the fountain model met with both widespread approval and vehement opposition from the residents of Zwettl. In 1994, the fountain, consisting of three main elements—the two fountain columns with basins and the pavilion—was unveiled to the public. Since then, it has been a popular meeting place in the heart of the town. Friedensreich Hundertwasser died in February 2000 at the age of 71.

Until the end of the 19th century, a monumental fountain stood in the middle of the main square, the terminus of Zwettl's oldest water supply system, dating back to the early 17th century; a place where the population gathered, not just to fetch water. A war memorial was erected here in 1925, and from the mid-20th century onward, the square in the heart of the town was primarily used as a park. In the early 1990s, the municipality of Zwettl decided to redesign the main square. The aim was to give the town an attractive central point once again and thus preserve the tradition of the old Zwettl main square for the present and future. Friedensreich Hundertwasser, born Friedrich Stowasser in 1928, had owned an old mill on the banks of the Kamp River above Zwettl since the 1970s.

The Renaissance graffiti were only rediscovered in 1976. During the restoration of the paintings, which took place in 2002, the Zwettl-based academic conservator Ralf Wittig strove for the greatest possible fidelity to the original. From 1850 to 1975, the Old Town Hall housed the district court and the land registry office. Today, the Old Town Hall houses the Zwettl Tourist Information Center as well as the noteworthy City Museum with its permanent exhibition, the "Anton Collection." Museum education programs for children and adults are also offered.

The building is one of the oldest secular buildings in the city and certainly dates back to the time of the Kuenring family. As early as 1307, it was remodeled and expanded by Leuthold I of Kuenring-Dürnstein. After Leuthold's death (1312), it passed into the ownership of the Liechtenstein family and then the Puchheim family, who sold the "manor house" to the city. From that time until 1850, it served as the town hall. In 1549/50, a square tower was erected on the front facade, behind whose round gateway the older, beautifully profiled Gothic pointed arch portal can still be seen. During the construction of this tower addition, the front facade was decorated with sgraffito, which refers to the building's function as the seat of the municipal administration and the city court. In 1678, the two lateral buttresses were added to the building – probably for structural reasons. The Old Town Hall was subsequently rebuilt and its facade changed several times, including after the city fires of 1772 and 1814.

The village was first mentioned in 1246 and was originally owned by the Kuenring line of Weitra-Rappottenstein. In 1282, the estate passed to the Lords of Falkenberg, and in 1291 to Ulrich von Kapelln. In the 14th century, Arbesbach is mentioned as a freehold property. From 1326 to 1348, it was owned by the Lords of Klingenberg, who in 1347 mortgaged "the castle and the house at Arbesbach" to Weikart and Katharina von Winkl. From 1348, Arbesbach was owned by the Lords of Dachsberg, and from 1423 by the Lords of Starhemberg. In 1480, the castle was destroyed by a Bohemian raiding party and was not rebuilt. In 1600, the estate passed to the Lords of Tschernembl, and in 1604 to Georg Fenzl von... Grueb and as early as 1605 to Georg Kaspar von Neuhaus. From 1614 owned by the Lords von Hackelberg, from 1675 to 1862 by the Countess Dietrichstein. Afterwards, it passed to the Herberstein, Geusau, and Baron Holtz families, and from 1877 onwards to the Altzinger family, who still own the estate today and reside in part of the castle complex. Text by G.R., K.Ki.