Traismauer Parish Church
Church
Description
The Traismauer parish church in baroque style also has a long history. In the early 9th c, Traismauer was a major town in the eastern county of Charlemagne's empire. For instance, Prince Privina, who had fled from Moravia, was baptized in the then St. Martin's Church in “Traisma” in 833. The Pribina Fountain installed in 1999 in front of the church commemorates this historical event.
The first church was made of wood. After it burned down, a new parish church was erected on its remains in 1293 in Late Romanesque style. The original St. Martin’s Church was modified multiple times before ending up in its current Baroque form. Traismauer had been bequeathed to the Archdiocese of Salzburg whereas the Passau Diocese had established St. George’s Abbey as a monastery of the Augustinian Canons at the mouth of the Traisen River in the 12th/13th c. After years of legal battles between the two dioceses, Salzburg finally dispensed with the patronage of St. Martin’s for the parish church and selected Saint Rupert, a Salzburg saint, as the patron of the church.
Excavations under the Traismauer Parish Church have unearthed a treasure trove for archeologists. The church renovation in 1975 revealed vestiges of the walls and cement floors, thereby providing deep insights into the history of the parish church and the town of Traismauer. The oldest remains are from the Augustianis Fortress, the Roman military camp from the 1st c AD in ancient Tragisamus, the Latin name for Traisen. The fortress commandant originally had his office there.
The tomb of a 30-year-old man was uncovered the lower church. He was Margrave Cadaloc, a relative of Charlemagne’s wife. In 802, Cadaloc was struck by an arrow-head and killed near Güns while defending the area against the Avars from the east. The size of the tomb at six by six meters plus the teeth and the gold and silver threads in the clothing found there attest to a high-ranking figure in Carolingian society.
