Tour 3: The Mineral and Rock collections of the Waldviertel in Eggenburg

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Eggenburg is a small, but historically and culturally extremely rich city in Lower Austria, about 75 km NE of Vienna located at the border between the "Weinviertel" and the "Waldviertel". It hosts the Krahuletz Museum with its various collections on regional geology, archaeology, folklore, regional, and urban history, as well as a noteworthy clock collection. Archaeological findings in the area of Eggenburg date back to the Neolithic period (Lengyel culture). Eggenburg is located on a granite plateau, the remains of former very high mountains, which were certainly responsible for the early settlement and associated cultural and historical treasures.

The collections of the museum date back to Johann Krahuletz (1848-1928), a citizen of Eggenburg and gifted collector of various – mainly local – artefacts. In 1900, the Krahuletz Society was founded, which strives to preserve the extensive collection and to expand the exhibits to this day. The museum was opened as early as 1902 and up until today, it is owned by this society. Regularly there are various exhibitions and attractions, which are always very well attended.

Recently, Prof. Dr. Fritz Steininger and Anton Rauscher expanded the museum by a very special feature: The "Schaudepotsammlung". The area around Eggenburg is extremely rich in a large diversity of minerals, rocks, and fossils. The multiple rocks led to the naming "Bunte Serie" of a unit in the Waldviertel, which was extensively investigated for many decades, but has raised even more questions than could be answered. Also the large numbers of fossils found is a result from the Thetys located here.

In order to preserve and document the collected material for future research, Fritz Steininger and Anton Rauscher invested countless hours to create a unique collection serving for both, showing the diversity of local minerals, rocks, and fossils and depositing the material for science; it is therefore named . Furthermore, the probably most beautiful and valuable minerals of the Northern part of Lower Austria are exhibited here. You will have the great opportunity to be guided by the founders of this exemplary collection.

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