Tempelbergwarte

The Tempelbergwarte is a small observation tower standing on the 403-metre Tempelberg between the villages of Altenberg and Hadersfeld in St. Andrä-Wördern, Lower Austria. Its square base measures 4.9 by 5.9 metres, and the structure rises 14.3 metres above the ground. Visitors climb 47 internal stone steps and then 13 external iron steps to reach the upper platform, which sits 13.2 metres above the hilltop. The tower was built in 1908 to mark the sixtieth year of Emperor Franz Joseph I’s reign. The Altenburg council approved the project in June 1906, and the Wördern firm Karner carried out the construction. On opening day, the orthopaedic surgeon Adolf Lorenz delivered the main speech. After the Second World War the wooden fabric had decayed, but the Klosterneuburg branch of the Austrian Tourist Club restored it with 16,000 schillings in public grants and reopened it in 1956. From the upper platform the view stretches across the pre-Alpine foothills, the Tullnerfeld plain and the Danube to the vineyards of the Weinviertel. The lower platform, reached after 10.7 metres of ascent, offers a closer look at the surrounding woods and farmland. The tower itself is a quiet place, reached by a short walk from either Altenberg or Hadersfeld along quiet country lanes.