Hollabrunn

Hollabrunn lies on the Göllersbach in the Weinviertel of Lower Austria. A charter of 1135 records vineyards here, and the lords of Sonnberg established its parish in the thirteenth century. They had granted it market rights by 1377. The town was known as Oberhollabrunn to distinguish it from Niederhollabrunn.

From about 1530 Hollabrunn was a post station on the road between Vienna and Prague. Its market privilege was renewed in 1574 under Georg von Gilleis. Swedish troops under Lennart Torstensson devastated it in 1645, during the Thirty Years' War. The Dietrichstein family took over the lordship in 1662 and promoted the Counter-Reformation. In 1683 King John Sobieski of Poland passed through with his troops on the way to relieve Vienna. The French wars brought fighting to Hollabrunn and nearby Schöngrabern in 1805 and again in 1809.