Tulln an der Donau

Tulln calls itself the garden town, and the claim rests on Die Garten Tulln, a permanent show garden on the Danube bank built for a 2008 exhibition and kept afterwards - some seventy demonstration gardens laid out to show ecological methods, with the rule that no chemical pesticides or artificial fertiliser are used anywhere on the site, plus a treetop walkway over the riparian woodland. The town itself is Roman in origin, with the excavated remains of the Comagena fort and a Romanesque charnel house with a carved portal. Egon Schiele was born in the station house here in 1890, his father being the stationmaster, and a museum in a former prison covers his early life and holds drawings. The Danube cycle path runs through.

History

Tulln was settled before the Romans, its name probably Celtic, and became important as the Roman fort of Comagena; in the last years of Roman rule Saint Severinus of Noricum is said to have saved it from the barbarians. It is first recorded as Tullina in a deed of 859 and grew in importance as a residence of the Babenbergs, margraves of Austria from 976, until they moved their seat to Vienna; on 6 September 1683 the Polish cavalry of King John III Sobieski joined the imperial, Saxon, Bavarian and Baden armies here before the Battle of Vienna, and in 1986 Tulln bid, without success, to become the capital of Lower Austria (Wikipedia, Tulln an der Donau).

What to look for

• Seventy demonstration gardens - laid out to show methods without chemical inputs.
• A treetop walkway - over the riparian woodland beside the Danube.
• Schiele's birthplace - the station house, with a museum in the old prison.
• Roman Comagena - the excavated fort remains and a Romanesque charnel house.

When to go

April to October; the gardens close over winter. A day.

Before you go

Die Garten Tulln closes for the winter and charges. The Schiele museum is small. The town is spread out - the gardens are a walk or ride from the centre.

Nearby

Klosterneuburg and Vienna are east; the Wachau is west.