ÖSTERREICH | AUSTRIA |
Bundesland: Niederösterreich | Lower Austria |
Bezirk: Lilienfeld |
Vitis is situated at an elevation of 530 m on the river Deutsche Thaya, one of the two source rivers of the river Thaya, in the north of the Waldviertel region of Austria's state of Lower Austria, about 10 km southwest of the district town Waidhofen an der Thaya and about 70 km northwest of Lower Austria's capital, Sankt Pölten. The municipality has a population of about 2,700 (2024).
The oldest known written document that mentions Vitissey dates from 1150. First mentioned as a market town in 1462, Vitis in during the Middle Ages was one of the most important market places in the region. In 1970, nine neighbouring communities (Eschenau, Eulenbach, Grafenschlag, Großrupprechts, Jaudling, Jetzles, Kleinschönau and Sparbach) were merged into the municipality of Vitis. In 1972, the neighbouring municipality of Warnungs was dissolved and one of its constituent parts, the cadastral district Warnungs, also was merged into Vitis.
The Catholic parish church Sankt Bartholomäus [background centre] was first mentioned
in 1296. The church goes back to a late Romanesque construction of the type of a fortified church. The exterior appearance of the church
was then created in the late Gothic period. The church tower was raised by a bell storey in 1729–1732. Later, the height of the tower
had to be reduced again, due to damages caused by dilapidation and several fires. The roof of the tower, made in 1853, now gives it its
current appearance.
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitis;
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfarrkirche_Vitis]