Dornbirn (German pronunciation:[ˈdɔʁnbɪʁn]ⓘ) is a city in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg. It is the administrative centre for the district of Dornbirn, which also includes the town of Hohenems, and the market town Lustenau.
Dornbirn is the largest city in Vorarlberg and the tenth largest city in Austria. It is an important commercial and shopping centre.
Dornbirn once consisted only of four "quarters" or precincts: Markt, Hatlerdorf, Oberdorf and Haselstauden. By the 20th century, two new precincts to the west were formed: Rohrbach (formerly a part of Markt) and Schoren (formerly a part of Hatlerdorf), thus bringing the total number of precincts to six.
The earliest evidence of human presence in the Dornbirn area dates from the Mesolithic era. The name "Dornbirn" derives from 'torrin puirron', meaning the 'Settlement of Torro' (the name of an Alemannic farmer living there), and thus has nothing to do with "pears" (German "Birnen"), although this fruit is prominently portrayed on the town emblem. 'Torrin puirron' is mentioned for the first time in 895, in a document from St. Gallen (Switzerland).
Dornbirn became part of the Habsburg Monarchy in 1380. In 1793 it was elevated to a market community. It was not given municipal status until 1901. In 1932 the mountain village of Ebnit was annexed. In 1969 Dornbirn became the seat of the new Dornbirn district administrative authority.
Historic marginalia
1881: the first telephone service in the K&K empire was inaugurated by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria on August 10, 1881.
The current mayor (since 2013) is Andrea Kaufmann (ÖVP). The current vice-mayor is Julian Fässler (ÖVP).
The city council consists of 9 council members (including mayor and vice-mayor). and the following party mandates:
The City Museum Dornbirn is Dornbirn's local museum, specialized in the city's history, early photography, traditional crafts, agriculture and the formerly flourishing textile industry.[3]
Inatura
Inatura is an interactive natural history museum. The museum includes a documentation center about nature in Vorarlberg, along with an interactive exhibition.[4]
The Mohren Biererlebniswelt is a beer museum of Vorarlberg's oldest brewery Mohrenbrauerei. It shows traditional brewery equipment and gives insights in the history of beer brewing. Additionally, it hosts workshops on beer.[5]
ART BODENSEE is an annual meeting point for artists, art collectors, and connoisseurs. Since 2001, it has included exhibits of works by international artists.[7]
The FLATZ Museum sees itself as a forum concerned with artistic impulses and contemporary cultural positions. It shows changing exhibitions designed by international guest curators, with a focus on photographic art; it organises readings, lecture series, discussions and performances.[8]
An example of modern Vorarlberg architecture is the LifeCycle-Tower ONE (LCT ONE), an innovative architectural project concerned with environmental and energy efficiency. With its eight floors, it is the first modular wooden hybrid complex; it was built in 2012.[9]
Economy
Vorarlberg's regional studio of the ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation) is located in Dornbirn.
Zumtobel Group is an ATX traded company, one of many firms based in Dornbirn. The town was formerly a major centre of the textileindustry, which suffered a serious decline beginning in the 1980s.
A view of Höchsterstraße in Schoren. The Dornbirn Schoren railway station is visible in the background on the right.
Located in the middle of the Rhine valley, Dornbirn is an important junction of regional and interregional bus lines, connecting Bregenz to the north, Feldkirch to the south, and the Bregenz Forest to the east. The A14 Rheintal motorway (Autobahn) passes by to the west. The Achrain tunnel, opened in 2009, directly connects Dornbirn/Haselstauden with the Bregenz Forest - Alberschwende region. The town has a network of municipal buses.
The Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences (German: Fachhochschule Vorarlberg) was originally founded as a school for technology in 1989. It achieved the status of an officially recognized university in 1999. It currently offers bachelor's and master's degrees in the fields of Business, Engineering & Technology, Design, and Social Work.
The Baseball & Softball Club Dornbirn was founded in 1990, and has won the Austrian national title twice. BSC Dornbirn consists of one youth team, two men's teams, and two women's teams.