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Stadtgemeinde Schwechat
This mysterious sculpture has been Schwechat's greatest secret for exactly 100 years! In 1923, sculptor Karl Martin Sukopp carved water creatures into the city's coat of arms, right here on Rathausplatz, just months after Schwechat officially became a city in August 1922. Look up at what they're holding—a bridge with three towers, each topped with a tiny Austrian flag. Water plants actually coil around their heads! That's the symbolic force of the river mills that powered Lagerbier. From this square, the Dreher family transformed a medieval market into the world's beer capital, changing how the entire planet drinks beer.
Did You Know?
- :Schwechat is home to the site of a Roman cavalry fort called Ala Nova, whose archaeological remains reveal the town's strategic importance since ancient times, making it one of the earliest documented settlements in the region.
- The Rococo St. Jakob Parish Church, built in 1764, features stunning interior decorations, including frescoes and stucco work, that reflect the artistic flair of the period and are a hidden gem for art lovers.
- Schwechat is the birthplace of modern lager beer—brewmaster Anton Dreher pioneered industrial-scale production of under-fermented beer here in 1841, revolutionizing brewing worldwide and giving rise to the famous Schwechater Lager.