Phone +43 699 1235064 | ||
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Address Alter Rathauspl. 15, 3382 Loosdorf, Austria Hours Open today · 4–6PMMonday4–6PMTuesday4–6PMWednesday4–6PMThursday4–6PMFriday4–6PMSaturday4–6PMSunday4–6PM Similar Hotel Wachau & Restaura, Bäckerei Schwinn GmbH, Gasthof Goldener Stern, Loosdorf, Hotel‑Re zur Post | ||
The Hohe Schule (meaning: "The High School") in Loosdorf near Melk was built in 1574 or a few years earlier by the Earl of Losenstein as a private Lutheran German grammar school in Lower Austria for the youth of the nobility and non-nobility. He also restored the nearby castle 'Schallaburg' and parish church in Loosdorf in renaissance style. The Hohe Schule has a cosy inner courtyard and is noted for its characteristic arcades in the corridors.
Two original copies of the statutes of the school, which were printed in Augsburg in 1574, are still left ("Loßdorffische Schulordnung", meaning about "Loosdorfian school plan"). The statutes resemble those of the Lutheran grammar school of Strasbourg. The role of the Hohe Schule in the context of (contra)reformation at the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century in Europe has been documented by the University of Vienna. In 1592 it became a school for the nobility of Lower Austria with subsidy from the estates of the knights and the lords of Lower Austria. In 1602 they granted an annual subsidy of 1000 gulden, but in the twenties of the 17th century they could no longer afford that. In the 17th century the Protestant religion also came under pressure in Lower Austria. Finally the school had to close in 1627.
From then on the ’Hohe Schule’ has served as a private residence for different families of the nobility until 1809. Nowadays it has ten separated private accommodations. Because of its history and architecture the building is protected by the Austrian "Denkmalschutz".