Stadtspaziergang "Auf den Spuren der Brüder Vergeiner"

Hello and welcome to our beautiful brewing town of Freistadt!

We, Anton and Hermann Pius Vergeiner, would like to take you on a tour of our wonderful home today and tell you something about the history of the town and Freistadt's unmissable brewing tradition. We, two passionate musicians and students of Anton Bruckner, also tried our hand in the military, as lawyers and as teachers throughout our lives (end of the 19th century). However, we always liked the sociable lifestyle of the musician better, and so we went around the houses and made music with friends over a few glasses of Freistadt beer - which, by the way, was bottled for the first time in our time, which turned out to be a great success.
Music was of great importance not only in our family, but also throughout Freistadt. Our father was the choirmaster of the Freistadt male choir, which was known beyond the borders of the country, and with our approx. 850 works, some of which received high honours, we certainly made a significant contribution to the development of the town.
Freistadt has been a member of the Small Historic Towns Co-operative (KHS) since January 2018.
As a medieval brewing town, we are in good hands in this association - well-known small towns such as Bad Ischl, Schärding, Hallein, Gmunden and Steyr keep Freistadt company in this group.

As part of this co-operation, a treasure map was created for each member town. Under the motto "See - Experience - Enjoy", visitors set off on their own to explore Freistadt. On the predetermined tour, to which the well-known Freistadt composers Anton and Pius Vergeiner invite you, 9 stations are visited, supplemented by an explanation of each stop on the map.
The houses and places were selected together with the town councillor for culture and the curator of the castle museum according to their significance in our history as a brewing town.
There is a quiz question for each location. All 9 answers lead to the solution word for the competition, in which a weekend in one of the small historic towns will be raffled off.

The KHS member towns are all characterised by the following features:

• Historic, cohesive townscape
• Listed sights
• embedded in special natural landscapes
• regular city tours
• Varied, high-quality events
• Regular weekly market
• Craft businesses that you can experience up close
• tangible tourist attractions

Competition - treasure map:
The treasure map is also a puzzle rally to hidden monuments, cosy courtyards, historic fountains and architectural details. 9 questions have to be answered in the medieval brewery town of Freistadt and result in the respective solution word.
As soon as the puzzle of a town is solved, you are entered into the competition. Of course, the chances of winning increase if the puzzle rally is completed in several towns. The prize is 14 stays for three days in the member cities. Simply enter the solution words on the homepage www.khs.info. However, the entry card can also be handed in at the local tourist office.

The treasure map and the travel guide "16 Small Historic Towns in Austria" are available from the Freistadt Tourist Office or you can order them online here.