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Home Page > Travelogues > Austria > Wels
Austrian towns and cities easily rank among the most
colorful towns in the world, and its the color of those towns that make them so
pleasant to walk through. And Wels, located on the
The first and second photos show the Stadtplatz from different
directions, and this is clearly the place to start. It is a fairly
long street with the
Leiderturm (an old city gate) at one end and the Stadtpfarrkirche at the other,
with fancily-decorated building after fancily-decorated building in
between. I could have chosen any of a number of them for a picture unto
itself, The red roof you see in the second photo is a pedestrian archway to the inner city. That avenue is the Hafengasse, and it (along with the Schmidtgasse across from it) has some of the most picturesque shops you will ever see. These avenues are every bit as colorful as the Stadtplatz, but have been renovated so they look brand new and fresh, and the shopping there is definitely modern, bordering on upper-crust. The Hafengasse leads to the Altstadt, although this name was a
bit deceiving. In most places, 'altstadt'
indicated the 'place to be'. Wels' Altstadt was reduced to just a single
street, with only a hint of the original city wall remaining. But a
significant structure remained, the Kaiserliche Burg,
The Altstadt is about a block away from the Traun River, which thankfully has been left pristine. That is, from the bridges crossing the river, you could not tell that there was a major city nearby. Probably a good thing, because the high banks suggested that this river experiences occasional flooding (such as in the fall of 2002). Helping to relieve some of the pressure are a series of canals
than run through the downtown (and they were a tad high on the day I
went). One of these canals passes the altstadt, and borders the city's
park. The scene in the fourth photo was taken from that park -- it is the
rear of the Minoriten Kl Continuing back toward the train station, I came upon
Kaiser-Josef Platz, which parallels the Stadtplatz both in geography and
style. It contains the main bus depot of the city, and more of its
colorful and elaborate architecture. The fourth photo shows one such
building from it, and yes those reliefs were all sculpted, not painted on.
(The building was not specifically identified that I could tell, but once I get
a chance I'll seek it out on
There were several other places I visited in Wels worth noting. The Stadtmuseum was impressive. It resides in a converted Transylvania-style house made of red brick and two asymmetric (and somewhat ungainly) concrete towers. Across the street from the museum were a series of memorials, some honoring Austrian war heroes, others commemorating specific events. Finally, a block away toward the river, is the Wels Convention Center which was busing hosting an event of its own, and near it were a couple shopping malls that seemed to cater to the locals. It was clear that the city of Wels has a proud history beyond architecture. As I said at the top, I love walking through Austrian cities, and the beautiful city of Wels shows why. Wels was colorful and cheerful, with each building a scene unto itself. It was one of the most enjoyable half-day excursions I've ever spent. Trip taken 28 September 2002 -- Page last updated 01 September 2006 -- (C) 2002 Tom Galvin |
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Traun
River just a short hike west from its confluence with the Danube, easily ranks
among the most colorful of them because of the city layout -- a series of
tightly-packed streets with each building a different shade of pastel. The
first photo gives you an idea of what I am talking about. Wels is a stride off
the beaten path, just enough that it doesn't draw a much attention as nearby 
they were that nice. One, however, was worth special
mention. In the first photo, note the yellow building at left that
contained a large number of flower boxes. That is the Neues Rathaus, or
new town hall, and it is a very handsome building indeed.
shown in the third
photo. Now a minor museum, this palace has been dressed up in beautiful
white and sports an absolutely gorgeous garden. The surrounding buildings
are colorful and decorative, and the entrance gate is lavishly decorated.
oster, the minority convent that abuts the Neues Rathaus.
The building has been converted to an art museum and combined with more modern
architecture, but I was pleased to see that the rear of the building was largely
left alone.
the web.) That building was the best example
of the great facades one would find in Wels.
