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About Austria

     Austria (German: Österreich) (Österreich (help·info)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich) (Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The capital city is Vienna.

    The German name Österreich can be translated into English as the "eastern realm", which is derived from the Old German Ostarrîchi. The name was Latinized as "Austria", although it has no etymological connection with the name of Australia (which derives from Latin Australis meaning The South). Reich can also mean "empire," and this connotation is the one that is understood in the context of the Austrian/Austro-Hungarian Empire, Holy Roman Empire, although not in the context of the modern Republic of Österreich. The term probably originates in a vernacular translation of the Medieval Latin name for the region: Marchia orientalis, which translates as "eastern marches" or "eastern borderland", as it was situated at the eastern edge of the Holy Roman Empire, that was also mirrored in the name Ostmark, for a short period applied after Anschluss to Germany.

    The current official designation is the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich). It was originally known after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1918 as the Republic of German Austria (Republik Deutschösterreich), but the state was forced to change its name to "Republic of Austria" in 1919 by the peace Treaty of Saint-Germain. The name was changed again during the Austro-fascist regime (1934–1938), into Federal State of Austria (Bundesstaat Österreich), but restored after regaining independence and the birth of the Second Austrian Republic (1955–present).

About Krems

     Krems an der Donau is a city of 23,932 inhabitants in Austria, in the federal state of Lower Austria. It is the fifth-largest city of Lower Austria and is approximately 70 km west of Vienna.

     Krems is located at the confluence of the Krems and Danube Rivers at the eastern end of Wachau valley, in the Waldviertel.

     Krems is divided into the following districts: Angern, Egelsee, Gneixendorf, Hollenburg, Krems, Rehberg, Landersdorf, Scheibenhof, Stein, Thallern, Weinzierl. Stein was originally a separate municipality, but was absorbed by Krems in 1938.

     Krems borders the following municipalities: Stratzing, Langenlois, Rohrendorf bei Krems, Gedersdorf, Traismauer, Nußdorf ob der Traisen, Paudorf, Furth bei Göttweig, Mautern an der Donau, Dürnstein, and Senftenberg.

     Krems was first mentioned in 995, but settlement was apparent even before then. For example child's grave, over 27,000 years old, was found here. This is the oldest grave found in Austria.

     During the 11th and 12th centuries, Chremis, as it was then called, was almost as large as Vienna.

    Remains of the town wall are popular, but the biggest attraction in Krems is the town's late-Gothic Piarist church. The Steiner Tor, erected in 1480, is the only remaining medieval gate.