Discover Horn: City Walls, Museum and Culture

Horn: Taffa, Main Square and City Walls

The Taffa flows through Horn in the Horner Basin of the Waldviertel. A striking testament to the town’s history is its largely preserved 14th-century city wall. It runs mostly around the three-sided main square, making the historic fortifications easy to trace in the townscape. Visitors exploring Horn can complement this architectural impression with a visit to the museum, where early settlement history meets regional topics.

Prehistory and Town History at the Horn Museum

The Horn Museum houses one of Austria’s largest prehistoric collections. It also features the “People–Soil–Technology – 7,500 Years of Agriculture” collection. Its title places agriculture in the spotlight over a long period, adding to the picture of the region’s early history.

Other themes explore the town’s history: the museum presents religious history, the Horner Bund of 1608 and folk culture. The Grasel Documentation Centre is located in the Grasel Tower. Together, these offer a range of perspectives—from prehistory and agriculture to events and traditions associated with Horn. Visitors interested in cultural history will find a broad range of subjects, and the museum visit is not limited to a single era.

Exhibitions and Performing Arts

The Kunsthaus Horn is a venue for celebrations, concerts, exhibitions and workshops. Since 1989, it has been home to cultural organisations, including the Allegro Vivo International Chamber Music Festival and a theatre festival for children and young people. The programme ranges from music and theatre to events where you can take part in a workshop yourself.

Also since 1989, the art association at the Kunsthaus has presented five to six exhibitions of contemporary art each year. A particular focus is on works on and with paper, printmaking and paper objects. Art lovers will find a distinctive focus here, separate from the museum’s historical themes.

Castles and Historic Sites

Greillenstein Castle is located in Röhrenbach in the district of Horn. It was first mentioned as a fortified castle in 1313 and is closely associated with the noble Kuefstein family. The castle opened to the public as a museum in the 1960s. Its gardens were revitalised in the 18th century with Baroque influences; historic avenues and balustrades have been preserved. The gardens also include a “Dwarf Garden”—a distinctive feature of the historic grounds.

Rosenburg Renaissance Castle offers a different cultural and historical focus: it features magnificent, palatial living quarters and a falconry museum. Visitors can watch birds of prey demonstrations and experience falconry on horseback. The combination of castle rooms and falconry sets it apart from a museum visit alone.

Gars Castle also combines history with cultural events. Its north tower has been open to visitors since 2017; from its viewing platform, you can look out over a cultural landscape shaped over centuries. In summer, the large inner courtyard becomes an open-air stage for opera performances, with room for up to 1,250 guests.

Geras: Monastery and Nature Park

Founded around 1150, Geras Abbey offers permanent and temporary exhibitions, as well as events and seminars. Geras Nature Park complements this cultural focus with opportunities for wildlife watching: across 132 hectares, visitors can observe fallow and red deer, aurochs, herons, storks and carp. These animals give the nature park a distinctive profile, from game and grazing animals to birds and fish.

Activities and Getting Around Gars am Kamp

Gars offers leisure activities such as beach volleyball, horse riding, tennis and kayaking on the Kamp. Gars am Kamp outdoor pool has a 520-square-metre sports pool, a 293-square-metre leisure pool, a 24-square-metre children’s pool and a 58-metre-long slide. It is open seasonally. The municipality of Rosenburg-Mold also has marked cycling and hiking trails, guided river walks, and paddle and rowing boat rentals.

Rail and walking routes are also useful for getting around Gars am Kamp: Gars-Thunau station is on the Kamptal railway line and has two platform tracks and a free park-and-ride facility. From the station, Kurpark Gars am Kamp is less than a 15-minute walk away. When choosing where to stay, it helps to first consider the main focus of your trip: Horn is known for its museum and town history, while Geras, Gars and Rosenburg offer different cultural, nature and leisure experiences.

Discover more destinations: Gars Am Kamp, Horn, Sankt Marein, Geras, Eggenburg, Maria Dreieichen, Rosenburg, Messern, Röschitz, Straning-Grafenberg, Meiseldorf, Klein-Reinprechtsdorf, Sigmundsherberg, Langau.

View the regional travel overview: Lower Austria.