Bruck an der Leitha

Geschichte

Bruck an der Leitha is a city located in Lower Austria, Austria at the border to the Burgenland, which is marked by the Leitha river.In and around Bruck parts of neolithic tools were found, which makes it likely that there was a settlement at that time. In Roman time, there was the crossing of two major roads, one of them being the Amber Road, the other a link to the Via Militaris. The important Roman army camp Carnuntum was located only ten miles northeast of Bruck at The Amber Road. In Bruck a Roman fortification is said to have been at the place of "Schloss Prugg", of which one part still is named "Roman Tower" .After the end of the Roman Empire, the first traces of new settlement date from around 900. Graves from this time show Hungarian and later Francian/Bavarian influence. In 1074 the settlement is first documented as "Aschirichesprucca" and elevated to the status of a city in 1239. During the 13th century Bruck was rebuilt according to a rectangular street-scheme north-east of the old settlement.Though quite strongly fortified since, Bruck never played an important role in a military conflict. In the long period of wars with the Turkish Empire the fortifications were already outdated, so Bruck did not even try to resist Turkish troops when they approached Vienna in 1529 and 1683 . Therefore Bruck was not destroyed .