Alte Post

Melk c. 1800 – a transport hub

Near Melk, the foothills of the Alps extend to the Danube. At the gateway to the narrow Wachau valley, the Reichsstraße – the central route through the empire – met up with the waterway.

Early industrial age entrepreneur Joseph Weber Edler von Fürnberg had made a fortune by supplying Vienna with firewood from the Waldviertel region. When Emperor Joseph II banned the clearing of forests, Fürnberg turned to building a postal empire, acquiring several Waldviertel postal stations along with those in Purkersdorf and Melk. In 1790 he had what was perhaps Austria’s most splendid post house built, in Melk.

Fürnberg transported passengers to Krems, Zwettl, České Budějovice and to points beyond in Bohemia. The citizens of Melk feared that he might acquire the postal station in St Pölten as well, thereby taking control of the Vienna route. Yet he died in 1799 at the age of 57.