Roman era

Where only a small Roman settlement was located at a ford over the Enns, the Legio II Italica built a legion camp around 200 AD, after the abandonment of an older site in Albing, during the subsequent 400 years of its occupation as headquarters and next to Virunum (In the area of today's Zollfeld at Maria Saal) and Ovilava (Wels) as administrative center for the Roman province of Noricum. The legionary camp was subsequently also part of the fortifications of the limes and probably from the 3rd to the 5th century continuously occupied with Roman troops. In the north and south-west was an extensive civilian settlement, which was probably raised to the municipality in the early third century and rose to the bishop's seat of the northern Noricum in the 5th century, which was until now only historically demonstrable. Grave fields could also be found at numerous places inside and outside the settlement area.

In the late period, it became the base for a patrol boat fleet and the production site of a state shield factory. After the abandonment of the border in Noricum and Rhaetia as a result of the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire, Lauriacum once again played a historically important role in the evacuation of the Roman population by Severinus of Noricum. The bulk of the ancient building fabric fell victim to the extraction of stone material in the Middle Ages and in modern times, various building activities, agricultural use and soil erosion. The best preserved ancient and early medieval testimonies are the remains of their predecessors accessible in the lower church of the today's Basilica of St. Lawrence.

Middle Ages

Although today part of the city of Enns, the district was in the Middle Ages its own settlement. The town has emerged from the Roman town of Lauriacum, named for St Lawrence.

Roman Lauriacum (Lorch) was mentioned in the Vita Sancti Severini and the Lauriacensis scutaria (fabrica). Notitia Dignitatum.^[4]

Between 1960 and 1966 archaeological excavations were used to open walls of Roman predecessors (dated from 180 AD), also excavated was the first Christian church (4th–5th century) and other church buildings from the first millennium. The town's present church is Gothic and was built around 1300.

Known bishops

• Maximilian of Celeia (fl about 284), the first bishop according to legend
• Constantius of Lauriacum (5th century), head of the municipality of Enns, mentioned the Vita Sancti Severini.
• Girolamo Prigione, apostolic nuncio, Apostolischer Pro-Nunctio, Apostolischer Delegat (1968–2016)
• Andrzej Józwowicz, apostolic nuncio, 2017–current

Lorcher fakes

The so-called Lorcher counterfeits, also known as the Pilgrim Fakes, were an attempt by Bishop Piligrim of Passau to claim the Diocese of Passau as the legitimate successor to the Diocese of Lauriacum.

In the Basilica of St. Lawrence is an oversized painting (8 x 5 m) dating from 1728 which the corresponding bishops call and depict according to the Lorcher falsification.