Feistritz on the Gail

Feistritz on the Gail
coat of arms	Austria map
Basic data
Country:	Austria
State :	Carinthia
Political District :	Villach-Land
License plate :	VL
Surface:	19.32 km²
Coordinates :	46 ° 34 '  N , 13 ° 36'  E Coordinates: 46 ° 34 '26 "  N , 13 ° 36' 14"  E
Height :	570  m above sea level A.
Residents :	619 (January 1, 2020)
Population density :	32 inhabitants per km²
Postal code :	9613
Area code :	0 42 56
Community code :	2 07 07
Address of the municipal administration:	Multipurpose house 100 9613 Feistritz adG
Website:	www.feistritz-gail.at
politics
Mayor :	Dieter Mörtl ( ÖVP )
Municipal Council : ( 2015 ) (11 members)	7th 3 1 7th 3 1  A total of 11 seats ÖVP : 7 SPÖ : 3 FPÖ : 1
Location of Feistritz an der Gail in the Villach-Land district
Source: Municipal data from Statistics Austria

Feistritz an der Gail ( Slovenian : Bistrica na Zilji ) is a municipality with 619 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2020) in the Villach-Land district in Carinthia .

geography

Feistritz is located in the Lower Gailtal near the border triangle Austria-Italy-Slovenia. The Gail forms the northern boundary of the municipality, in the south the municipality extends to the main ridge of the Carnic Alps . The southeastern border forms the Feistritzgraben over long stretches.

Quartz conglomerate - a gift from the Ice Age

This stone block found in Feistritzgraben, weighing almost 15 tons, is impressive because of its size alone. It consists of centimeter-sized quartz pebbles surrounded by a mica-rich matrix. The mica is badly weathered and therefore colored brown. They and the white quartz give the stone its unique structure. The quartz are mainly rounded, which is why the stone is called a quartz conglomerate.

In addition to its beauty and size, the stone, which is around 310 million years old, has another special feature: its occurrence here. Because such rocks only occur between the Plöckenpass and the Nassfeld. The Feistritzbach cannot have transported the stone here. There is a plausible explanation, however.

During the last ice age, the entire Gail valley was covered by a glacier up to an altitude of around 2,000 meters. And unlike water, a glacier can flow over passes and mountains. He brought the quartz conglomerate from the western Carnic Alps to the Feistritz area around 20,000 years ago.

Community structure

The community consists of the only cadastral community and village Feistritz an der Gail ( Bistrica na Zilji ).

Neighboring communities

	Nötsch
Sankt Stefan im Gailtal		Hohenthurn
Malborghetto Valbruna	Hohenthurn

View from Feistritz an der Gail to Nötsch and the Dobratsch

Quartz conglomerate rock block and the Dobratsch in the background

Ride of the boy in Gailtal costume on the unsaddled Noriker horse with an iron club in his hand to cut the runners in Feistritz.

Gailtal women's costume at the runners in Feistritz / Gail (2006)

history

Feistritz was first mentioned in a document in 1119. After the Dobratsch landslide in 1348, the arable land became marshy, so that the farmers specialized in breeding Noriker horses. Until 1849, today's municipality was divided into six dominions, after which Feistritz belonged to the municipality of Hohenthurn. From 1906 to 1973 Feistritz was an independent municipality, then again part of Hohenthurn until 1990 and again became independent in 1991.

population

According to the 2001 census, Feistritz an der Gail is the smallest municipality in Carinthia with 661 inhabitants, 98.3% of whom have Austrian citizenship . 7.9% of the population belong to the Slovene-speaking ethnic group .

94.3% of the community population profess to the Roman Catholic Church , 2.7% to the Evangelical Church , 2.0% are without religious beliefs.

coat of arms

The arms of Feistritz is on the local custom of skids piercing ajar and shows in a red plate a gold pole with attached runner obliquely towards a pointed lobe ( "Koleč" ) is covered. The coat of arms and flag were awarded to the community on October 8, 1992, the flag is red and yellow with an incorporated coat of arms.

Partner municipality

The partner municipality of Feistritz an der Gail is the Italian municipality of Malborghetto Valbruna .

politics

The Feistritz municipal council has 11 members and has been composed as follows since the 2015 municipal council election :

• 7 ÖVP
• 3 SPÖ
• 1 FPÖ

The directly elected mayor is Dieter Mörtl (ÖVP).

Culture and sights

Parish church Feistritz an der Gail

See also:  List of listed objects in Feistritz an der Gail

• Catholic parish church Feistritz an der Gail hl. Martin: Documented in 1182, parish since 1424, is a late Gothic building from the 15th century. It is located on the mountain above the village and is enclosed by the cemetery.
• Feistritz is best known for the annual church festival on Whit Monday . On this day, the unmarried boys and girls who are older than 15 wear the Gailtal traditional costume . After the mass in the church and after the traditional lunch with the festive soup, in the afternoon the runners with linden dance take place in Oberfeistritz and then in Unterfeistritz . The following day, the married people of the village in their adult costumes meet for mass in the church, for drinks in various houses and for a linden dance.

economy

According to the 2001 census of workplaces, there are 20 workplaces with 59 employees in the municipality as well as 199 out-commuters and 23 in-commuters. There are 75 agricultural and forestry holdings (9 of which are the main occupation), which together farm 2,876 hectares (1999).

traffic

• Road: The access to traffic is via Gailtal Straße (B 111) and the state roads L 27 and L 27a.

Personalities

Sons and daughters of the church

• Adolf Scherwitzl (* 1938), biathlete
• Hans Wallner (* 1953), ski jumper
• Tomaž Druml (* 1988), Nordic combined athlete

Personalities associated with the community

• Birgit Hebein (* 1967), politician ( Die Grünen ) and social worker
• Edwin Wiegele (* 1954), painter, graphic artist, art educator, gallery owner and musician

literature

• Herbert Michor: History of the village Feistritz / Gail and court chronicle . Feistritz-Nötsch 1950/1951.
• Peter Wiesflecker: A village at the intersection of three cultures. Chronicle Feistritz an der Gail . Edited by the community, undated
• Peter Wiesflecker: Festschrift: 100 Years of Horse Breeding Association K 15 Feistritz an der Gail. Self-published, Feistritz an der Gail 2004.

Web links

Commons : Feistritz an der Gail  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Feistritz an der Gail community
• 20707 - Feistritz an der Gail. Community data, Statistics Austria .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://gailtal-journal.at/haben/ich-vergesse-nie-woher-ich-komme/ , accessed on June 13, 2020.
2. ↑ online as PDF: Part 1 (190 pages) , Part 2 (119 pages)