Geistthal

Geistthal ( village , former municipality) locality Cadastral community Geistthal
Basic data
Pole. District , state	Voitsberg  (VO), Styria
Judicial district	Voitsberg
Pole. local community	Geistthal-Södingberg
Coordinates	47 ° 10 '12 "  N , 15 ° 9' 54"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 10 '12 "  N , 15 ° 9' 54"  E
height	582  m above sea level A.
Residents of the village	223 (January 1, 2020)
Building status	131 (2001)
Area  d. KG	9.46 km²
Post Code	8153 Geistthal
prefix	+ 43/3149
Statistical identification
Locality code	16148
Cadastral parish number	63310
Counting district / district	Geistthal (61 628 000)
View from the west of the main town of Geistthal
Independent municipality until the end of 2014 Source: STAT : Local directory ; BEV : GEONAM ; GIS-Stmk

Geistthal is a village and a locality in western Styria and a cadastral municipality of the Geistthal-Södingberg municipality in the Voitsberg district , Styria . The place was an independent municipality from 1850 to 2014. On January 1, 2015, it was merged with the municipality of Södingberg as part of the structural reform of the municipality in Styria , the new municipality continues to carry the name “Geistthal-Södingberg”. The former municipality last had 798 inhabitants.

Place name and geography

The place name was originally a local name and the part of the name Geis derives from the Middle High German avarice for a female goat or goat. The place name means something like valley in which goats graze .

Geistthal is located in the northern part of the community Geistthal-Södingberg, north of Södingberg, in the valley and on the elevations on both sides of the Södingbach and the Geistthalerbach , which flows into the Södingbach in the local area. In the north and northeast, Geistthal borders the cadastral community of Kleinalpe , while in the south-east the cadastral community of Gschnaidt joins the market community of Gratwein-Straßengel . In the south, the borders with the cadastral communities Eggartsberg and Sonnleiten run along some streams . In the west is the cadastral community Gallmannsegg of the community Kainach near Voitsberg . The Geistthal area is traversed by the Södingbach from north to south and the Geistthalerbach coming from the west flows into the Södingbach from the right in the area of ​​Geistthal. The state road L315 , which leads from Stallhofen via Großstübing to Deutschfeistritz , also runs through Geistthal .

In addition to the village of Geistthal, the cadastral community of Geistthal also included the scattered settlement Geistthal-strewn houses as well as the Kreuzwirt inn and several individual locations. In addition to the cadastral community of the same name, the cadastral communities and localities Eggartsberg , Kleinalpe and Sonnleiten also belonged to the area of ​​the former local community Geistthal .

history

The Geistthal warehouse of the Voitsberg farmers' cooperative

One of the oldest traces of settlement in Geistthal is an approximately 2000-year-old, presumably Celtic miniature figure, which can be seen today at the entrance to the cemetery. Some Roman stones from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD are attached to the parish church . An inscription stone from the late Roman period with probably early Christian symbols discovered in 1955 on the outer wall of the Oberer Holler farm was brought to the Köflach City Museum in 1970 . In Södingbach at the level of the book house , a female relief image made of limestone was discovered and coins with the image of the emperors Constantine I and Constantine II were found during the construction of the road .

Geistthal emerged in the high Middle Ages in the 11th and 12th centuries as a small church settlement with individual courtyards with deserted corridors and ditch-building corridors in a cleared area. Until 1146 the place that already had its own church was a royal estate before it was donated by Konrad III that year . came to the Rein monastery . The Grangien Hardegg and Schrott, built by the Rein Abbey soon after 1147 , reached into the local area of ​​Geistthal. The first written mention of the place took place in 1245 as Gaystal and Gaistal . Further mentions were made around 1300 as Gaizstal , 1542 as Ambt Gaisstall and finally around 1782 as Geistthal .

The inhabitants of Geistthal belonged to various manors until 1848, for example to the dominions of Althofen , Alt-Kainach and Piber as well as the office Gurtzen of the dominion Greißenegg , the office of Kainach of the dominion of Lankowitz , the office of Tregist of the dominion of Obervoitsberg and the office of Geistthal of the monastery Purely. In 1542 Geistthal still had its own parish, but in 1610 it was transferred to the Geistthal office of the parish of Gratwein and then to the Rein monastery. In the 15th and 16th centuries the tithe was collected from the Piber rulership. From 1779 until its closure in 1798, Geistthal belonged to the advertising district of the Rehregg lordship and then came to the advertising district of Rein Abbey. The place belonged partly to the regional court Rein and partly to the regional court Obervoitsberg.

In April 1801 the Colloredo regiment, previously stationed in Tyrol, marched on its way to the base near Olmütz through western Styria and Geistthal. In 1850, with the constitution of the free municipalities, the independent municipality of Geistthal was founded. In the years 1874 and 1875, the Geistthal parish was hit by a typhus epidemic. In October 1918 there was the first case of the Spanish flu in Geistthal, which later claimed numerous deaths. On May 1, 1920, a post of the federal gendarmerie was opened in Geistthal , whose area of ​​responsibility also included Södingberg . On July 23, 1922, the first war memorial was unveiled in Geistthal, which was expanded after the Second World War and rededicated on September 16, 1951. On February 5, 1928, a local group of the Heimwehr was founded by the senior teacher Max Kinzer , and from 1931 there was increased assembly activity by the National Socialists . On November 1, 1932, the gendarmerie post was abolished and relocated to Salla while Geistthal came under the jurisdiction of the gendarmerie post in Stallhofen . On April 22, 1934, a local group of the Fatherland Front was founded under the leadership of Mayor Ulrich Riemer . In February 1936, the volunteer fire and rescue department was founded in Geistthal. On June 1, 1936, another gendarmerie post was set up in Geistthal. To celebrate the Berchtesgaden Agreement , residents from Geistthal took part in a torchlight procession by the Stallhofen National Socialists on February 20, 1938, under the direction of Josef Zierler. On March 12, 1938, Josef Zierler, the leader of the local NSDAP, took over the community business. In the referendum on April 10, 1938 , Geistthal became a leader community, as there was not a single no vote against the annexation of Austria to the German Reich . From the summer of 1943, many people fled from the cities in the vicinity to Geistthal, which had a negative effect on the mood in the village, as they preferred to listen to the pastor's speeches rather than those of the NSDAP. From October 1944 onwards, more deserted Wehrmacht soldiers came to Geistthal, some of whom attacked remote farms and demanded food. On May 8, 1945 Geistthal came to the Russian zone of occupation and the place was looted several times in the following weeks.

The gendarmerie was the victim of a bomb attack on December 30, 1947 by the monarchist partisans under Heinz Fink. At the beginning of 1971 the post was finally abandoned and Geistthal was added to the post in Stallhofen. In the course of the district fire brigade day, the new armory of the volunteer fire brigade was inaugurated on July 30, 1954 , which was expanded until 1984. On October 18, 1959, the Geistthal warehouse of the Voitsberg farmers' cooperative opened and in November 1960 the Geistthal deep-freeze store was inaugurated. On October 31, 1993, the municipality was awarded the municipal coat of arms by Deputy Governor Peter Schachner-Blazizek . On January 1, 2015, Geistthal was merged with the Södingberg community to form the newly created Geistthal-Södingberg community as part of the community structural reform .

Culture and sights

The book store in Geistthal

The barn from Geistthal in the Stübing open-air museum

See also:  List of listed objects in Geistthal

There are a total of four listed buildings in Geistthal. The Gothic parish church Geistthal , first mentioned in 1245, is surrounded by a walled cemetery with a Romanesque charnel house. Several Roman stones are built into its outer wall. The book house is a former office building of the Rein monastery and was built in its current form in 1538/39. The so-called Xaverl cross, a pillar shrine, is located at the southern entrance to the town and was built in the middle of the 18th century as a conductor cross and was redesigned in 1959 by Franz Weiss .

In addition to the parish church, there are several other sacred buildings in Geistthal. The Heigerkreuz, a pillar shrine, was built in 1731 as a memorial to a woman who always offered her prayers at this point. The Kesselmeixnerkreuz, a chapel shrine, dates from the 19th century in its current form and was originally probably built as a pilgrimage shrine. The Koblacher- or Knoblerkreuz, which dates from the 17th century, is located at the junction to the Krautwasch of the state road to Großstübing . Up to this pillar shrine, the residents of Geistthal used to need the Buchhauser's lead horses. As a stop for the pilgrims from Geistthal to Sankt Pankrazen , the Kohlbacherkreuz with a Lourdes Madonna in the main niche was erected in the 17th century at the Kohlbauer property on the former municipal boundary of Gschnaidt . At the end of the 18th century the Muralterkreuz, an arbor shrine, was erected in the Kirchleitnergraben. It houses a baroque shrine with a replica of Our Lady of Mariazell . On the road to Sonnleiten is the Wölflerkreuz, built around 1850, which today has niches without inventory. The Moseggerbrunnen, which opened in 2003, is located in the center of the village; it is reminiscent of the farmer Martha Moseggerin, who was killed in a witch trial.

A 1625 erected Stadel with built into the hillside stable part and a 1703-built press house which originally stood in Geistthal were from the open-air museum Stübing bought, dismantled and in 1975 and 1978 respectively to the museum translocated . On the bricked ground floor of the barn there is a stable for the cattle and a parking space for a wagon, while the timbered part of the barn, which is accessible through gates, was used to store grain and hay. Grain could also be placed under the roof to dry. On the south side of the barn is a Machlerkammer for repairs and on the north side a litter hut for the litter . The ground floor of the press house was built from rubble stones and was used to store fruit and cider barrels. Above, under the steep roof, there is a screw press that served as a cider press.

After three years of construction, the women's fountain designed by Alfred Schlosser was opened in the town center in 2003 .

Economy and Infrastructure

Geistthal is characterized by agriculture. In the period around 1912 there were a total of five sawmills in the village and between 1919 and 1920 experimental excavations on coal were carried out at the farms in Großdorner and Nunner, but these were discontinued without result.

The L315 state road , which runs from Stallhofen to Deutschfeistritz, runs through the village .

politics

Municipal council

Local council election 2010

Turnout: 79.26% (2005: 80.54%)

 %

60

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

59.69%
(+ 2.34  % p )

36.90%
(-0.52  % p )

3.40%
( n. K. )

n. k.
(-5.23  % p )

SPÖ

ÖVP

BZÖ

FPÖ

2005



2010



The municipal council consisted of nine members until the end of 2014 and, since the municipal council election in 2010, has consisted of mandataries from the following parties:

• 6 SPÖ
• 3 ÖVP

coat of arms

The municipal coat of arms designed by Heinrich Purkarthofer was awarded on July 5, 1993, with effect from July 1, 1993.
The blazon (description of the coat of arms) reads as follows: “In a red shield, a golden fox lying on its back with an open mouth after one exposed the flanks The golden grapevine with three grapes and six leaves is snapping, three-fold twisted, touching the upper edge of the shield. “The depiction of the coat of arms refers to a baroque column, which is in the book house and has a relief, which the verse chases me away the little fox, that Little fox depicting the spoiler of my vineyard from the Song of Songs .

literature

• Walter Brunner (Ed.): History and topography of the Voitsberg district . tape 2 . Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv, Graz 2011, p. 53-60 .

Web links

Commons : Geistthal  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• 61628 - Geistthal. Community data, Statistics Austria .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Announcement of the Styrian state government of December 19, 2013 about the union of the communities Geistthal and Södingberg, both political district Voitsberg. Styrian Provincial Law Gazette of December 30, 2013. No. 189, 38th issue. ZDB ID 705127-x . P. 764.
2. ^ ^{A b c d e} Walter Brunner (Ed.): History and topography of the Voitsberg district . tape 2 . Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv, Graz 2011, p. 54 .
3. ^ Walter Brunner (ed.): History and topography of the Voitsberg district . tape 2 . Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv, Graz 2011, p. 53 .
4. ^ ^{A b} Walter Brunner (Ed.): History and topography of the Voitsberg district . tape 2 . Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv, Graz 2011, p. 55 .
5. ^ ^{A b} Walter Brunner (Ed.): History and topography of the Voitsberg district . tape 2 . Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv, Graz 2011, p. 56 .
6. ↑ Federal Monuments Office : Styria - immovable and archaeological monuments under monument protection. (PDF) (No longer available online.) In: www.bda.gv.at. Archived from the original on August 20, 2018 ; accessed on July 30, 2019 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ^ Walter Brunner (ed.): History and topography of the Voitsberg district . tape 2 . Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv, Graz 2011, p. 57 .
8. ^ ^{A b} Walter Brunner (Ed.): History and topography of the Voitsberg district . tape 2 . Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv, Graz 2011, p. 59 .
9. ^ ^{A b} Walter Brunner (Ed.): History and topography of the Voitsberg district . tape 2 . Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv, Graz 2011, p. 58 .
10. ↑ Stadel, Eggart near Geistthal. In: www.museum-joanneum.at. Retrieved July 30, 2019 .  
11. ↑ Presshaus, Geistthal. In: www.museum-joanneum.at. Retrieved January 24, 2019 .  
12. ^ Elections for the State of Styria. In: www.egov.stmk.gv.at. Retrieved July 30, 2019 .  
13. ^ Heinrich Purkarthofer: The Styrian municipal coat of arms awarded in 1993. (PDF) In: Messages from the Styrian State Archives. Retrieved July 30, 2019 .