Köflach

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Borough
Köflach
coat of arms Austria map
Coat of arms of Köflach
Köflach (Austria)
Köflach
Basic data
Country: Austria
State : Styria
Political District : Voitsberg
License plate : VO
Surface: 43.28 km²
Coordinates : 47 ° 4 '  N , 15 ° 5'  E Coordinates: 47 ° 3 '50 "  N , 15 ° 5' 20"  E
Height : 449  m above sea level A.
Residents : 9,726 (January 1, 2020)
Postal code : 8580
Area code : 03144
Community code : 6 16 31
NUTS region AT225
Address of the
municipal administration: 		Rathausplatz 1
8580 Köflach
Website: www.koeflach.at
politics
Mayor : Helmut Linhart ( ÖVP )
Municipal Council : (2015)
(31 members)
11
7th
6th
5
1
1
11 7th 6th 5 1 1 
A total of 31 seats
Location of Köflach in the Voitsberg district
Bärnbach Edelschrott Geistthal-Södingberg Hirschegg-Pack Kainach bei Voitsberg Köflach Krottendorf-Gaisfeld Ligist Maria Lankowitz Mooskirchen Rosental an der Kainach Sankt Martin am Wöllmißberg Söding-Sankt Johann Stallhofen Voitsberg SteiermarkLocation of the municipality of Köflach in the Voitsberg district (clickable map)
About this picture
Template: Infobox municipality in Austria / maintenance / site plan image map
Source: Municipal data from Statistics Austria

BW

With 9,726 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2020), Köflach is the largest city in the judicial district or district of Voitsberg in Styria in Austria . As part of the municipal structural reform in Styria , the municipality of Graden was incorporated in 2015 .

The Lipizzaner stud , where the famous white horses are bred, is located in the Piber district .

geography

Köflach is a former mining community in the Köflach- Voitsberg lignite district .

Community structure

The municipality includes the following six localities (population in brackets as of January 1, 2020):

  • Grades (468)
  • Gradenberg (633)
  • Koeflach (4201)
  • Piber (478)
  • Pichling near Köflach (3588)
  • Puchbach (358)

The community covers 43.28 km² and consists of seven cadastral communities (area 2016):

  • Gradenberg (465.71 ha)
  • Gradenberg-Piber (1,566.61 ha)
  • Graden-Piber (702.63 ha)
  • Köflach (222.57 ha)
  • Piber (576.53 ha)
  • Pichling near Köflach (481.28 ha)
  • Puchbach (291.99 ha)

Incorporations

On January 1, 1952, the "Stadtgemeinde Köflach" was created through the incorporation of the cadastral communities of Gradenberg, Piber, Pichling and parts of Puchbach. With around 12,000 inhabitants, it was the largest city in western Styria.

Neighboring communities

The municipality of Köflach is surrounded by nine neighboring municipalities, all of which are in the Voitsberg district.

Kainach near Voitsberg
Maria Lankowitz Neighboring communities Bärnbach
Rosental on the Kainach

Surname

Köflach means in the appropriate translation "At the brook, where there are many caves", from kovel, kuvel, govel  rock cave. The second syllable in the name, -ach , is the old word for: brook, river, ache.

history

prehistory

The settlement-friendly basin seems to have been inhabited without interruption since the Neolithic Age. A cave on the Zigöllerkogel is where stone tools and animal remains were found that were dated between 18,000 and 12,000 years before Christ. Further finds could be categorized as far back as Roman times.

Between 4,400 and 3,500 BC, settlements on hilltops, such as the Holy Mountain in Bärnbach or on the Franziskanerkogel in today's Maria Lankowitz, were predominant. The economic basis was agriculture and animal husbandry. During the early Bronze Age (around 2300 to 1600 BC), settlements were established in valleys, for example in Pichling near Köflach. In the late Bronze Age, the settlements were again built on protected hills. In some cases, these were inhabited until the Hallstatt period or were used again in the Latène period .

12th to 17th centuries

In 1103 the St. Lambrecht monastery was owned by Duke Heinrich III. of Carinthia “gifted” with all rights in the “Pybertal”. As a result, today's Köflach became subject to the monastery. In 1170 the village of Köflach was raised to market by Emperor Friedrich I. Barbarossa (for the first time) . Ten years later, the area of ​​the Voitsberg district was incorporated into the new Duchy of Styria . In 1307 Köflach was pushed back to the status of a "submissive village" when "Voytsperch" (Voitsberg) received trade and toll privileges. When Friedrich III. 1470 confirmed Köflach's market rights, a centuries-long dispute broke out between the princely city of Voitsberg and Köflach, a member of St. Lambrecht, because Köflach's market rights were only available in one copy and this was contested by Voitsberg.

In 1634 Köflach was struck by the plague : the epidemic claimed over 100 victims. Even the place of worship is not spared from misfortune: it is "badly hit and badly shaken" by a lightning strike. In 1637 the market rights were confirmed for the second time. Three years later, the plague struck again and almost completely depopulated today's district of Piber. Shortly afterwards, in 1643, the builder of St. Lamprecht's monastery, Cyprian Sciassia, was commissioned to build a new church. When the shell was finished six years later, the master builder was annoyed by the criticism that the church building was "far too big, too grand and too expensive" for the town of Köflach and entrusted his brother Domenico with completing the construction. In 1692 the new church was consecrated. In 1699, Emperor Leopold confirmed Köflach's market rights, but this did not end the dispute with Voitsberg.

18th and 19th centuries

In 1715 there was finally peace between Köflach and Voitsberg when an imperial commission confirmed the market survey of Köflach with the 4th and "irrefutable" survey.

The mineralogist Abbé Poda opened up the coal deposits around Köflach in 1766 and thus initiated the conversion of the rural area into a mining and finally industrial area. After Emperor Joseph II had abolished the St. Lamprecht monastery, the market town of Köflach passed into state administration in 1786. The deanery moved from Edelschrott to Köflach in 1797 and in 1810 Emperor Franz I stopped at Köflach on a trip over the Packsattel . Just four years later, crop failures ushered in famine years for the place.

In 1846 the first glass factory started operations in the Weyern district, in 1849 a regular postal service was set up and in 1850 all offices and authorities were relocated to Voitsberg. In 1860 the Graz-Köflacher-Bahn was opened and with the development of further coal fields and the commissioning of an ironworks there was a brisk immigration to the region. Emperor Franz Joseph I visited Köflach in 1883 and in 1894 the local poet Hans Kloepfer started his work as a company doctor in Köflach.

1900 to 1949

In 1903 Ludwig Stampfer was introduced to his office as dean. From 1908 to 1910, the market town of Köflach built a waterworks in Edelschrott, set up interurban telephone traffic and for the first time electrical lights went into operation. In 1912 the Volksbank Köflach opened and in 1913 Hans Kloepfer founded the voluntary rescue department .

During the First World War , soldiers were quartered in different buildings. The factory cooperative for army and civil deliveries reg.Gen.mbH , Austria's first mechanical sports shoe manufacturer, which was founded in Mooskirchen in 1898/99 by Franz DOWN , moved to the new factory in Köflach in 1917 and became an employer for many women. The miners went on strike for the first time in 1917 for more wages and food. The Spanish flu and the dysentery killed 89 people in 1918. The newly built community school opened in 1922 with a boys 'class and a girls' class. In 1930 the construction of the "Packer-Höhen-Straße", today's Packer Straße , began. The Arbeiter Sportklub Köflach was founded in 1936 and Köflach was promoted to town on August 23, 1939 .

In 1945, bombing raids killed nine of the population during World War II . After the end of the war, Karl Romich founded the singing and play group. The Gradenberger Formen- und Maschinenfabrik was founded in 1949 as the first industrial company after the Second World War.

1950 to 1999

1951 Registration of the Koflach brand by the shoe manufacturer.

In 1953 the newly built boys' school opened. With 23,000 cubic meters of enclosed space, it is the largest building erected in Styria after 1945. From 1955 the familiar cityscape changed noticeably. The existing industrial plants are enlarged, new settlements and roads, public buildings and a sewer network are created.

In 1962 a town partnership was started with Giengen an der Brenz . In 1964 a general secondary school was opened as a branch of the 2nd Federal High School in Graz. 1965 went down in Köflach's history as the year of the mud catastrophe: after a mud pond of the “Franzschacht” mine broke and the flood dam of the Karlschacht mine, the mine fell into disuse. Mudslides damaged the area around the train station and large parts of the south-eastern urban area. Units of the armed forces provided help and a state of emergency had to be declared.

In 1973 the indoor pool was opened by Federal President Franz Jonas , in 1974 the branch church Oberpichling and the official opening of the BG and BRG Köflach by Federal President Rudolf Kirchschläger . With the commissioning of the Köflach- Salla high-spring drinking water pipeline, which was built for 37 million schillings, in 1977 the supply of high-quality drinking water to the greater Köflach-Voitsberg area was ensured.

In 1982 the Köflach handball club became Austrian champions for the first time. The following year, a virus epidemic struck the horses at the Piber stud: 39 Lipizzaners died. The district heating project began in 1985, and in 1986 80 cm of fresh snow brought about a snow catastrophe. The British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited Piber and in Piberstein the trial bathing began in the new "Freizeitland Weststeiermark", at that time still called "Freizeitinsel Piberstein".

In 1990 the new city center with pedestrian zone was opened with a two-day festival. In the same year the city was named the most beautiful city ​​of flowers in Styria , a success that could be repeated in the following two years as well as in 2003 and 2012. In 1991 the new fire station was opened, and in 1993 the new sewage treatment plant was put into operation. In 1995 the converted and expanded farmyard was reopened and Köflach received a silver medal in the city ​​category as part of the European Entente Florale Europe competition .

Production of inline skates of the brands Ultrawheels (from 1991) and Oxygen by Koflach (from 1993) at least until 1998.

The 200th anniversary of the Piber Federal Stud was celebrated in September 1998 with a large gala with performances by the Spanish Riding School and the Vienna Boys' Choir . The following year, the new Köflach-Passage with the new town hall was opened in the center of the city and the Köflach / Bärnbach handball community became Austrian champions. On October 9, they found what they were looking for when drilling: thermal water was discovered in Piber .

Therme Nova Köflach

From 2000

In 2000 the handball community Köflach / Bärnbach was again Austrian champions. The Therme Nova Köflach project was presented on October 4th, one year after the Barbara thermal spring was drilled . In 2001 the thermal spring was recognized as a healing resource and the handball community Köflach / Bärnbach became the Austrian cup winner. With the demolition work on the Köflach indoor pool, the first work on building the new thermal pool began on February 26th . From May 1st to October 26th, 2003, the state exhibition Horse Myths took place at the Piber Federal Stud, and 265,000 visitors were counted. On June 14, 2003 the foundation stone was laid for Therme Nova. In July, Köflach was named the most beautiful Styrian flower city for the fourth time . On October 8, 2004, Federal President Heinz Fischer opened the completed Therme Nova. In 2006 the new mail distribution center for the Voitsberg district was built in Köflach. In 2008 the spa business was started in the Hotel Nova Köflach and the city received a new city coat of arms.

After Head, USA (1969) was involved and bought back by the DOWN brothers, sold to Volvo Fritid, Finland (1973) and bought in 1977 by Dipl.-Ing. ETH Fritz Hatschek, Vöcklabruck ... takeover by Atomic (1988) and in 1994 by the AMER Group LDT, Helsinki, the shoe factory in Köflach is closed in 2002. The Koflach brand will no longer be on the market from 2008 and will be revived in 2010 by the owner Koflach AG, Aeschi SO , Switzerland for Schalenberg shoes.

Population development

Culture and sights

Parish church Köflach
Kunsthaus Köflach (2010)
Dechantteich near Köflach

Regular events

  • Magdalena kirtag : Every year on July 22nd the Magdalena kirtag takes place. If July 22nd falls on a Sunday, the Kirtag will be held on the following Monday. This is the biggest market day in the Voitsberg district
  • Exhibition: Annually alternating with Voitsberg late April / early May, the exhibition , the largest held trade fair of the district Voitsberg
  • Traditionally before Easter , the Köflach Loazkörblmarkt takes place, where you can buy products related to Easter
  • Ross Almabtrieb : At the beginning of September, when the Lipizzaners from Piber return from their summer residence in the mountains, the traditional Lipizzaner festival is held

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

Street

Köflach is located on the federal highways Packer Straße B 70 and Gaberl Straße B 77.

railroad

Köflach station of the Graz-Köflacher Bahn und Busbetrieb GmbH (2006)

The terminus of the Graz – Köflach Railway (since 2007 rapid transit line S-Bahn Styria) and the starting point for several bus lines is located in Köflach .

Established businesses

The two largest companies in Köflach are Stölzle Oberglas  AG and the auto supplier Krenhof AG . The ski boot manufacturer Koflach was based in Köflach until it closed in 2002. In October 2004 the thermal bath Therme Nova opened with the associated hotel.

Molds for blowing glass bottles and jars have been manufactured in Köflach since 1949. OMCO , founded in Belgium in 1964, today Europe's largest manufacturer of iron and bronze molds for glass, takes over the GMA GmbH company in Köflach in 1991 , expands production in Croatia and declares the Omco GMA Austria GmbH company in Köflach at 69 at the end of August 2016 To close employees at the end of the year due to a drop in prices for the product.

Tourism association

Together with Bärnbach, Maria Lankowitz and Voitsberg, the community forms the “Lipizzanerheimat” tourist association (see Piber Federal Stud ). Its seat is Köflach.

Public facilities

In Köflach there is a police inspection of the Voitsberg District Police Command, which is locally responsible for the communities of Köflach, Maria Lankowitz and Rosental an der Kainach. The property on which the police station is located was aryanized by the German Reich in 1942/43 . A shell was built on it by the end of the war, which was to become a residential building for SS members. After the end of the war, the building was taken over by the Republic of Austria and completed. It was subsequently rented to the Federal Gendarmerie and the municipality of Köflach. Until 1965 the municipal office was also located in the building.

education

politics

City council

The city council consists of seven members and has been made up of mandates from the following parties since the 2015 municipal council election :

  • 3 SPÖ - provides the 1st Vice Mayor
  • 2 ÖVP - represents the mayor
  • 1 FPÖ - provides the 2nd Vice Mayor
  • 1 SBK - provides the City Councilor for Finance

Municipal council

The municipal council consists of 31 members and has consisted of mandates from the following parties since the 2015 municipal council election:

Town twinning

coat of arms

Köflach
Degrees

Both previous municipalities had coats of arms, due to the amalgamation of municipalities, these lost their official validity on January 1st, 2015.

The coat of arms of Köflach was re-awarded in 2008 heraldically correct. The re-award took place with effect from October 1st, 2015. The official blazon (coat of arms description) of the city coat of arms of Köflach:

"In a blue shield, a round tower made of golden ashlar stones with five projecting battlements, a round arched portal with black perforations on the ground floor and a rectangular window on each side of it, and two round arched windows on the recessed upper floor."

Personalities

Honorary citizen

  • 2019: Cornelius Grupp (* 1947), entrepreneur
  • 2019: Matthias Hartmann, Manager

Sons and daughters

Other people in the history of the community

Web links

Commons : Köflach  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Styrian municipal structural reform .
  2. ↑ Statistics Austria: Population on January 1st, 2020 by locality (area status on January 1st, 2020) , ( CSV )
  3. ↑ Federal Office for Metrology and Surveying, Regional Information, reference date December 31, 2016, accessed on February 19, 2017
  4. ↑ Joseph Bergmann (editor, with introduction and additions, of the work by): Johann Andreas Schmeller: Cimbric Dictionary, that is the German Idioticon of the VII and XIII. Comuni in the Venetian Alps. Court and State Printing House, Vienna 1855.
  5. ↑ Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm : German Dictionary (DWB). Volume 1 A - beer whey. Leipzig 1854. Keyword Ach . Column 162, line 60. Reprint from Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag. Munich 1991. dtv 5945. ISBN 3-423-05945-1 . Structure quoted from: The digital Grimm - Electronic edition of the first processing. Version 12/04. Verlag Zweausendeins, Frankfurt am Main. Competence center for electronic cataloging and publication processes in the humanities at the University of Trier in conjunction with the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. ISBN 3-86150-628-9 .
  6. ↑ http://www.koflach.com/de/parsepage.php?tpl=tpl_page&sqlpam1=259 Koflach, The story. Koflach AG, Aeschi / SO, Switzerland 2010. Accessed August 8, 2015.
  7. ↑ https://frauengestaltenregion.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/die-schuhfabrik/ Die Schuhfabrik, March 6, 2014, accessed August 8, 2015.
  8. ↑ http://www.blumenbuero.or.at/
  9. ↑ http://www.kleinezeitung.at/s/steiermark/weststeier/3905385/De-steinige-Weg-zur-Therme-Nova De (r) stony path to Therme Nova, kleinezeitung.at September 27, 2014, accessed 8 August 2015.
  10. ↑ Cattle drive of the Lipizzaner ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lipizzanerheimat.com
  11. ↑ History History of OMCO Group accessed 30 August 2016th
  12. ↑ Planned closure of OMCO GMA Austria GmbH in Köflach APA-OTS, OMCO GMA Austria GmbH, August 29, 2016, accessed August 30, 2016.
  13. ↑ Köflach: Mold manufacturer Omco GMA closes at the end of the year mein district.at , August 29, 2016, accessed August 30, 2016. - Images of the casting mold and neck ring.
  14. ^ Grazer Zeitung , Official Gazette for Styria. December 30, 2014, 210th year, 52nd piece. No. 309. ZDB -ID 1291268-2 pp. 626-627.
  15. ↑ Köflach city tour - point 26 ( Memento of the original from August 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.koeflach.at
  16. ↑ Pedagogical Panther 2008 ( Memento of the original from August 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lsr-stmk.gv.at archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , lsr-stmk.gv.at (pdf; 589 kB).
    The Pedagogical Panther 2008 , elternbrief.at (pdf; 64 kB).
    A panther for the best. Kleine Zeitung , June 11, 2008, archived from the original on October 4, 2014 . ;.
  17. ^ The winners of the Pedagogical Panther 2006 , elternbrief.at
  18. ↑ 74. Announcement of the Styrian state government of September 10, 2015 on the granting of the right to use a municipal coat of arms to the municipality of Köflach (political district Voitsberg) , accessed on September 23, 2015
  19. ↑ https://www.mein Bezirk.at/voitsberg/c- Leuten / zwei-neue- ehrenbuerger_a3647541 , accessed on June 11, 2020.
  20. ↑ https://www.mein Bezirk.at/voitsberg/c- Leuten / zwei-neue- ehrenbuerger_a3647541 , accessed on June 11, 2020.
  21. ↑ Kleine Zeitung, October 29, 2013, Indian Museum: Neue Heimat in Köflach