Fürstenfeld (; hu, Fölöstöm) is a town and a district in southeastern
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populou ...
. It is situated within the Austrian
federal state
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...
of
Styria
Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...
, near the border of
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...
.
According to the 2005 census, Fürstenfeld has 5,986 citizens within its communal area, the larger urban area of Fürstenfeld includes approximately 20% more citizens. It was the centre of
an eponymous district until the end of 2012, when it was merged with Hartberg to form
Hartberg-Fürstenfeld District.
Fürstenfeld was founded around 1170 as a fortress and received its town charter in 1215. Today it is known for its schools, middle-sized industry, and vicinity to several
thermal spas (
Loipersdorf,
Bad Blumau,
Stegersbach).
Geography
Fürstenfeld is located in the lower valley near the
Burgenland
Burgenland (; hu, Őrvidék; hr, Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland;'' Slovene: ''Gradiščanska'') is the easternmost and least populous state of Austria. It consists of two statutory cities and seven rural districts, with a total of ...
border. Elevation of the urban area ranges from 255m to approximately 300 m ü. A. The city`s central part sits on a river terrace two dozen meters above the valley floor.
History
First human traces in the Fürstenfeld area are attributed to the
Neolithic age
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several part ...
. There are numerous
Urnfield culture
The Urnfield culture ( 1300 BC – 750 BC) was a late Bronze Age culture of Central Europe, often divided into several local cultures within a broader Urnfield tradition. The name comes from the custom of cremating the dead and ...
archaeological finds and the
Romans also found their way into the later Province of
Noricum
Noricum () is the Latin name for the Celtic kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the nort ...
bordering their
Pannonia province. From the 6th century on,
Slavs
Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, m ...
diffused into the
Pannonic region and were followed by
Bavarian settlers in the 8th century.
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Fürstenfeld is
twinned with:
*
Zug, Switzerland
*
Körmend, Hungary
*
Vişeu de Sus, Romania
*
Aindling, Germany
People
*
Anita
*
Herbert Depisch
*
Wilfried Elmenreich, researcher and university professor
*
Hans Fronius
*
Sissy Handler
*
Richard L. Heschl, born in Welsdorf
*
Markus Hirtler (alias Ermi-Oma), cabaret artist
*
Max J. Hiti
*
Max Keimel
*
Karl Mader, painter, graphic artist
*
Bert Isatitsch
*
Katharina Paldauf (1625-1675) "flower witch" prosecuted during the Great Witch trial of Feldbach
* (1913, Rudersdorf - 2003)
[Parlamentarische Materialien: Erklärung des Präsidenten Gottfried Jaud anlässlich des 50. Jahrestages der Gründung des Europarates. Stenografisches Protokoll der 654 Sitzung /Seite 42, http://www.parlament.gv.at/pd/steno/PG/DE/BR/BRSITZ/BRSITZ_00654/SEITE_0042.html?P_PM=SEITE_0042]
* Helmut Röhrling (known as ""), member of
S.T.S.
*
Emmerich Schreiner
*
Hanna Schulze-Bauer
*
Hannes Schulze-Bauer
* (born 1948, Fürstenfeld), member of
S.T.S.
*
Fritz Vogt
*
Gregor von Rezzori, studied in Fürstenfeld
References
Twin towns – sister cities
*
Komádi (
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...
)
*
Zug,
Schweiz
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
*
Vișeu de Sus
Vișeu de Sus (; german: Oberwischau; hu, Felsővisó; ; , Ober Vishoi, Ojberwischo) is a town in Maramureș County, Maramureș, Romania, located at the confluence of the rivers Vișeu and Vaser. It administers one village, Vișeu de Mijloc ('' ...
,
Rumänien
*
Aindling,
Deutschland
External links
Official website of Fürstenfeld
Cities and towns in Hartberg-Fürstenfeld District
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