Straßburg () is a town in the district of

Sankt Veit an der Glan Sankt Veit an der Glan (; sl, Šentvid ob Glini) is a town in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the administrative centre of the Sankt Veit an der Glan District. It was the historic Carinthian capital until 1518. The famous chef Wolfgang Puck was ...

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Bavarian group. Carin ...

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 populous ...

Geography

Location

The municipality lies in Northern Carinthia in the Gurk Valley among the

Nock Mountains The Nock Mountains (german: Nockberge or ''Nockgebirge'') are the westernmost and highest mountain range of the Gurktal Alps in Austria, spread over parts of the federal states of Carinthia, Salzburg and Styria. Their appearance is characterised ...

and the Gurk.

Municipal arrangement

Straßburg is divided into the following boroughs: St. Georgen, Straßburg-Land, and Straßburg-Stadt. It is further divided into the districts of Bachl, Buldorf, Dörfl, Dielach, Dobersberg, Drahtzug, Edling, Gassarest, Glabötsch, Gruschitz, Gundersdorf, Höllein, Hackl, Hausdorf, Herd, Hohenfeld, Kraßnitz, Kreuth, Kreuzen, Kulmitzen, Langwiesen, Lees, Lieding, Machuli, Mannsdorf, Mellach, Mitterdorf, Moschitz, Olschnögg, Olschnitz, Olschnitz-Lind, Pöckstein-Zwischenwässern, Pölling, Pabenberg, Ratschach, Sankt Georgen, Sankt Jakob, Sankt Johann, Sankt Magdalen, Sankt Peter, Schattseite, Schmaritzen, Schneßnitz, Straßburg-Stadt.

History

Straßburg was first mentioned in 864, when King

Louis the German Louis the German (c. 806/810 – 28 August 876), also known as Louis II of Germany and Louis II of East Francia, was the first king of East Francia, and ruled from 843 to 876 AD. Grandson of emperor Charlemagne and the third son of Louis the P ...

gave the

Archdiocese of Salzburg The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg ( la, Archidioecesis Salisburgensis) is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria. The archdiocese is one of two Austrian archdioceses, serving alongside the Archdiocese ...

a seat there. The Straßburg Fortress was erected in 1147 under the fourth

Bishop of Gurk The Bishop of Gurk is the head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gurk, which was established in 1072 as the first suffragan bishop by Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg in the Duchy of Carinthia. Initially performing the functions of a mere archiep ...

Roman I. In the 15th century, it was expanded into a castle and it served as the seat of Prince-Bishops of Gurk until the 18th century. As the bishop's seat, Straßburg was the most important town in the Gurk Valley and was thus elevated to a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

in 1229 and to a city in 1382. It received its

city rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

in 1402 from Prince-Bishop Conrad III von Helfenberg. The seat of the Gurk Bishops was moved in the 18th century to the nearby Pöckstein Castle in Zwischenwässern and then later to

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

, so the city lost its importance. The castle received extensive damage from the 1767

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

and was not rebuilt until the late 20th century.

Population

According to the 2001 Census, Straßburg has 2,335 inhabitants. Of these, 90.8% said they were

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, 1.0%

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

, and 2.2%

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

. 3.3% of the population did not declare a belief.

Politics

Municipal Council

The Straßburg Municipal Council has 19 seats and the following party mandates: *8

FPÖ The Freedom Party of Austria (german: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Austria. It was led by Norbert Hofer from September 2019 to 1 June 2021.Staff (1 June 2021"A ...

ÖVP The Austrian People's Party (german: Österreichische Volkspartei , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. It is currentl ...

SPÖ The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

Mayor Ferdinand Wachernig's (FPÖ) greatest competition is Councilman Hubert PUTZ.

Twin cities

* Strasburg,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Treppo Grande Treppo Grande ( fur, Trep Grant) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about northwest of Udine. Treppo Grande borders the following municipalities: Buja, Cassac ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Culture and landmarks

Museums

*The Folk Art Museum and the Hunting Museum in Straßburg Castle.

Buildings

* Straßburg Castle, the former residence of the Prince-Bishops of Gurk * Pöckstein Castle *St. Nikolaus Church, the parish church of Straßburg *St. Margaretha zu Lieding Church: a romanesque church built around 1200 around with a quire and

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...

from the 14th century.

References

Cities and towns in Sankt Veit an der Glan District {{Carinthia-geo-stub