Eisenerz
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Eisenerz (; "Iron ore") is a market place and old
mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
town in the
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
n state of
Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...
, . N.W. of
Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...
by rail. Pop. (2001) 6,400. It is situated in the deep Erzbach Valley, dominated on the east by the
Pfaffenstein The Pfaffenstein, formerly called the ''Jungfernstein'', is a Table (landform), table hill,
, on the west by the Kaiserschild , and on the south by the
Erzberg The Ennstal Alps (German ''Ennstaler Alpen''), the Alps of the Enns valley, are a mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps System. They are located primarily in the Austrian state of Styria, and also into the state of Upper Austria. The most ...
. It has a medieval fortified church, a
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...
edifice founded by
Rudolph of Habsburg Rudolf of Habsburg may refer to: * Rudolf I of Germany (1218–1291), King of the Romans * Rudolph II, Count of Habsburg (d. 1232) * Rudolf II, Duke of Austria (1270–1290) * Rudolf I of Bohemia (1281–1307), Duke of Austria and Styria and King o ...
in the 13th century and rebuilt in the 16th century. At the turn of the past century the ''Erzberg'' (Ore Mountain) furnished such rich ore that it was quarried in the open air like stone, in the summer months. There is documentary evidence of the mines having been worked as far back as the 12th century. They afforded employment to two or three thousand hands in summer and about half as many in winter, and yielded some 800,000 tons of iron per annum. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, a subcamp of
Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...
was located here. It provided
slave labour Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
for local industry. Eisenerz was connected with the mines by the
Erzberg Railway The Ennstal Alps (German ''Ennstaler Alpen''), the Alps of the Enns valley, are a mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps System. They are located primarily in the Austrian state of Styria, and also into the state of Upper Austria. The most ...
, a bold piece of engineering work, long, constructed on the Abt's rack-and-pinion system. It passed through the pastoral scenery, before descending to
Vordernberg Vordernberg is a municipality in the district of Leoben in the Austrian state of Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's sec ...
, a center of the iron trade situated on the south side of the Erzberg. Eisenerz then possessed, in addition, twenty-five furnaces, which produce iron, and particularly steel, of high quality. Today the Erzberg is home to motocross races, called the
Erzberg Rodeo The Erzberg Rodeo is an Austrian motorcycle enduro event started in 1995 and held annually in May or June, run on ore. It is the largest of its kind in Europe. The Erzberg Rodeo is part of the Red Bull Hard Enduro Series, together with Red B ...
. Eisenerz is also the home of the independent record label
Napalm Records Napalm Records is an Austrian independent record label focused on heavy metal, hard rock and folk/folk rock/folk metal. Originally, Napalm focused on black metal bands, such as Abigor and Summoning, and folk metal bands, such as Falkenbach a ...
, which is mainly focused on heavy metal and
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
. While founded in 1992 in Eisenerz, the company has since become a prominent label in the metal scene, and today operates branch offices in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
. A few miles northwest of Eisenerz stands Leopoldstein Castle, and near it Leopoldstein Lake. This lake, with its dark green water at an elevation of , and surrounded on all sides by high peaks, is not large and has a depth of .


History

In Eisenerz, copper smelting was a major activity from the 15th century to the 13th century BC.E. Aidona et al. (2006) Spatial distribution of archaeomagnetic vectors within archaeological samples from Eisenerz (Austria), Geophysical Journal International 166:1, pp. 45-5
Geophysical Journal International
/ref>


Population


Notable people

* Reinhold Bachler (born 1944), an Austrian former ski jumper, silver medallist at the
1968 Winter Olympics The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated. The 1968 Winter Games marked the first time ...
* Andreas Schranz (born 1979), an Austrian former football goalkeeper who played 298 games and 6 for
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
*
Daniela Iraschko-Stolz Daniela Iraschko-Stolz ( Iraschko; born 21 November 1983) is an Austrian former ski jumper and footballer. She is one of the ski jumping's most successful female athletes, having won the 2014/15 women's World Cup season, and has the third mos ...
(born 1983), an Austrian former ski jumper and footballer, silver medallist at the
2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...
*
Lukas Klapfer Lukas Klapfer (born 25 December 1985) is an Austrian nordic combined skier who has been competing since 2002. His best World Cup finish was second in the normal hill Gundersen event in Austria in February 2009. At the FIS Nordic World Ski Champ ...
(born 1985), an Austrian nordic combined skier who won bronze at the
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
and
2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...


References

----------------------- Cities and towns in Leoben District {{Styria-geo-stub