Eppenstein is a former municipality in the district of Murtal 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 ...

. Since the 2015

Styria municipal structural reform The Styria municipal structural reform (German: ''Steiermärkische Gemeindestrukturreform'') was a local government reform in the Austrian state of Styria, which was made effective January 1, 2015. The reform nearly halved the number of Styrian ...

, it is part of the municipality Weißkirchen in Steiermark.Die neue Gemeindestruktur der Steiermark
/ref> Eppenstein lies in the Lavanttal Alps stretching along the narrow valley of the Granitzenbach creek, which runs from the Upper Mur valley in the north up to the Obdach Saddle pass and the Lavant Valley valley in

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

. The former municipal area comprised the cadastral communities of Mühldorf, Schoberegg, and Schwarzenbach. Eppenstein is known for the medieval Eppenstein Castle, built about 1000 AD by the Eppenstein margravial dynasty, who temporarily ruled as Dukes of Carinthia in the 11th and 12th centuries. Later held by

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

''ministeriales'' like the Graben von Stein family, it was rebuilt in a Gothic style around 1478. Today only ruins remain.

References

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