Lavamünd ( sl, Labot) is a

market town A market town is a Human settlement, 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 marketplace, market; this distinguished it from a village or ...

in the district of Wolfsberg in the

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 ...

n state of Carinthia. The Lavamünd hydroelectric power plant on the Drava River and the Koralpe power plant are located in or near Lavamünd.

Geography

Lavamuend Ansicht ueber den Drau-Stausee 01012011 233

Lavamünd lies in the southeast of Carinthia, close to the border with

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

( Slovene Carinthia). It is situated at the confluence of the

Lavant Lavant may refer to: *Lavant, Tyrol, Austria, a municipality *Lavant, West Sussex, a civil parish ** Lavant railway station **Lavant (ward) *River Lavant, West Sussex, the winterbourne after which the village is named *Lavant (river), Carinthia, Au ...

and

Drava The Drava or Drave''Utrata Fachwörterbuch ...

rivers. In the northeast, the

Soboth Pass The Soboth Pass (elevation 1347 m) is a high mountain pass in the Alps, located north of the border between Austria and Slovenia in the Austrian states of Styria and Carinthia connecting Soboth and Lavamünd. References See also * List of hi ...

leads across the

Koralpe The Koralpe ( en, Kor Alps, sl, Golica or ), also referred to as ''Koralm'', is a mountain range in southern Austria which separates eastern Carinthia from southern Styria. The southern parts of the range extend into Slovenia. Running from north ...

range to Eibiswald in

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 ...

. At an elevation of AA, the area is the lowest part of Carinthia. The municipal area consists of the cadastral communities of Ettendorf, Großlamprechtsberg, Hart (''Dobrova''), Lamprechtsberg-Hartneidstein, Lavamünd proper, Lorenzenberg (''Šentlovrenc''), Magdalensberg, Rabenstein (''Rabštajn pri Labotu''), Weißenberg, and Wunderstätten (''Drumlje pri Labotu'').

History

The region in the Drava valley was already settled in

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

times. The estates at the confluence with the Lavant River were mentioned in a 1091 deed of donation, issued by the local

Sponheim Sponheim is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany. History Sponheim was the capital of the County of Sponheim. Sponheim Abbey There was a Benedictine abbey which was founded in 1101 by Step ...

count Engelbert I in favour of newly established Saint Paul's Abbey. The market town itself arose in the 13th century; it was first documented in 1334. Habsburg Emperor Frederick III vested the citizens with

high justice High, middle and low justices are notions dating from Western feudalism to indicate descending degrees of judicial power to administer justice by the maximal punishment the holders could inflict upon their subjects and other dependents. Low just ...

rights (''Blutgerichtsbarkeit'') in 1461. The present-day municipality was established in 1850. Upon the 1920

Carinthian plebiscite The Carinthian plebiscite (german: Kärntner Volksabstimmung, sl, Koroški plebiscit) was held on 10 October 1920 in the area in southern Carinthia predominantly settled by Carinthian Slovenes. It determined the final border between the Republ ...

, the neighbouring area of

Dravograd Dravograd (; german: Unterdrauburg) is a small town in northern Slovenia, close to the border with Austria. It is the seat of the Municipality of Dravograd. It lies on the Drava River at the confluence with the Meža and the Mislinja. It i ...

(''Unterdrauburg'') fell to the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...

. 96.9% of the Lavamünd citizens voted to remain with the

Austrian Republic 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 ci ...

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (''Gemeinderat'') as of 2015 local elections: *

Social Democratic Party of Austria 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 ...

(SPÖ): 12 *

Austrian People's Party 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 curr ...

(ÖVP): 8 *

Freedom Party of Austria 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"Au ...

(FPÖ): 3

References

External links

Municipal website
Cities and towns in Wolfsberg District {{Carinthia-geo-stub