History Of Leoben

Evidence from the Neolithic age indicates that the surroundings of Leoben were previously occupied at this time. Two stone hammers, among other objects, were found in Leoben-Mühltal. In the Hinterberg region, an ancient burial site including stone boxes dating from the first century BC was also discovered. From the urnfield period there is evidence of human habitation on the Häuselberg and on the Kulm near Trofaiach.

This could be linked to ore mining in the greywacke area, particularly copper mining in the Eisenerz Alps during the first millennium BC and before, as well as its subsequent processing. Near Leoben-Nennersdorf, finds of forging tools dating from the Bronze Age date back to the 3rd century BC. saw the migration of Celtic tribes to the Eastern Alps. With Noreia as their capital, the Norians founded the kingdom of Noricum around 200 BC.

Roman times and migration

Originally a subordinate principality, Noricum was first included in the Roman Empire in 15 BC and then, in 40 AD, as a Roman province. The Leoben region was included in the administrative division of Flavia Solva. Iron ore discoveries suggest indications of iron mining in the Ore Mountains during Roman times. A Roman road could have passed through the Vordernberger valley, leading to Bruck a der Mur and then to Flavia Solva. Part of this road was discovered near Friedauwerk near Vordernberg in 1926. This road connected Flavia Solva with the main Norian road, which ran from Ovilava to Aquileia near Grado.

One theory is that the Leoben region was home to a Roman provincial town. Found lying in the bed of the Vordernbergerbach, a Roman funerary temple was discovered in Leoben-Donawitz in 1859. It is currently in the Joanneum in the charming Eggenberger Schlosspark in Graz. Also of note is the work of a Roman stonemason named VERVICIUS, left in a lowland crevasse near Donawitz. This discovery suggests that the Romans may have lived in the area between the second and third centuries AD.

The Romans had to leave Noricum in 488 AD during the popular migration. Different Germanic tribes, including the Lombards, lived in the country in the 5th century.

The entry of the Avars from Pannonia followed the departure of the Lombards for Italy in 568, which pushed the Slovenian Slavs (Carantans) to flee in the 6th century. Derived from Winidi, meaning grazers, the German Bavarians called them Wenden or Winden, reflecting their pastoral lifestyle.

Slavic settlement in the Alpine regions was somewhat limited. Carantania, a Slavic principality, develops. The continued threat posed by the Avars caused the Carantans to seek help from the Bavarians. Carantania came under the Duchy of Bavaria in 772. Bavaria and the Alpine regions were merged into the Frankish Empire while the Avar Empire was overthrown. A flood of Bavarian immigrants thus arrived in the Southern Alps, accompanied by Christian missionaries based in Salzburg. These immigrants eventually mixed with the Carantans of the Eastern Alps. Until the 11th century, when the Slavic population merged with the larger Bavarian society, the region’s population was likely a mixture of several ethnic groups.

In the Leoben region, place names and settlements have preserved vestiges of the Slavic people. Sights include Donawitz von Tuna (puddle), Jassing von jasenica (ash tree), Göss von gostnica (inn), the Windischberg near Leoben and Windischbühel in the municipality of Gai.

Name origin and market Liuben

Under the name “Liupina”, a donation made by King Louis to Count Göss-Schladnitz in 904 is mentioned for the first time. Near the towns of Zlatina (Schladnitz) or Costenica (Göss), the Gaugraf Aribo receives an area of 20,000 royal meters. poles (around 800 to 1,000 hectares). The estate is located where the Schladnitzbach flows into the Wall.

Known under the name “Lewben”, the Carantanian name Liupina did not relate to a place but rather to the Vordernberg valley, from the Mur to the Vordernberg region. Later the term “Liuben” was replaced by “Leuben”, and then became Leoben, which is still used today to describe the valley between Hafning and the village of Friedauwerk next to Vordernberg, known as ” In der Loiben. The name derives from the soft Slavic Lijub. Another documentary reference to a Salzburg estate in Trofaiach under the name “Liupina” from the year 982

The precise date the Liupina settlement was established and when it became the county seat are unknown. Count Palatine Aribo I and his wife Adula founded Göss Abbey in 1004. On May 1, 1020, Emperor Henry II confirmed the foundation of the monastery. Emperor Joseph II closed Styria’s oldest monastery, the Benedictine monastery of Göss, in 1782.

The first references to “Sancta Maria Liuben”, Maria am Waasen, later known as Waasenkirche, date from 1149 and 1170. Donawitz was initially called “Tunuize” in 1149 under the signature of the witness Herrant de Tunuize. Historical accounts indicate that St. James Church existed before this date, first documented in 1188.

The town known as “Forum Liuben” is first documented in 1173. Located at the foot of the Massenberg, next to the St. James Church, it was an unfortified site. This place was already known at the time as the center of the “Leubener Eisen”.

Founding of the city and fortifications

From 1261, under King Ottokar II, the village was moved to its current location on the “Murschleife”, near the junction of the Vordernbergerbach and the “Leuben”, driven by military and political factors. The city charter was granted at this time. Carefully planned with a rectangular shape, the city centers a large market square stretching from north to south. The orderly and harmonious cityscape created by the neat layout of the blocks around the square

The city has gained in natural security thanks to its strategic position. On three sides the Mura River provided defense. Additionally, the colony received a fortified wall with defensive towers placed at each of the four corners and reinforced with more massive defenses. Their safety fell to the protection of the Dominican Order as well as the noble families of Timmersdorf, Krottendorfer and Saurau.

Built in the northeastern part of the city on the “Grünberg”, now known as Stadtbühel, the Dominican monastery was most often called the Dominican corner. The monastery existed until 1811, having existed from 1262 to 1300. Located to the south, the Winkelfeldtor served as an entrance to the Winkeld on the other side of the Wall, creating a loop around the area.

Built in the southeast corner, the oldest sovereign castle is called Sauraueck. Receiving the land around 1400, the Saurau family came to recognize it as the “Saurauhaus”. Built as a gate tower, the Jakobsturm houses the “Bruckertor”, the entrance to the route linking Bruck a der Mur to Leoben. The Jakobsturm met the same end in 1841; the Saurauhaus was destroyed in 1870.

The preserved Freimannsturm and its outbuildings, known as the “Krottendorferhaus”, call the Krottendorfereck in the southwest corner. The inhabitants of Krottendorf received the tower and its buildings as a hereditary fiefdom in 1293. Later, in the 16th century, it served as both a prison and the executioner’s residence. To the south were the moats. Further south, the Massenburg building on the Maßenberg offered another level of security. The Saint-Jacques church rests at the foot of this hill.

Built north of the Krottendorfereck, the Rechentor or Johannestor had a kennel for defense. From the road connecting Göss to the city, this gate served as an entrance. Built around 1200, the toll tower is located in the northern part, closer to the city center. Also known as the “Schwammerlturm”, it marks the western entrance to the city via the Waasenvorstadt and the Waasenbrücke. Peter Carlone erected the tower in 1615 after repairs in 1512. It then had a pointed roof, but unfortunately it collapsed after the earthquake of 1794. The tower therefore received a new mushroom-shaped roof.

Timmersdorfereck is the northwest corner of the northern part of the city. The famous Timmersdorf family was awarded the fortification built there. In 1418, the sovereign purchased the building. The result was the creation of a magnificent sovereign castle from the old construction. During its existence, the institution has changed several times. Initially a Jesuit college in 1613, it transformed into a high school in 1811. The college was unfortunately destroyed in 1965, leaving only the east wing in its entirety. There is the museum there today. Not far from there, another ditch was built. Rising towards the east, the Joseph Tower was built. The Josephsfeld slept towards the north.

Late Middle Ages

This place, “Raueisenverlagsort”, has been mentioned as a center of iron trade since 1314. In that year, Duke Frederick the Fair granted Leoben special publishing and sales rights for cast iron produced in Vordernberg.

The first hospital building in Leoben was started in 1370 and finished in 1372. Called Bürgerspital, it included a chapel in honor of Saint Elizabeth. This hospital took care of the community until the 19th century. The site was near the Waasen Bridge bridgehead. A coat of arms from 1574 covered the north facade of the structure; it was then repaired in 1983. Considered a residential building, this part of the building has been rather well preserved.

Originally intended mainly for wealthy individuals, the Bürgerspital was first a hospital, then transformed into a retirement or care establishment. Later, in 1805, the Bürgerspital in Leoben became the city’s first public hospital; it sheltered poor people in a hospice or infirmary. It functioned in this way from 1806 to 1867; then, it was transformed into an apartment building. In 1958, the old hospice was destroyed.

In Leoben, references to a Jewish community and a Jewish judge date back to 1396. The resolution of conflicts between the Jewish community and the townspeople was greatly facilitated by the judge. Until their exile in 1496, the community prospered on Winkefeld, to the east of the city.

Later, in the 15th century, the city’s fortifications were renovated and strengthened. Turkish invaders attempted to attack Leoben in 1480 but were ultimately repelled.

Ultimately, the Turks’ attempt to attack Göss Abbey was unsuccessful, mainly due to the unexpected flooding of the Mur River, considered a miraculous event at that time. The dam that the monastery had, most of which still exists today.

The original town hall was built on the central square in 1485; the “Waasenvorstadt” to the west was unfortunately destroyed by flames in 1480 during the Turkish storm. The five-sided corner tower was later included in the construction in 1568 and further expanded in 1607. Until 1973 it served as the center of city government.

Reformation and Counter-Reformation

Later, in the 15th century, the city’s fortifications were renovated and strengthened. Turkish invaders attempted to attack Leoben in 1480 but were ultimately repelled.

From the 18th century to the French Wars

Leoben was last struck by the plague in 1716. Starting from the Etschmeyerhof near Nennersdorf, where the plague claimed eight lives in a few weeks, the pandemic virtually took over the town. The Waasenvorstadt marked an exception to this rule. Waasen Church features a votive painting donated by residents of the suburb and visible here.

The Saint-Jacques death register records 81 deaths due to the plague for that year. Johann Jacob Schoy built the Holy Trinity Column on the main square in 1718 as a plague column in gratitude for the eradication of the epidemic among the city’s inhabitants.

Pope Clement XIV closed the Jesuit order in 1773. The Jesuit College in Leoben was also closed that year.

Joseph II declared the dissolution of Göss Abbey in 1782.

In 1794, Leoben suffered an earthquake. Many buildings were damaged. Originally built in 1615, the toll tower’s pointed roof also had to be dismantled; it now has a mushroom-shaped roof.

The legations of France and Austria met in Leoben in 1797. Napoleon and representatives of Austria concluded the preliminary peace of Leoben in the nearby garden house of Baron Josef Thaddeus von Eggenwald. The passing French occupied the town in 1805.

The Leobner General Hospital was also established in 1805. Wealthy citizens had until then been housed in the infirmary or almshouse at the rear of the Bürgerspital, established at the end of the 14th century.

The Bürgerspital infirmary was moved and a hospital was built, open to both non-residents and non-wealthy guarantors. It entered service in 1806.

The town served as a bishop’s seat as the diocese of Leoben was centered there from around 1782 to 1859. It was attached to the diocese of Graz-Seckau in 1859.

The Saint-Jacob church was replaced by the Saint-Xavier church in 1811. The same year, the Dominican monastery closed its doors. Originally used as a main school, then as a military warehouse, salt warehouse and grain warehouse, the former Dominican monastery was used until 1854 as a clergy residence and presbytery of the Saint-Xavier Church, then rebuilt in 1856 and 1870 and became the seat of the high court, the public prosecutor’s office and the prison. This was its status until the opening of the new Leoben Justice Center in 2005. After extensive development and restoration works from October 2007, it became the LCS (Leoben City Shopping) shopping center.

Economic development and urban expansion in the 19th century

The 19th century saw slow but steady development. Several facts bear witness to this:

Thanks to the efforts of Franz Mayr, Leoben-Donawitz was home to Styria’s first steel and puddling factory in 1837, known as the “Franzenshütte”. His sons developed the work.

The Montanist State School housed the original institution, which was built in 1843 and Archduke Johann oversaw the founding of the company in Vordernberg in 1840, then it was moved to Leoben in 1849. The first director was Peter von Tunner.

After the foundation stone was laid, the Redemptorists began to build their church in 1846. Interestingly, the Redemptorists had previously built a hospice in Leoben in 1834. When the edict was revoked in 1848, construction stopped and the Redemptorists were driven out of Leoben. Once order returned, construction of the monastery church and the Redemptorist college could begin in 1853; it was actually completed in 1854.

In 1847, the southern city walls were destroyed. The moat has changed as it has been cleaned and adorned with pretty chestnut trees. An urban park called Glacis was created.

In 1849 the mining school moved from Vordernberg to Leoben. The Montanuniversität was born from this educational institution. In 1850, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry was founded.

The cadastral municipalities were grouped into four local municipalities after the administrative reform of 1850.

While Gössgraben, Prettach and Schladnitz now belong to the municipality of Göss, Mühltal and Nennersdorf were included in the municipality of Waltenbach. The municipality of Donawitz now includes Leitendorf and Judendorf.
The Waasenvorstadt is connected to the municipality of Leoben via the city center.

Each of the four newly created municipalities appointed its own mayor. Moritz Freiherr von Schönowitz presided over Leoben between 1850 and 1856. The city grew significantly under his leadership with the destruction of the Joseph Tower and the northern city wall.

Max Kober, a Galician-trained brewer, founded the Göss brewery in 1860. He started his brewing business in parts of the former Göss Abbey.

In 1861 the Mining College was renamed the Mining Academy.

The general hospital from the Bürgerspital moved in 1867 to the Josephshof, which offered twice as much space, due to a lack of capacity. Declared a provincial hospital, the hospital came under the authority of the province of Styria in 1872.

The Jesuits founded the Josephshof in 1637 as a boarding school. The Order underwent several changes and was first used as a military school camp, then as a military hospital and finally from 1867 to 1889 as the Josefee de Leoben Hospital. From 1889 until its demolition in 1973, the structure housed buildings. The Erich Schmidt Institute now occupies its place.

In 1868 Leoben was connected to the railway network. In addition to a road across the Josephsfeld and a wooden bridge over the Wall, a railway station was built in the municipality of Donawitz to connect the town. New buildings were given to the agricultural Josephsfeld in accordance with the vision of the late 19th century. Established under the name “Neustadt”, the Josefee district

From 1881, the industrial exploitation of bright coal in the Seegraben mine caused a notable economic turnaround. First discovered on the Münzenberg in 1606, the coal was exploited under the direction of the board of directors Caspar von Lierwald in 1726. Under the direction of Franz von Eggenwald, the live coal found in the north of the Seegraben, at the Inside the Guardian Angel building, mining began in 1811. In 1836, the southern Drasche or Warting mine began to expand. From 1881, mining activities fell under the Austrian Alpine Mining Company. In 1881, the company purchased Guardian Angel Construction; in 1882, Munzenberg; and in 1900 Draschebau.

Combining the steelworks in Leoben-Donawitz with the steelworks in Styria and Carinthia, the Oesterreichische Alpine Montangesellschaft was founded in 1881.

Large areas of Leoben had gas and lighting works built in 1884.

Among the many difficulties faced by the town were recurring epidemics, notably the Leaf Epidemic of 1885. The lack of an isolation house and the overcrowding of Josefee Hospital resulting from the increase in population made these epidemics very difficult to manage. The creation of a new state hospital in Leoben therefore became absolutely necessary.

Crown Princess Stéphanie laid the foundation stone of Saint-Étienne Hospital in 1887. Built on the site of the former Capuchin convent and industrial facility, the hospital is named after her. It was completed in 1889, then extended to LKH Leoben after 1945.

Built in 1887 in the Lerchenfeld district, the central cemetery replaced the closed cemeteries of the Waasenkirche Church and the St. Jakob Church.

Following the miners’ strike at the Austrian Seegraben mine in 1889, the eight-hour day was adopted there.

As the first foundry in Europe to apply the cast iron ore process in the Siemens-Martin furnace, the Donawitz foundry made history in 1893.

In 1895, the wooden Waasen Bridge was destroyed and rebuilt with a new one. A steel structure was erected at this time and is still in place today.

From the 20th century to the present

Built in Donawitz in 1902, a blast furnace with a daily capacity of three hundred tonnes was the largest in Europe at the time.

1904 saw the Academy of Mines change to become a mining college with jurisdiction to award university degrees.

The municipal school was built in 1905. Successfully inaugurated in 1905, the Krempl power station was built on the grounds of the Jesuit mill in Stadtbühel. The first electric street lighting was put into operation in 1906. The liberals built the Gustav Adolf Church in 1908.

Between 1908 and 1910, the University of Leoben was built.

Several companies established themselves quite effectively in Leoben in the first half of the 20th century.

Founded in Leoben Hinterberg in 1911 and operating until the second half of the 20th century, a pulp mill

Built between 1923 and 1927 under the direction of Mayor Josef Heißl in Donawitz, the Pestalozzi Secondary School Opened in 1928, the modern bridge replaced the original wooden station bridge.

Completed in 1930, the main lifting shaft in the Seegraben mining region of Münzenberg was the Zahlbruckner shaft. Covering around a third of Austria’s needs, the Seegraben mine was vital to meeting national coal consumption in the 1930s.

Executed against the socialist trade union leader Koloman Wallisch in Leoben prison on February 19, 1934, the death sentence was imposed. Leoben became one of the most brutal battlefields of Austria’s civil war when the July Putsch brought fierce fighting there in 1934.

Following the municipal market survey in Göss in 1937, the same year the municipal survey of the municipality of Donawitz was carried out.

The city experienced a notable expansion in 1939 when the towns of Göss and Donawitz were consolidated, thus increasing its territory.

Leoben escaped the general destruction caused by the Second World War. In 1944, twenty people unfortunately died during an air raid on the isolation building of the Donawitz factory hospital.

Franz Mayr-Melnhof founded Mayr-Melnhof Holz Leoben GmbH in Göss in 1951; first as a sawmill and timber merchant,

Introduced at the Donawitz steelworks in 1953, a year after its development in 1952, the LD process

The closure of the Seegraben coal mine in 1964 led to economic difficulties in the 1960s. From 1606 to March 28, 1964, this coal mine was considered the oldest in Austria. In the second half of the 20th century, the University of Mining and Mining expanded significantly to the north. Built between 1973 and 1976, the Erich Schmidt Institute replaced the Josephshof.

With the exception of the east wing, which is now the city museum, the old high school was destroyed in 1965. In its place was a brand new city hall. The city government has been housed there since 1973. In 1975, the University of Applied Sciences changed its name to the University of Leoben. The reconstruction of the Stephaniespital, the LKH Leoben, was carried out in 1978.

The limitations imposed on the steel sector at the Donawitz Steel Plant led to an economic crisis throughout the 1980s. The population was strongly affected by the economic crisis and, later, by emigration. The population was 36,251 in 1961; by 2001 it had fallen to 25,804, the same as in 1900. This led to the need to study new economic directions.

Since 1982, Leoben-Hinterberg has been home to AT&S’s headquarters and main factory for printed circuit boards. The company now also runs operations at locations in China, India and Korea. Recognized as one of the world’s leading PCB producers, it dominates the European and Indian markets.

Along with the construction of a congress center, the town’s main square was renovated in 1997. In the same year, the Styrian National Exhibition saw the establishment of an exhibition center. This center offers rotating shows on several ethnological themes.

The new power plant in the city of Leoben, inaugurated in the summer of 2006. Modern construction was necessary because the outdated power plant in Krempl could not meet the growing energy consumption of the growing city.

The new Leoben Justice Center opened its doors in March 2005. Since May 15, 2006, the old Justice Center, the former Dominican monastery and surrounding buildings as well as the site of the former bus station have been transformed in Leoben City Shopping LCS. Officially inaugurated in October 2007, the shopping center

Opened in May 2008 on a former sports field, the Asia Spa thermal and recreational swimming pool

This and other projects aim to increase the economic value of Leoben, thereby solving the problem of emigration and boosting the local economy.