Stainz is a market town with 8,749 inhabitants (as of January 1,
2020) in the district and judicial district of Deutschlandsberg in
Styria (Austria).
As part of the Styrian community structural
reform, it has been merged with the communities of Stallhof,
Stainztal, Rassach, Marhof and Georgsberg since 2015, the new
community continues to bear the name Stainz. The basis for this is
the Styrian Municipal Structural Reform Act - StGsrG.
Together with St. Stefan ob Stainz, the municipality forms the
"Schilcherland-Stainz-Reinischkogel" tourist association.
Castle
Stainz
Stainz Castle is a former Augustinian monastery with the
collegiate church of St. Catherine, which was founded around 1229 by
Leuthold von Wildon and secularized in 1785 by Emperor Joseph II. In
1840 Archduke Johann bought it for 40,000 guilders. Today the castle is
owned by the Counts of Meran, who are descendants of Archduke Johann.
There is a museum in the castle that belongs to the Styrian universal
museum Joanneum. Two collections can be seen: the agricultural museum,
which opened in autumn 2009 and shows old farming equipment and presents
the various branches of agriculture, and a didactic hunting museum,
which opened in 2006 and gives an insight into the history of hunting.
Wine and stone
Stainz is best known for its Schilcher, which
dates back to 400 BC. was drawn by the Celts. Every year in August, the
Stainzer Schilcher Days are held, a multi-day folk festival all about
Schilcher wine and other local specialties. The market town is on the
Schilcherweinstraße, which leads from Ligist, via Stainz and
Deutschlandsberg to Eibiswald.
Together with Ligist,
Deutschlandsberg and Eibiswald, Stainz is one of the four local wine
regions in western Styria, alongside Blauer Wildbacher (Schilcher),
Sauvignon Blanc is one of the leading local varieties according to the
DAC regulation. The area under cultivation in the market town amounts to
196 hectares (as of 2020) and is divided into 2.37 ha of Chardonnay,
2.51 ha of Müller-Thurgau, 1.12 ha of Muskateller, 5.32 ha of Sauvignon
Blanc, 114.21 ha of Blauer Wildbacher and 3.55 ha of Zweigelt (as of
2015). The soil consists largely of gneiss and crystalline slate.
Stainz is also the namesake of the "Stainzer slabs", a rock made of
gneiss, from which slabs that serve as building material, floors etc.
are extracted.
Bottle Train
The bottle train was opened in
1892. Its name comes from the time of the miracle doctor Höllerhansl
(1866-1935), who had the reputation of being able to detect diseases
from urine and lived in Marhof near Stainz. For this reason, many sick
people traveled with a bottle of urine, which gave the train its name.
Today the bottle train is a tourist attraction.
A narrow-gauge
steam locomotive built in 1914 is located at the roundabout on
Radlpass-Straße B 76 in the south of Stainz as an advertising locomotive
for the bottle train. However, this locomotive never drove on the
Stainzerbahn, it only looks similar to the first locomotives on this
route from the outside. It belonged to the railway facilities on the
Erzberg (originally 830 mm gauge, road number 19). The locomotive was
changed to 900 mm gauge during the Second World War (No. 2/60) and was
used in the Donawitz ironworks from February 1954 (790 mm gauge as No.
60.4). It was later set up as a toy locomotive in Leoben before being
renovated from the outside in Stainz in 1994 and erected as a monument
locomotive around 2002.
Maria Helfenbrunn
This chapel is
located in the district of Wald. The year of construction is published
as 1801, several construction phases are documented. A general
renovation took place in 1986. The name is based on a spring whose water
was said to have healing properties. A picture in the gable is by Toni
Hafner: A cross between gray clouds means that Christ will also remain
victorious over nuclear power.
Grafendorf Cross Chapel
Farms
built, the courts vlg. Luke and vlg. Gregerbauer. The reason given is
that the chapel on the originally planned building site of an old farm
owner of the farm vlg. Lukas would have obstructed the varied view of
the trains and passengers of the Stainzerbahn (near or at the
Herbersdorf station on the opposite edge of the Stainz valley) and the
construction site would therefore have been shifted by a few meters
The Engelweingarten is a popular vantage point on the Lethkogel in the west of Stainz, which allows a view of the Graz Basin over the vineyards and to which a bus route also led in the 1930s. On a clear day, the view from the Engelweingarten as far as the Riegersburg in eastern Styria is described. The Stainzer Warte is only a few minutes' walk away. The Engelweingarten was originally an estate of the Stainz Canons' Monastery, the last provost of this monastery was Johann Anton von Angelis (German: Engel, died 1782), who took special care of the property and from whom the name is derived. His picture was kept in the prelate's room of the inn. The property later went to the savings bank of the community, which enlarged the inn building. The buildings of the Engelweingarten restaurant, which was built in the early 1930s, had been dilapidated for years in 2021 and the business was closed. The municipality of Stainz supported plans to use the area again for gastronomic and tourist purposes. With this goal, part of the Engelweingarten was redesignated as building land for tourist purposes in the zoning plan, with apartments and second homes being excluded. This became legally binding on November 23, 2021. On January 17, 2022, public information for the citizens of the market town of Stainz was held, in connection with which concerns about the obstruction of the viewpoint were expressed. The reason for this was that a number of smaller houses for hotel apartments were planned around the existing building sites of the former inn and there was a fear that these buildings would be converted into apartments over time (or additional buildings would be built). The community argued that "... in relation to the entire vineyard, only a small part can be built up with buildings and these are also located in a compact form in the upper, almost flat area. The distances to the surrounding settlements are also broad. ..." The zoning plan for the area was approved by the state government on November 4, 2021, but the development plan or building permit did not yet exist in March 2022. A citizens' initiative was founded to revitalize the Engelweingarten. In autumn 2022, the state of Styria recommended that the municipality revoke the designation of almost 17,000 square meters of building land and relaunch the change process. This time, however, with proper inspection for the public.
This chapel is on the border between Bad Gams and Stainz west of the Stainzer Kogel. It is also referred to as a place of power. After a four-year renovation phase, it was re-blessed on July 31, 2022. Her statue of Mary comes from the Stainz parish church and was brought to the chapel around 1900. The reason for building the chapel was the rescue of a girl after falling into a well. Since 1950 the chapel has been run by the community of farms vlg. Rieglbauer, Steinbauer, Kraxnerannerl, Berglesky and Bauernbrocker received.
This complex is located in Pichling and, in addition to a larger chapel, consists of several small chapels in the forest along the way, in which themes of the Way of the Cross are treated (so-called rosary stations). It was built in 1733, last repaired in 2008 and has been a listed building since 2021. The freestanding Christ on the Scourge Pillar statue, damaged by fallen trees, was renovated in 2022. A thorough cleaning and renewal took place in autumn 2022.
Stainz is located on the foothills of the Koralpe in western Styria.
The most important river in the municipality is the Stainzbach.
The Saubach flows through the former municipality of Rassach, an
important elevation is the Frauenkogel with 404 meters.
The most
important streams in the former municipality of Marhof are the
Theussenbach, the Sierlingbach and the Rainbach, all of which flow into
the largest stream in the area, the Stainzbach. Important elevations are
the Rosenkogel (1362 m), Mothiltor (1240 m) and the Reinischkogel (1463
m) in the border area to Kloster and Edelschrott. The rocks on which
Marhof lies belong to the Koralm crystalline and have been
scientifically examined in detail.
The place name is also mentioned in bus timetables as Stainz in
western Styria. This serves to distinguish it from the town of Stainz
near Straden in the district of Southeast Styria. Before 1919, the
addition also served to distinguish places on the Stainz (Ščavnica)
river, e.g. B. Stanz, Stainzthal or St. Georgen an der Stainz (Sveti
Jurij ob Ščavnici) in the former judicial district of Oberradkersburg in
Lower Styria.
The town of Stainz lies on the river of the same
name, the Stainzbach, which is mentioned in 1160 as circa rivum
stauwencz. The name is derived from a spring water (Sauerbrunn) that
tastes striking (sour or salty) and traced back to the Slovenian word
ščava. As evidence for this, it is stated that Stainz and other places
with this name in Styria are located near places and bodies of water
whose names (such as Sulz...) indicate such bodies of water or which
later became known as mineral waters (e.g. Bad Sauerbrunn near Marhof
west of Stainz).
In this context, the names Stainz and Sauerbrunn
are regarded as a Slavic-German double name.
Names of districts
on Neurath are regarded as clearing names that indicate a newly cleared
area. The name of the town of Neurath has also been published to
indicate that it could be a reference to a new road (see the History
section). The name Pösneurath near Pichling was mentioned in 1494 as
Poesnewrat, which is interpreted as "clearing that has little value"
(Mhd. boese "bad, low, worthless").
The place name Tomberg in the
south of Stainz was written as Tanperg in 1432 and is thus derived from
Tannen (a mountain overgrown with fir trees). Other spellings that prove
this interpretation are 1373 Tamperch, 1465 am Tan near Stainz, 1475
Tonberg, 1753 Tamberger hart.
The place name Kothvogel is derived
from the old name for a small, inferior hut (kote, kate) and from the
Celtic word for fire, facula. There could also be a derivation from the
word Vogt and a reference to the word torch, all of which points to the
shelter of a guard of a (fire) place (in the charcoal burner or as a
field guard or guard at a chalk fire).
At the crest of the terrain at the Engelweingarten on the Lethkogel
west of Stainz there is a rock face with a small south-facing overhang
that offers far-reaching views over western Styria. Its forecourt is
supported by a lining wall. The site is regarded as an abri, as an old
settlement site, which is believed to have been used as far back as the
Stone Age. From the point of view of monument protection, the area of
the terrain crest is identified as a site with the designation Sitz
Pöllan, as a type of find are hilltop settlements; Noble seat, tower,
moat? called as dating Late Neolithic; Middle Ages.
Archaeological excavations on the Lethkogel near the Stainzer Warte
prove the processing of copper in smelting furnaces from the Copper Age
to the late Iron Age (La Tène period).
Stainz was first mentioned
in a document in 1177 as Stawiz and received market rights and its own
jurisdiction in 1218. In 1229 Leuthold von Wildon founded the
Augustinian monastery. A legend tells that Leuthold accidentally killed
a child at this point while hunting.
At the end of the 19th
century, the remains of the defense tower, which was also called
"Polan", also "Pollan" or "Pöllibergschloss", are said to have been
located on the Lethkogel at the site of today's lookout tower. This
complex was the seat of a family of servants from the Lords of Wildon,
and its construction is believed to have been in the late 12th century.
According to more recent research, this defense tower was not located at
the highest point of the Lethkogel near the watchtower, but on a crest
near the Engelweingarten, which is derived from corresponding finds.
Among the nearby buildings associated with this tower is the farm
"Ganster" (Pölliganster), whose basement wall is 1.8 m thick and has
only one opening, an embrasure. In a document dated April 17, 1247, a
Rudolf de Polan is named as a witness.
In the west of Stainz in
the village of Neurath there is an Altburg site on the eastern slope in
the valley of the Neurathbach on the hiking trail (Jägersteig) from
Stainz to the Lethkogel. A number of remains of a fortification have
been preserved in it over an area of approx. 500 * 50 m. Several
cone-shaped elevations interpreted as remains of a tower mound, the
remains of a mill (with a door hinge built into it), other remains of
walls, beam supports in a rock face and ditches can be seen. Due to a
quarry, parts of the site have been greatly altered. This location is
also put up for discussion for the location of the Pöllan fortification.
In this context, it is assumed that the place name Neurath is not
derived from new clearing, but with the establishment of a new road (cf.
English road, French rue), which was controlled from the castle site.
From the point of view of monument protection, the area of the Altburg
site is identified as a site of discovery with the designation Turmhügel
Neurath, as a type of find are a noble seat?, fortification?,
fortification, as dating to the Middle Ages.
Also in Neurath, the
rest of a well-fortified residence has been preserved in the farm,
commonly known as "Pletteri" (Pletterer). This building is considered
the residence of Rudlinus de Nivriut, mentioned as a witness in a
document dated February 18, 1245. Nearby on Max-Gschiel-Straße is the
listed Pletteri Chapel.
In the cadastral communities of Graschuh,
Pichling and Angenofen there were still indications of the settlement
history in the 21st century: there was a "Bauerngmoa" (in the land
register: "Bauerngmein"). These plots of land were jointly owned by the
owners of several (sometimes former) farms. The ownership shares were
not assigned to persons in the land register, but were linked to
ownership of the properties of these farms (the so-called “main
properties” in the land register). This property distribution was based
on documents from the years 1881/82. The designation is proof that these
areas are remnants of a village commons (common land), such areas were
called "G(e)mein" in Bavarian usage. They existed in many places that
arose in the 12th or 13th century and are indications of a planned
settlement of an area whose general conditions were determined by an
authority. From the late Middle Ages, however, these common areas were
mostly divided up due to discrepancies among the beneficiaries, or their
area was assigned to new farmsteads (Keuschen, Huben). This is also
evidenced by the relatively small size of the properties recently. A
division procedure was opened in 2016 for the Bauerngmein in Pichling
(called “Pessneurather Bauergmein” after the district of Pösneurath in
the land register) and ended in 2018, as well as for the Gmoa in
Graschuh.
In 1440 the Särl family was enfeoffed with the
residence, and in 1622 the Racknitz family. The farm was still
considered a fief in the second half of the 17th century, but no longer
as the seat of a noble family.
On July 19, 1694, Magdalena
Hormann was executed by beheading on the square between the
Brückenlederisches and the Khainachische Haus in Badgasse: she had
killed her illegitimate child, whom she had conceived while serving in
Carinthia, on October 16, 1693 after birth. Another crime, arson out of
jealousy, was punished by beheading the perpetrator Anna Mayrin on April
18, 1759 at the place of execution of the Stainz district court outside
the market, on the gallows hill in what was then the municipality of
Kothvogel.
In 1785 the monastery was abolished by Emperor Joseph
II and the canons had to leave it. The valuable books and many other
materials on the history of the monastery were to be taken to Graz, but
were lost forever in a transport accident because they were never
recovered afterwards.
In 1840, Archduke Johann bought the castle
and estate of Stainz for a total of 250,000 guilders. In 1850 he was
elected the first mayor of the market town of Stainz, which had 700
inhabitants at the time. He held this office until April 1860. On May 2
of that year, his successor, the bourgeois soap maker and homeowner
Franz Michael Hangi, a leader of the liberal movement in Stainz, took
office. He was shot dead on December 12, 1871 by a man named Puchas, who
had previously been noted for his eccentric behavior; he had previously
been in an "observation facility" and died a few months after the crime
in what was then the insane asylum in Graz. To commemorate Hangi, a
Franz-Michael-Hangische school foundation was set up by the community
for the benefit of poor, gifted students. Hangi's successor was the
district judge at the time, Johann Nasko.
The court district of
Stainz had already been created by a promulgation decided in 1849.
From 1850 to 1854 the district of Stainz existed with a branch in
Voitsberg. In 1852 the Stainz gendarmerie post was created.
In
1860 there was a "must strike in Trog and Greisdorf", in connection with
which 67 people were accused of crimes and 19 people of misdemeanor. The
reason for this was the prescription of a consumption tax for meat, wine
and cider, which could not be levied in the then municipalities of Trog
and Greisdorf. A forced collection also failed after the officials had
been thrown with logs. Finally, 15 gendarmes and a company of soldiers
were assigned to establish order.
In the 1880s, a fireworks
factory was built in the neighboring community of Stallhof, just on the
eastern border of the community of Stainz, which initially also had a
positive economic impact on Stainz. Since the local population initially
did not want to work in the factory, a large part of the workforce was
recruited from Slovenian Lower Styria and Croatia in the early years.
The factory workforce was around 450 before the First World War and
dropped to 179 in the 1920s. When it closed in April 1927, the company
still had 120 employees.
Up to the regulation work from the
1960s, flooding of the Stainzbach posed a great danger for the town. For
example, on the evening of August 13, 1801, when the water was so high
that it ran in and out of the windows on the market square, and further
up the river in the Sauerbrunngraben several mills and saws were
completely torn away. Floods on June 4, 1954 and June 23, 1973 caused
further major damage, the highest level of which is marked at the
municipal office.
In the interwar period of the 20th century, the
market town of Stainz was one of the "crystal cores" of the NSDAP, which
was rising in Austria as a result of the global economic crisis. The
Styrian municipal council elections of 1932 also brought a Nazi
mandatary to the Stainz municipal council for the first time, namely one
of the judges of the Stainz district court. During the Nazi July Putsch
in 1934, the market and its surroundings were completely controlled by
the Nazis, who occupied the post barracks of the gendarmerie and other
public buildings. in the spring of 1934, the assassin Johann Frangesch
shot the post commander Josef Weinmann and the officer Alois Michl. A
total of three people died in the fight for the gendarmerie post: the
post commander, a member of the Heimwehr and a National Socialist. After
the putsch was suppressed, 117 people were arrested in the area of the
Stainz Gendarmeriepostenrayon for having participated in the July
putsch; an unknown number of other putschists escaped.
The
connection in 1938 was also enthusiastically celebrated in Stainz.
Marches, speeches and celebrations determined the following months in
Stainz and were intended to show the residents the "Volksgemeinschaft"
propagated by the National Socialists. In the referendum on April 10,
which was supposed to subsequently sanction the reintegration of Austria
into the German Reich, there was only one dissenting vote in Stainz. The
importance that the market had always had for the Nazi movement was also
underlined by the fact that Stainz was initially the seat of the
district leadership of the NSDAP for the district of Deutschlandsberg.
The district leader was a dentist practicing in Stainz. The
Deutschlandsberg National Socialists, who felt neglected in this way,
did everything they could to move the headquarters of the district
administration to their city and were ultimately successful. As late as
1938, Deutschlandsberg became the seat of the district administration
and remained so until the end of the war.
On July 1, 2014, the
Stainz District Court was dissolved and merged with the Deutschlandsberg
District Court.
Until 2014, the Stainzer coat of arms was a double coat of arms,
above which an angel's head with outstretched wings is positioned. The
left part shows a sea leaf adopted by the Wildonians. On the right you
can see the wheel and judge's sword, symbolic signs for the office of
market judge. Wheel and sword are also the attributes of St. Catherine,
the patron saint of the Stainz parish church.
With the merger of
municipalities in 2015, the coats of arms of all old municipalities lost
their validity, including the Stainzer double coat of arms. The new
municipal coat of arms for the merged municipality took effect on
December 5, 2016.
The new blazon (coat of arms description) reads:
"Between silver shield flanks, each covered with three green sea leaves
on top of each other in red under two golden six-pointed stars and above
a golden cross, a silver wheel of Catherine, backed with a silver sword
placed diagonally to the left."
The six sea leaves are symbolic
for each district. The star of the order, the wheel and the judge's
sword were taken from the old Stainzer double seal.
The Stainz frozen food community ceased operations at the end of 2022. It was built in 1959/60 and ran a cold store with processing facilities (mincer, meat grinder, work surfaces, etc.) on a piece of land that was purchased by the municipality of Stainz and made available for this purpose. The system had 256 wooden compartments with a volume of 150, 200, 250 or 300 liters, which were kept at a temperature of −18 degrees. The inauguration took place on June 6, 1960. An emergency generator was available to secure the electricity requirement; the system was originally connected to the electricity supply company of the municipality of Stainz. The location had been sold to the municipality by the Meran estate administration, and the deep-freeze community had a 99-year lease. The processing facilities were used not only by the approximately 100 members for in-house products, but also by hunters for the processing of game, the highest rate for renting a deep-freeze compartment was recently 100 euros per year. Increased energy costs, reduced demand, but also the necessary renovation of the building, infrastructure and hygiene of around 60,000 euros made continued operation no longer possible.
There are about 70 clubs in Stainz. There are also eleven volunteer fire brigades in the municipality. The Stainz market fire brigade is the main focus in terms of equipment. With an emergency vehicle (HLF4), a turntable ladder and a crane vehicle, the Stainz volunteer fire brigade also has a supra-local base function. The Red Cross operates an ambulance service and a base for mobile care in the town centre. A police station of the Austrian Federal Police is also located in the building of the former district court on the main square in Stainz.
Stainz has four elementary schools, one new middle school and one
polytechnic school. Stainz also has an agricultural and forestry college
and a public music school.
The technical school is located in a
building from 1972 that was designed by the Graz architect group
Frisee/Ivants/Kapfhammer. Its architectural design with concrete, glass
and a flat roof instead of the wood and stone construction method with a
pitched roof that was common in the area was controversial at the time.
A corresponding competing project by the Stainz architect Fritz
Wolfbauer, which was also estimated to be around 4 million schillings
(approx. 290,000 euros) more expensive, did not succeed. Originally, the
school was run as a winter school (twice six months), which was intended
to offer comprehensive practical training. However, no farm was
affiliated with it, the practice of agricultural engineering,
woodworking and meat processing was taught in training workshops. In
1975 the winter school was replaced by the two-year agricultural school,
from 1985 there was a four-year technical school and from 1995 a
three-year technical school. The school has the suffix
"Archduke-Johann-School".
Franz Czerweny von Arland, owner of the match factories in
Deutschlandsberg and Stallhof
Johann Sailler (1946), merchant, former
mayor of Stainz
Anton Selak (1947), master hairdresser
Ludwig
Pichler (1949), pastor of Stainz
1973: Hanns Koren (1906-1985),
President of the Landtag
1975: Franz Weart (1918-2009), deputy
governor
Lorenz Möstl, (* January 6, 1937 in Röthelstein, February
18, 2022 Bruck an der Mur), honorary ring bearer of the market town of
Stainz, honorary canon of the Graz cathedral chapter. Honorary citizen
of the municipalities of Rassach and Georgsberg. Chaplain in Stainz from
September 1, 1964, pastor in Stainz from September 1, 1974 (with Bad
Gams from 2001) to August 31, 2006.
Andreas Eder von Kainbach (1576-1652), vice-president of the
Hofkammer, Hofpfennigmeister and founder of the von Kainbach noble
family
Paul Eder von Kainbach (1638), officer
Thomas Eder von
Kainbach (1661), court paymaster, court penny master
Josef Ninaus
(1878-1947), politician of the SPÖ, National Council
Florian Graf
(1890-1951), politician
Joseph Seidnitzer (1920-1993), Catholic
priest and missionary
Johann Aichhofer (* 1924), politician of the
ÖVP, member of the state parliament and mayor of Georgsberg
Bernhard
Hammer (born 1961), stage designer
Archduke Johann (1782-1859), Mayor of Stainz 1850-1858
Reinhard P.
Gruber (born 1947), writer
Manfred Kainz (* 1960), politician of the
ÖVP, member of the state parliament and entrepreneur
Matthias Macher
(1793–1876), from 1850 to 1865 district doctor in Stainz
Kamilo Masek
(1831–1859), composer
Karl Potpeschnigg (* 1845), lawyer from Graz,
1893 mayor of Stainz, grandson of Karl von Holtei
Johann Reinbacher
vulgo Höllerhansl (1866–1935), folk healer
Hans Tauber (1848–1913),
explorer of the Noric-Pannonian burial mounds in western Styria