Knittelfeld#

Knittelfeld, Styria, town in the district of Knittelfeld, alt. 643 m, pop. 12,873, (1981: 14,136), area 4.53 km2, situated on the Aichfeld plain in the valley of the River Mur/Mura.- District administrative office, district court, job centre, highway maintenance depot for federal and provincial roads, Chamber of Labour, Chamber of Commerce, district branch of the Chamber of Agriculture, hospital, Catholic workers' home, sports centre, life and family counselling, youth counselling and day home, cultural and congress centre, library, school centre: Bundesgymnasium and Bundesrealgymnasium secondary schools, Handelsschule (commercial school), adult education centre, "Obersteirische Nachrichten" newspaper. Economic centre of the region, 6,720 (1991) people employed, many of them commuters, service sector dominates (about 58%); Federal Railways workshop, metal household goods factory (Austria Email), dairy, plant and machine construction, tool production, zinc coating shop, wood processing, electricity generating station, printing house.- First documented mention 1224, town charter in 1302, large parts of town destroyed in 1944/45; parish church (originally Gothic, newly constructed in 1950-1957), Romanesque-Gothic church of St. John in the Field, high altar with tabernacle (around 1760), statue of the Virgin Mary (1714-1718), Luther stairway.

Literature#