Althofen#

Althofen, Carinthia, town (since 1993) in the district of St. Veit an der Glan, alt. 714 m, pop. 4,615, area 12.28 km2, on the northern edge of Krappfeld region. - Health resort centre with moor mud baths, sanatorium; health resort tourism (162,152 overnight stays), chemical (Treibacher Ind. AG) and electrotechnical industries; Bundes-Oberstufen-Realgymnasium. - First documented in 1050, as market town in 1268, settlement rights for Huettenberg iron in Middle Ages; Upper Market was once walled in; castle with Romanesque keep; Gothic parish church (around 1400, renovated 1910), Baroque Calvary church (17th century), Gothic and renaissance town houses (Riederhaus 1590, with sgraffito paintings), Plague Column. In the lower market: late Romanesque filial church (Christophorus fresco 1524) and late Gothic winged altar (around 1510); early Gothic charnel-house (13th century). - West of Althofen on the River Gurk in Treibach, a blast furnace was built in 1606, iron works from 18th century until 1891, turned into electrochemical research institute in 1897 by C. Auer von Welsbach ("Auer" incandescent light) and then into the Treibach chemical plant in 1907 (origin of cigarette lighter production).

Further reading#