Gratkorn#

Gratkorn, Styria, market town in the district of Graz-Umgebung, alt. 380 m, pop. 6,113, area 34.59 km2, industrial town in the north-west of Graz, on the eastern bank of the River Mur/Mura. - Hackher barracks, Maria-Rast convent (order of the Puellae Caritatis), sports stadium, around 61 % of the 2,173 workforce (1991) are employed in the manufacturing and processing industries: paper and cellulose production, galvanisation, wood-processing industry, production of bitumen, retail outlet for fork-lift trucks of the Oesterreichische Schiffswerften AG, Schattleiten industrial estate with quarry, concrete works, crane hire, traditional costumes factory, printing works, lift production. - Baroque parish church (around 1700). Starting point for trips to the Dultbach Valley, to the Hohe Rannach Mountain (1,018 m, Alpinum) and to the Kesselfallklamm Gorge (38m-waterfall, in the municipality of Semriach). Small stone (microlithes) and bone finds as well as an antler fragment with a stylised depiction of an animal (snake?) dating from the Middle Stone Age (8000-6000/5000 B.C.) from the Zigeunerhoehle Cave.

Literature#