Mürzzuschlag#

Muerzzuschlag, Styria, town in the district of Muerzzuschlag, alt. 669 m, pop. 9,990, area 19.26 km2, principal town in the Muerz Valley, at the south-western foot of Semmering mountain; first place in Styria to practice sport of alpine skiing - District commission, local court, employment services, tax office and office of weights and measures, highway maintenance depot of the Federal and Provincial Highway Administration Office, economic chamber, chamber of labour, district chamber for agriculture and forestry, district health and social insurance office, hospital, counselling centre, "Lebenshilfe" and "Volkshilfe" (associations engaged in life-counselling and welfare), youth centre, workshop of "Jugend am Werk" (non-profit organization taking care of young people and handicapped persons), town library, Brahms Museum, Museum Muerzzuschlag (international museum of winter-sports and local history and culture), Volkshaus community centre, several types of secondary schools such as Bundes-Gymnasium and Bundes-Realgymnasium, Handelsakademie (commercial academy), transformer station and water works. The formerly industrial town has undergone massive structural change: today service sector predominant (about 58 % of 4,220 persons employed in 1991, mainly personal, social and public services, trade); declining production sector (iron and metal processing industries, e.g. beer barrel production, wood processing) despite new industrial park with numerous enterprises. - First documented mention 1227, ironworking centre since the Middle Ages; since the construction of the Semmering Railway important railway junction and industrial area, status of town from 1924. - Parish church (rebuilt, 1767-1774, J. Hueber), with Gothic tower (6 storeys), figurative stained glass windows (1890), imposing Rococo high altar and lay altar (1682) with foliage ornamentation; Protestant Heilandskirche (Church of the Saviour, 1900); Brahms House (middle of 16th century); trade house (1792 former Franciscan Church (1648-1657, profaned 1798, now art centre); Rosegger Fountain (1933).

Literature#