Preitenegg ( sl, Pratnik) is a municipality in the district of Wolfsberg in the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n state of

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

Geography

Preitenegg lies on the northeastern rim of Carinthia in the upper Lavant valley. The municipality stretches along the slopes of the Packalpe and

Koralpe The Koralpe ( en, Kor Alps, sl, Golica or ), also referred to as ''Koralm'', is a mountain range in southern Austria which separates eastern Carinthia (state), Carinthia from southern Styria. The southern parts of the range extend into Slovenia. ...

mountain ranges, both part of the

Lavanttal Alps The Lavanttal Alps (german: Lavanttaler Alpen, sl, Labotniške Alpe) are part of the Central Eastern Alps in Austria and Slovenia, between the river Mur in the north and the Drava in the south. The mountains are named after the central valley of ...

. In the east, the

Pack Saddle A pack saddle is any device designed to be secured on the back of a horse, mule, or other working animal so it can carry heavy loads such as luggage, firewood, small cannons, or other things too heavy to be carried by humans. Description Ideal ...

mountain pass marks the boundary with the state of

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

. Due to its picturesque setting, the mountain village today strongly relies on tourism, including

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

in winter. The municipal area comprises the

cadastral communities A cadastral community or cadastral municipality, is a cadastral subdivision of municipalities in the nations of Austria,Cadastral Template for Austria, web-pageCT-AT Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, ...

of Kleinpreitenegg, Oberauerling, Oberpreitenegg, Preitenegg, Unterauerling, and Unterpreitenegg.

History

From the 11th century onwards, the upper Lavant valley belonged to the

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castle. C ...

ecclesiastical estates within the

Duchy of Carinthia The Duchy of Carinthia (german: Herzogtum Kärnten; sl, Vojvodina Koroška) was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, and was the first newly created Imperial Sta ...

, ruled by episcopal ''

ministeriales The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a class of people raised up from serfdom and placed in positions of power and responsibility in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire. The word and its German translations, ''Minis ...

'' residing at Waldenstein Castle near Wolfsberg. The local St Nicholas Church was first mentioned in 1288, when the bailiwick (''

Vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

ei'') passed to the

Bishop of Lavant The Diocese of Lavant(tal) ( la, Lavantina) was a suffragan bishopric of the Archdiocese of Salzburg, established 1228 in the Lavant Valley of Carinthia. In 1859 the episcopal see was re-assigned to Maribor (''Marburg an der Drau'') in present-da ...

. Preitenegg itself first appeared in a 1328 deed. The linear village arose on the historic country road (''Packer Straße''), originally only a mule track, that ran from Carinthia across the Pack Saddle to the Styrian capital

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

. In 1695 the Waldenstein estates were acquired by the noble

House of Schönborn A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condit ...

, in 1852 they passed to

Henckel von Donnersmarck The House of Henckel von Donnersmarck is an old Austro-German noble family that originated in the former region of Spiš in Upper Hungary, now in Slovakia. The founder of the family was Henckel de Quintoforo in the 14/15th century. The original ...

family. The present-day municipality was established in 1849. From 1930 to 1936 the Pack Saddle road was upgraded as a ''

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...

'' federal highway. Preitenegg later was relieved of heavy traffic by the opening of the parallel

Süd Autobahn The Süd Autobahn (A2) ('South Motorway') is a motorway (''Autobahn'') in Austria. Completed in 1999, it runs from the outskirts of Vienna south via the cities of Graz and Klagenfurt to the border of Italy at Arnoldstein, where it joins the Autos ...

motorway in the 1980s.

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (''Gemeinderat'') as of 2015 local elections: *

Austrian People's Party The Austrian People's Party (german: Österreichische Volkspartei , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. It is currentl ...

(ÖVP): 5 *

Social Democratic Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

(SPÖ): 4 *

Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (german: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Austria. It was led by Norbert Hofer from September 2019 to 1 June 2021.Staff (1 June 2021"Aust ...

(FPÖ): 2

Notable people

Maria Schell Maria Margarethe Anna Schell (15 January 1926 – 26 April 2005) was an Austrian-Swiss actress. She was one of the leading stars of German cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1954, she was awarded the Cannes Best Actress Award for her performance ...

(1926–2005), actress, died at her home in Oberpreitenegg *

Maximilian Schell Maximilian Schell (8 December 1930 – 1 February 2014) was an Austrian-born Swiss actor, who also wrote, directed and produced some of his own films. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1961 American film ''Judgment at Nuremberg'', h ...

(1930–2014), actor, received honorary citizenship in 2005

References

Cities and towns in Wolfsberg District {{Carinthia-geo-stub