Sankt Barbara im Mürztal is since 2015 a market town in Styria, Austria, with 6,726 inhabitants in the judicial district of Mürzzuschlag and in the political district of Bruck-Mürzzuschlag in Styria. As part of the municipality structural reform in Styria, the municipality, which was founded on 1 January 2015, was formed by the merger of the independent municipalities:
This was based on the Styrian municipality Structural Reform Act, StGsrG. In this case, no major part of one of the outlying communities was used as a new name, but only the district name "Mürztal". The new community is named after the patron saint of miners, St. Barbara. A church dedicated to St. Barbara was built in 1986 in what is now the district Mitterdorf.
Geography
The highest elevation point in the municipality area is the mountain range Hohe Veitsch, with an altitude of, which simultaneously forms a natural boundary to the west and north-west of the municipality. To the west is the Pretalsattel, which provides a connection to the Stübming valley, Turnau, and the Aflenz Basin. In the east and southeast of the town borders the mountain range of Fischbacher Alpen.
The community consists of the cadastrals : Großveitsch, Kleinveitsch, Lutschaun, Mitterdorf, Niederaigen, Scheibsgraben, Veitsch Dorf and Wartberg.
Economy and sights
Pilgerkreuz am Veitscher Ölberg: Starting from the Veitsch parish church, a forest trail leads to the Veitsch mount-of-olives pilgrims cross. The cross was built in 2004 and is high, as the world's largest of its kind.
Holzknecht-Ball: The Holzknecht Ball, held annually on the first Friday after January 6, is organized by the Trachtenverein society D’Rauschkogler z’Veitsch. Besides the Oberlandler Ball in Graz or the Schützenball in Grundlsee, it is one of Styria's few remaining traditional costume balls with Auftanz performances. Among the traditional folk dances, the Veitscher Masur is frequently practised by many visitors in the course of the evening.
The Veitscher Grenzstaffellauf, one of Austria's toughest Alpine marathons, has been held annually since 1986 on the last Saturday in June. It leads over and in height out of the indoor swimming pool along the municipal boundaries, across the high plateau of the Hohe Veitsch, and back to the starting point. Top runners take just 4:30 hours for this distance. The course can also be completed by a team of three. Here the winners are just under 4:00 hours. In 2013, the Austrian mountain marathon championships were held there.
Mürztaler Landtage: The largest, multi-day agricultural fair of the Mürz valley has been held at Wartberg in the Mürztal since 2009. In addition to equipment shows and trade exhibitions in the agricultural sector, attendees are offered a wide gamut of amusement facilities and concerts of different genres.
Transportation
The town lies on the southern railway, has 2 train stations of ÖBB and is accessible on the Semmering Schnellstraße S 6. The town can also be reached via the L 102 from Turnau or via the L 118 from Kindberg and Krieglach. Since 2016-07-18, a bus of the Mürztaler transport company is run from Kapfenberg and interconnects all 3 districts:
Industry
Mining, production of refractory products for smelting furnaces, steel production and processing have a long tradition and are still significant today in the area:
