Deutschlandsberg (pronounced -lands- as the name derives from Deutsch-Landsberg) is a town in Styria, Austria, with a population of 11,676 (as of January 1, 2022). It is the seat of the district authorityDeutschlandsberg. There is a small gold deposit in the southwest of Deutschlandsberg. At the beginning of the 1970s, the heaviest mountain crystal in Styria and the largest titanite crystals in the Alps were found south-east of Deutschlandsberg Castle, in the former quarry of the “Schwemmhoisl” farm in Warnblick.
The Klause is a protected, romantic rocky valley in the west of Deutschlandsberg, through which the Laßnitz flows. This gorge is cut into gneiss and mica schist, its steep slopes are interspersed with rocky parts. Its climate is humid, has little sun and relatively small temperature differences. The forest belongs to the lower beech forest level. At the beginning of the 20th century there were plans to build a dam for an electricity plant at the entrance to the Klause. This did not come about because the water right, which belonged to the then owner Prince Alfred von und zu Liechtenstein, was not released for this purpose because it was not intended to serve the general public. The klause is accessed by a footpath that leads past a (never inhabited) hermitage to Deutschlandsberg Castle, which towers over the valley. After 1811, the hermitage was equipped with paths and (“as a romantic attribute”) the buildings of the hermitage by the then owner Moritz von Fries. The facility was preserved by the later owners from the Liechtenstein family. In the years after 1938 it fell into disrepair and was restored and reopened in 1948. The hermitage was destroyed by a rockfall in December 2012 and reopened on August 23, 2013. There are a number of plaques with short inscriptions along the way. Her texts come from works by Seneca, Goethe, Friedrich von Matthisson and Schiller.
Deutschlandsberg Castle is the symbol of Deutschlandsberg. It has been owned by the city since 1932 and has housed a museum (Archeo Norico) since 1981.
Wildbach Castle is located in the district of the same name.
Today’s town hall was first mentioned in 1322 as a courtyard house belonging to Deutschlandsberg Castle and served as a residence for administrators and officials of the Landsperg dominion of the Archbishopric of Salzburg. Around 1700 it was intended as the site of a Capuchin monastery, which ultimately arose in Schwanberg. In 1787 it was the practice of the doctor Anton Kristel, who also ran a goods store and an inn there. The house was given its current baroque-classical appearance in the 18th century by the administrator of the Landsperg estate, Franz Xaver Jud, who bought it in 1795. After the house was bought by the community in 1919, it was opened as the town hall during a ceremonial session on June 25, 1925.
Parish Church Deutschlandsberg: The church was built in its present form between 1688 and 1701. Forerunner was a market chapel, which was donated in 1383 by the tailor Albrecht. In 1867 the church received its current tower.
