ÖSTERREICH	AUSTRIA
Bundesland: Steiermark	Styria
Bezirk: Voitsberg

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Voitsberg is siatuated at an altitude of 394 m on the river Kainach, about 17 km west of Graz. Voitsberg is the seat of the administration of the district of the same name. The municipality of Voitsberg has a populaton of about 9,500 (2016) and incorporates the former independent municipalities of Tregist (incorporated into Voitsberg in 1951), Arnstein, Kowald, Lobming and Lobmingerberg (incorporated into Voitsberg in 1968).

The earliest archeological traces of human settlements fate back to the early stone ages. During the Roman period, a settlement is likely to have existed in this place. A settlementt near today's church of St. Margaret, named Zedernica and first mentioned in a document of the monastery of St. Lambrecht dating from 1103, seems to be the origin of what today is Voitsberg. A documet of 1183 for the first time mentions a ‘castum Voites­perch’. The settlement seemed to have possessed the privileges of a market town already in the 13th century. A document of 1307, signed by Duke Friedrich III of Austria and Styria (Friedrich 'the Fair'), confirmed that Voitsberg enjoyed the same rights and privileges as the city of Graz. During the Turkish invasions of 1480, Voitsberg due to its fortifications, was spared the lootings and destructions that all villages in its vicinty had to endure. Due to further hardships (invasions by the Hungarians, locust swarms, the Plague), Voitsberg lost most of its prior importance during the course of the ensuing centuries. Only in the 18th century, the economy of Voitsberg started to improve again, curbed, however, by the wars of Austria against France in 1793 and 1815. After that, the exploitation of the coal deposits, the connection of Voitsberg to the railroad system, the foundation of glass industry and further braches of industry innitiated a new economic upswing. In 1891, Voitsberg was made the seat of administration of the district of the same name.

[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voitsberg; http://www.voitsberg.at/index.php?id=61]