Wolfsberg is the capital of the Wolfsberg district in the Austrian state of Carinthia.
The town consists of the Katastralgemeinden Aichberg, Auen, Forst, Gräbern-Prebl, Gries, Hartelsberg, Hattendorf, Hintertheißenegg, Kleinedling, Kleinwinklern, Lading, Leiwald, Michaelsdorf, Oberleidenberg, Priel, Reding, Reideben, Reisberg, Rieding, Ritzing, Schoßbach, Schwemmtratten, Sankt Jakob, Sankt Johann, Sankt Marein, Sankt Margarethen, Sankt Michael, Sankt Stefan, Thürn, Unterleidenberg, Vordergumitsch, Vordertheißenegg, Waldenstein, Weißenbach, Witra, Wolfsberg Obere Stadt and Wolfsberg Untere Stadt. It is situated within the Lavanttal Alps in the valley of the Lavant River, a tributary to the Drava. The Packsattel mountain pass connects Wolfsberg with Voitsberg in Styria.
The castle above the town was first mentioned as Wolfsperch in a 1178 deed of St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal, though it probably had been an estate of the Archbishopric of Bamberg since 1007. The adjacent settlement became the administrative centre of Bamberg's Carinthian territories and in 1331 received town privileges by Bishop Werntho Schenk von Reicheneck. During the Protestant Reformation Wolfsberg was a main area of Lutheranism which nevertheless was suppressed by the Counter Reformation. In 1759 Maria Theresa of Austria acquired all Bamberg lands in Carinthia. In World War II Wolfsberg was the site of the Stalag XVIII-A Prisoner-of-war camp. |
