Greifenburg

Geography

It is situated in the Drau Valley between the Kreuzeck mountain range in the north, part of the Hohe Tauern, and the Gailtal Alps in the south. The municipal area comprises the cadastral communities of Bruggen and Kerschbaum.

History

The present-day settlement may have arisen from a mansio called Bilachium on the Roman road from Sanctium (Villach) along the Drava River up to Littamum (Innichen), at the southern branch-off to the Kreuzbergsattel Pass.

Greifenburg Castle was first mentioned in an 1166 deed; then located within the lands held by the Counts of Görz (Gorizia), it was acquired by the Carinthian duke Bernhard von Spanheim about 1230. Duke Bernhard maintained Greifenburg, defeating the united troops of Count Meinhard I of Görz and his father-in-law Count Albert IV of Tyrol with the support from his son Archbishop Philip of Salzburg in 1252. Vested with market rights in 1267, Greifenburg nevertheless fell to the House of Gorizia, when upon the extinction of the Sponheim dynasty the Habsburg king Rudolph I of Germany enfeoffed Count Meinhard's son, Meinhard II, with the Carinthian duchy in 1286. Duke Meinhard II died at Greifenburg Castle in 1295.

Carinthia passed to the Austrian House of Habsburg in 1335, and in 1460 Count John II of Görz officially relinquished Greifenburg in favour of Emperor Frederick III. In 1537 it was acquired by the Habsburg treasurer Count Gabriel von Salamanca-Ortenburg, whose heirs held Greifenburg Castle until 1626.

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (Gemeinderat) as of 2009 elections:

Twin towns — sister cities

Greifenburg is twinned with: