Bruck an der Mur

Bruck an der Mur, Styria, town in the district of Bruck an der Mur (1277), alt. 491 m, pop. 14,046 (in 1981: pop. 15,068), area 38.40 km²; traffic junction at the confluence of the Rivers Mürz and Mur/Mura, situated along the ancient road where salt and iron were transported. - District council, district court, tax office, Employment Services, district forest inspection, district agency of public works, Economic Chamber, Chamber of Labour, District and Provincial Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry, health and social insurance office, applied municipal ecology advisory service, hospital, Pöglhof therapeutic centre for disabled people, municipal museum, sports hall, Bundesgymnasium and Bundesrealgymnasium secondary schools, commercial academy (HAK), private training centre for kindergarten teachers (run by an order of nuns), federal secondary school of forestry (HBLA für Forstwirtschaft); service sector (particularly trade) predominant, in 1991 around 63 % of 7,945 employed people worked in the paper industry; production of wires and cables, fitting shop, tyre retreading, recycling; wide range of trading firms.

First documented mention in 860, rebuilt in 1263 by Přemysl Otakar II, thriving economy in the Middle Ages due to grain, iron and salt trades. Reconstructed after a large fire in 1792, remains of the fortification (ring-wall, castle gate and tower) still extant. Parish church (around 1272) with Gothic choir, late Gothic nave and wrought-iron vestry door (around 1500), classicist high altar; former Grey Friars' monastery church (1272-1295, closed in 1782) with frescoes (around 1380; 15^th century frescoes in the cloister); Romanesque-Gothic St. Ruprecht church (first documented mention before 1195, parish church until 1545) with Gothic choir (1415/16) and Last Judgement fresco (around 1416); Romanesque circular charnel house (since 1931 War Memorial chapel) on the cemetery; Kornmesserhaus (1495-1505, impressive Gothic town house built for the guildsman P. Kornmess) on the town square fronted by a wrought-iron well (1626); column of the Virgin Mary (1710); town hall (late Gothic core, façade after 1792). Museum, Apothecary House and arcaded courtyard (early 16^th century); ruins of Landskron Castle (first documented mention in 1265 under the name of "castrum prukke", destroyed in 1792; castle gate and bell tower still extant).

Literature: W. Strahalm, Bruck an der Mur von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart, 1987; idem, Bruck an der Mur - Eine Stadtgeschichte, 1997.