Ilz

Ilz, Styria, market town in the district of Fürstenfeld, alt. 299 m, pop. 2,451, area 24.80 km²; located in the Ilztal Valley northwest of Fürstenfeld. - Local motorway maintenance depot; cultural centre; wood processing (saw mills, manufactures of furniture, crates and boxes, etc.); asphalt works; broad range of commercial businesses; wine, fruit, tobacco and hop growing (fruit storehouse); industrial park (the establishment of an industrial estate covering an area of 30,000 m² is planned); coal mining between 1800 and 1964. - Parish church with high altar dating from 1783, originally built in Gothic style and altered in the 17^th century and in 1910, column dedicated to the Virgin Mary; museum of local history; Feistritz Palace (built around 1200, enlarged and refined in 1570); palace chapel with altar dating from the Renaissance period; Karlsdorf Palace with arcaded courtyard (built between 1548 and 1579).

Literature: K. Mayr, Ilz. Ein Heimatbuch, 1965.