Page 43 - Microsoft Word - Broschüre englisch.doc

trades of the Hüttenberg mining area with basic commodities, and also
often gave them financial advances. Many iron dealers soon also
became active themselves as mining entrepreneurs, and used their
profits to buy manorial estates. They built themselves manor houses,
acquired nobility and coats of arms, and were included amongst the
landed estates. During the early modern period, St. Veit produced a
whole series of ennobled and influential middle class families of this
kind.

Nearly all the castles in the town and the surrounding area that date
from modern times, such as the Koller Palace on the Hauptplatz square
(nowadays the Bezirkshauptmannschaft [district commission]), and the
castles of Kölnhof, Hunnenbrunn or Weyer Castle were erected by the
iron dealers and the mining trades.

th
In the 16 century, the town itself became a mining entrepreneur,
acquired ore mines and from time to time also operated forges. In 1801
for financial reasons it was forced to sell its entire stock of mines and
the industrial facilities to the Löllinger Union. Thereupon St. Veit was no
longer interesting as a place of residence for noble trade families. The
patrician houses were occupied by petty bourgeois classes, because
there was no longer a rich merchant bourgeoisie.
Art from St. Veit

Over the centuries, St. Veit increasingly became a centre
of creative craft activity. The late Gothic art of wooden
th
altar carving of the early 16 century and the altar
th
architecture of the 18 century, which is closely
associated with its master, Johann Georg Bacher (*
around 1699 † 14 March 1773, who was an Austrian
Baroque woodcarver) can be described as independent
production workshops in St. Veit.

The history of construction also merits a mention in this connection. The
oldest buildings definitely include the stately middle class houses on the
Hauptplatz square and their rear buildings. The buildings that have been

43