Leoben is a city with a long mining tradition that is still cultivated despite the closure of its mines. A lot of nice buildings have been preserved in the historic center, and the local Gösser brewery, apart from beer, also offers a tour of the historic production line.
The beginnings of the town are related to the founding of the Gös female monastery in the 11th century. Until the time of the dissolution of orders at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, Benedictine nuns lived there. The Gothic monastery church has survived to this day, decorated with the remains of medieval polychromes, under which there is a Romanesque crypt. The monastery buildings were converted into the Gösser Brewery in the second half of the 19th century, which today is one of the main attractions of Leoben. On its premises, you can visit a museum with an exhibition of old beer brewing equipment and a reconstructed production line.
The Leoben center is centered around a small market square, dominated by Baroque, Classicist and Art Nouveau tenement houses. The church of St. Francis Xavier, belonging to the Jesuit monastery. The remains of the city fortifications with the Mushroom Tower have also been preserved. A little further from the very center of Leoben, you can visit the church located in the former Redemptorist church and the church of St. James.
In the past, Leoben was known as a mining center for the extraction of iron ore. The city was the gateway to the mining region of Styria. Also the local university, founded in 1840, was initially a mining university. Every year on December 4, the Miners' Procession passes through the city on the occasion of the celebration of St. Barbara. There is a market and street fun at that time.
