Irschen

Infobox Town AT
name=Irschen
name_local=
image_coa = Wappen at irschen.png

state = Carinthia
regbzk =
district = Spittal an der Drau
population =2089
population_as_of = 2001
population_ref =
pop_dens =
area = 33.35
elevation = 809
lat_deg=46
lat_min=45
lat_hem=N
lon_deg=13
lon_min=1
lon_hem=E
postal_code = 9773
area_code =04710
mayor = Gottfried Mandler
website = [http://www.irschen.at www.irschen.at]

Irschen is a municipality in the district of Spittal an der Drau in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It consists of the Katastralgemeinden Irschen, Ritterdorf and Simmerlach. It is situated on the northern slope of the Upper Drava Valley, near the "B 100 Drautal Straße" highway and the "Drautalbahn" railway line.A settlement area since the Early Iron Age (Hallstatt Culture), Irschen may be identical to the "Idunum" polis in the former Celtic kingdom of Noricum, as mentioned in Ptolemy's Geographia. In Roman times a mansio laid on the road leading over the Gailbergsattel mountain pass to Italia. Ursus I, Patriarch of Aquileia probably built a first church about 810 in the place then called "Ursen", which was mentioned as "Castrum Ursen" in a 1086 deed. In medieval times Irschen was a mining area, especially for gold.