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Fohnsdorf is situated at an altitude of 736 m in the upper Mur valley in the district Judenburg of Styria. The old fortified market town had been destroyed in 1289. From the 17th century onward Fohnsdorf became a centre of coal mining. Until its closure in 1978, Fohnsdorf could boast the world's deepest brown coal mining shaft (depth 1,130 m). The shafthead frame, parts of the machine rooms and some of the tunnels now are part of the mining museum.

The parish church Sankt Rupert [left] was first mentioned in a document of 1147. The walls of the nave and the church tower between chancel and nave date from the Romanesque period, the vaulting of the nave and the chancel are from the Late Gothic period.