Wurzenpass

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Wurzenpass
The Wurzenpass from the south with the village of Podkoren

The Wurzenpass from the south with the village of Podkoren

Compass direction North south
Pass height 1071  m above sea level A.
region State of Carinthia , Austria Slovenia
Watershed Kokra ( Gail ) Krotnjak ( Save )
Valley locations Riegersdorf Podkoren
expansion Wurzenpass-Straße (B109 / R201)
Built 1734
Mountains Karawanken
profile
Ø pitch 7.3% (547 m / 7.5 km) 6.5% (226 m / 3.5 km)
Max. Incline 18%
map
Wurzenpass (Austria)
Wurzenpass
Coordinates 46 ° 31 '4 "  N , 13 ° 45' 5"  E Coordinates: 46 ° 31 '4 "  N , 13 ° 45' 5"  E

The Wurzenpass , in Slovenian Korensko sedlo , is an Alpine pass over the Karawanken between Carinthia in Austria and the Gorenjska , Slovenia , on the Ljubljana - Jesenice - Kranjska Gora - Villach route . With a pass height of 1071  m above sea level. A. it is one of the not so high altitude passes in Slovenia. Until the opening of the toll road Karawanken tunnel in 1991, the Wurzenpass with its narrow, winding pass road and up to 18% incline (with an emergency lane in the lowest serpentine ) was one of the most important border crossings to Slovenia or before Yugoslavia , but has mainly been of tourist importance since the tunnel was opened.

The Wurzenpass road leads over the pass , on the Austrian side B109, on the Slovenian side R201.

history

The Wurzenpass, which was once also called Crainberg, forms the shortest and direct connection from Villach , with its pass connections to the Katschberg and the Turracher Höhe , after the once important cities of Gorizia and Trieste , and has gained some importance for supra-regional trade in modern times . In the 17th century copper ore and bars were brought from Transylvania over the Wurzenpass to Carinthia , where further processing took place. The importance of the Wurzenpass was nevertheless of minor nature, because it stood in the shadow of the Saifnitz saddle and the Predilpass . Its steepness put it at a particular disadvantage.

With the flourishing of the port of Trieste, the traffic over the pass connection, as well as in the direction of Laibach, grew strongly. This was made possible by an artificial road , which was completed in 1734 and which made the Wurzenpass the most important pass of the Karawanken . The original plan from 1727 was still considering the Villach – Trieste road, just like the old roads leading via Fusine and the Ratschacher Sattel. But since this would have been a considerable detour, the final route was laid over the Wurzenpass.

The construction of a tunnel was also considered, but then dropped again.

On the evening of June 11, 2019, the road to Vermurung was closed for 300 m on the Austrian side and reopened at 3 p.m. the following day after it was cleared.

Wurzenpass bunker museum

The bunkers on Wurzenpassstrasse (Krainberg 73, 9587 Riegersdorf bei Arnoldstein) near the border triangle (A-SLO-I), which were built during the Cold War and have been unknown to outsiders for a long time because they were officially secret, were reopened as a museum in August 2005 after their decommissioning in 2002 open to the general public every year from May to October. On the grounds of the former WURZEN / 73 barrier company , the previously unrecorded history of space defense , land fortifications and barrier troops is documented with many exhibits.

The area covers 1.14 hectares. Various types of armored turrets with their cannons ( M 24 , T 34 , M 47 , Charioteer ), Schartenwaffen (machine guns), 2 and 4 cm machine cannons , 7.62 anti-tank guns 42, 10.5 cm light field howitzers 18/40, 15 , 5 cm heavy field cannon (" Long Tom ") and a completely bunkered T 34 main battle tank. In addition to mobile anti-tank and anti-aircraft cannons and grenade launchers, a tank destroyer cuirassier and a patrol boat of the Sperr-Regiment Donau are shown. All weapon systems set up and exhibited are rendered inoperable and serve purely museum purposes.

Since 2015, visitors have had the opportunity on certain days to take part in trips in a Saurer / Steyr-SPzA1 infantry fighting vehicle that has been retired from the Austrian Armed Forces .

The museum is operated by Colonel Andreas Scherer, the last militia company commander of the defense system. The maintenance of the facility is supported by the IG Bunker-museum.at association . It was founded in 2000 as an association for the preservation of the barriers of the Wurzenpass company and aims to preserve the bunker as a historical memorial for peace.

literature

  • Steffan Bruns: Alpine Passes Volume 4: From the Danube to the Adriatic , pp. 197f., L. Staakmann Verlag KG, 2011; ISBN 978-388675-274-4

Web links

Commons : Wurzenpass  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Matthäus Merian: Topographia Provinciarum Austriacarum . Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt am Mayn 1679, page 66. on Wikisource
  2. Steffan Bruns: Alpine passes - from the mule track to the base tunnel , vol. 4
  3. Chronicle: Lock of Wurzenpass lifted orf.at, June 12, 2019, accessed June 13, 2019.
  4. http://www.bunkermuseum.at/panzermitfahrt_und_kanonengulasch_info.php
  5. Claudia Lux, Nicole Richter: 50 things a Carinthian must have done . Styria Verlag, Vienna / Graz / Klagenfurt 2016, ISBN 978-3-7012-0220-1 , p. 59-62 .
  6. Georg Lux, Helmuth Weichselbraun: Carinthia's mysterious underworld - tunnels, caves, hidden passages . Styria Verlag, Vienna / Graz / Klagenfurt 2013, ISBN 978-3-7012-0152-5 , p. 47-51 .