Gastein Valley
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The Gastein Valley [ ɡasˈtaɪ̯nɐtaːl ], rarely also the Gastein Valley , is a 40 km long valley in the Pongau in the state of Salzburg in Austria and is crossed by the Gasteiner Ache . In the Böckstein district, which belongs to Bad Gastein, the Nassfeld Valley , which extends from the south-west, and the Inrun Valley , which extends from the east, converge. The Naßfeld-Sportgastein ski resort, established in the 1980s, is located in the Naßfeld Valley at 1,589 m above sea level. To the north, the Gastein Valley flows into the opening Salzach Valley near Lend .
The valley can only be accessed from the south through the Tauern tunnel of the Tauernbahn , the entrance of which is on the Salzburg side in Böckstein and which connects the Gastein valley with the Seebach valley in Carinthia , and through the Klammstein tunnel in the north of the valley, which opens up towards the Salzach valley .
Communities
From time immemorial, the Gastein Valley was administratively an independent nursing court and was only connected to the actual Pongau when the St. Johann district administration was finally established in 1868 . The Gastein court district survived until the Second Republic and was only finally dissolved in the 1990s.
The three municipalities of the Gastein Valley are Bad Gastein , Bad Hofgastein and Dorfgastein . In addition, there are several districts each belonging to one of the three main towns, the most famous of which is the Bad Gastein district of Böckstein at the southern end of the valley, due to the gold mining and the railway Tauern tunnel . Other well-known districts are Klammstein (Klammstein castle ruin ) in Dorfgastein, Lafen ( Snow Jazz Gastein ) in Hofgastein, Kötschachtal (Grüner Baum hotel complex), Kötschachdorf (hotel complex, golf course) and Bad Bruck (cemetery) in Bad Gastein.
history
The first written mention of Gastein dates from around 963 and was Gastuna . According to one (of several) theses, this name goes back to Indo-European language roots and means something like "gray-brown river".
The Gastein Valley - in the past and partly still in use today in the dialect of the local population - The Gastein is the largest side valley of the Salzach and was already climbed in Celtic and Roman times and is very likely sparsely populated. A systematic reclamation of the valley did not begin until the 9th century, mainly by Bavarian settlers. The valley belonged to the Peilstein family , a branch of the Sieghardinger family , and after it died out in 1218 it fell to the Dukes of Bavaria. In 1297 they sold the then Provincia Castuna area to the Archbishopric of Salzburg . After the secularization of the archbishopric, the Gastein Valley came to Austria as part of the newly formed state of Salzburg.
The development of the self-contained valley, which up until the 20th century could only be reached via mountain paths and a narrow road through the Gasteiner Klamm, was mainly determined in the course of history by alpine agriculture , bathing and mining . The development of agriculture ran parallel to that of the surrounding Tauern valleys and has the only special feature of early extensive cattle and pasture farming, which was practiced in the highest alpine regions and reached its peak in the 13th and 14th centuries. The first indication of the use of the well-known Gastein mineral springs can be found in the bathing poem "Die Graserin in der Gastein" from 1230 by the poet Neidhart von Reuental, who was important for Middle High German literature . The oldest reliable representation of the medicinal use of the medicinal water dates back to 1350.
In the course of history and especially through its development into a spa and bathing resort, the Gastein Valley has been visited by many famous guests. These include, among others, Emperor Friedrich III. in the 15th century and the famous doctor Paracelsus in the 16th century. The most famous guests of the 19th century were Emperor Franz Josef and Empress Elisabeth of Austria as well as Emperor Wilhelm of Germany and Prince Bismarck .
Archduke Johann gave the first essential impulses for the development of modern alpinism , whose initiative is partly due to the high alpine refuge at the summit of the Gamskarkogel . Another milestone in the history of Gastein was the detection of radon gas in the Gastein thermal water in 1904 by the well-known chemist and physicist Marie Curie . With the completion of the Tauern Railway in 1909, mass tourism gradually set in , which until the mid-1930s was limited to the summer months. The 1958 Alpine World Ski Championships in Badgastein (spelling at the time) represented a major impetus for winter tourism . From this point on, the Gastein Valley was also established as a two-season location.
traffic
The valley is connected to the road traffic via the federal highway 167. It enters the Gastein Valley via the Klammtunnel from the north and runs to its southern end in Böckstein (where there is also a loading station for car trains ) along the Gasteiner Ache, past Dorfgastein, Bad Hofgastein and Bad Gastein.
In addition, the northern ramp of the Tauern Railway runs through the Gastein Valley as an important axis for transalpine rail traffic. International long-distance trains stop in Dorfgastein, Bad Hofgastein and Bad Gastein, thus promoting the region's tourist links. Historically, the route was on the route of the Italian and Greek guest workers to Germany, and even today rail lines run over this route from Germany to Veneto and the Balkans .
geology
The Gastein Valley is rooted in the glaciated main ridge of the Hohe Tauern ( Ankogel Group and Goldberg Group ), from whose side ridges it is flanked. It was created by the former Gastein Glacier , whose direction of flow was pushed as far as the gorge by the particularly hard dolomite bar. The primeval glacier , slowly moving north, filled the whole valley at the time of its peak. Its height, measured from today's valley floor , was over 1,000 m. Huge erratic blocks , consisting of the stone of the innermost Tauern peaks, were carried to the valley exit and can still be found there today.
See also
- Ski amadé , the winter sports area to which the Gastein Valley belongs
literature
- Fritz Gruber: The old Gastein (= Our country in the picture. Volume 1). Rauter by HLP, St. Johann / Pg. 1993.
- Fritz Hörmann: Salzburg - The Pongau - 100 years of development in photo documents. Series of publications by the Werfen Museum Association, 1993.
- Hannes Mayer : Ecological environmental impact assessment of the forest slopes in the Gastein ski circus. Publications of the Austrian MaB program, volume 16. Wagner, Innsbruck 1990, ISBN 3-7030-0228-X .
Historical:
- Emil Trimmel (Ed.): Travel book for the sick and nature lovers who wish to visit the Thal and Wildbad Gastein in natural history, archaeological and picturesque aspects. Vienna 1852.
Web links
- Entry on Gastein Valley in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
- Customs from the Gastein Valley
Coordinates: 47 ° 13 ' N , 13 ° 6' E