Krimml is a municipality in
Zell am See District, in the federal state of
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, in the
Pinzgau region.
Geography
Krimml is situated on the
Salzach
The Salzach (Austrian: �saltsax ) is a river in Austria and Germany. It is in length and is a right tributary of the Inn, which eventually joins the Danube. Its drainage basin of comprises large parts of the Northern Limestone and Central ...
river, at the southwestern rim of the upper (western) ''Pinzgau'' region near the border with
Tyrol
Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...
. It is located about west of the town of
Mittersill and from the district capital
Zell am See
Zell am See is the administrative capital of the Zell am See District in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Located in the Kitzbühel Alps, the town is an important tourist destination due to its ski resorts and shoreline on Lake Zell. While Zell a ...
. The settlement's centre area is situated at an elevation of above sea level.
In the west, the
Gerlos Pass road leads via
Wald im Pinzgau
Wald im Pinzgau is a municipality in the district of Zell am See (district), Zell am See (Pinzgau region), in the state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg in Austria.
Municipal divisions
The villages in the municipality, apart from Wald, are (further u ...
into the Tyrolean
Zillertal. In the south, the
Krimmler Ache
The Krimmler Ache is a river in the Pinzgau region of the Austrian state of Salzburg, a right tributary of the Salzach at , Wald im Pinzgau.
Its valley (the ) forms the boundary between the Zillertal Alps in the west and the Venediger Group in t ...
Valley (''Krimmler Achental'') with its extended
mountain pastures leads up to the
Dreiherrnspitze
The Dreiherrnspitze ( it, Picco dei Tre Signori), at above mean sea level, is a mountain on the tripoint between the Austrian states of Salzburg and Tyrol (i.e. East Tyrol), and South Tyrol in Italy. It is part of the Venediger Group in th ...
peak at , part of the
Venediger Group subrange in the
High Tauern. The nearby
bridle path
A bridle path, also bridleway, equestrian trail, horse riding path, ride, bridle road, or horse trail, is a trail or a thoroughfare that is used by people riding on horses. Trails originally created for use by horses often now serve a wider r ...
across
Birnlücke Pass leads across the
Alpine crest into the
Tauferer Ahrntal
The Tauferer Ahrntal denotes the valley of the Ahr ( it, Aurino) River, a tributary valley of the Puster Valley in South Tyrol, Italy. It is commonly divided into the Tauferer Tal (''Val di Tures''), stretching from the confluence with the Rien ...
of
South Tyrol
it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol
, settlement_type = Autonomous province
, image_skyline =
, image_alt ...
(
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
).
Krimml is known for the
Krimml Waterfalls which are a popular tourist destination. With a total drop of about these
waterfall
A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
Waterfalls can be formed in several ...
s are among Europe's highest. Also, the source of the Salzach river is located north of Krimml, at an elevation of above sea level.
Climate
The
Köppen Climate Classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
subtype for the Krimml climate is "
Dfb DFB may refer to:
* Deerfield Beach, Florida, a city
* Decafluorobutane, a fluorocarbon gas
* Dem Franchize Boyz, former hip hop group, Atlanta, Georgia
* Dfb, Köppen climate classification for Humid continental climate
* Distributed-feedback ...
" (Warm Summer Continental Climate).
Climate Summary for Krimml
/ref>
History
While archaeological findings denote a settlement of the area in the Early Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
, and also in the Hallstatt culture
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Western and Central European culture of Late Bronze Age (Hallstatt A, Hallstatt B) from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and Early Iron Age Europe (Hallstatt C, Hallstatt D) from the 8th to 6th centuries ...
from the 8th to 6th centuries BC, the present-day ''Pinzgau'' was part of the Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foo ...
kingdom of Noricum
Noricum () is the Latin name for the Celtic kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the nor ...
from about 200 BC. Incorporated into the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
from 15 BC, a Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
ran along the Krimmler Ache stream up to the Alpine crest. After the Empire's decline in the 5th century, the area became largely Germanised by Bavarian settlers.
Initially part of the medieval Duchy of Bavaria
The Duchy of Bavaria (German: ''Herzogtum Bayern'') was a frontier region in the southeastern part of the Merovingian kingdom from the sixth through the eighth century. It was settled by Bavarian tribes and ruled by dukes (''duces'') under ...
, the ''Chrvmbel'' manor was first mentioned in a 1228 deed, when the upper ''Pinzgau'' region was purchased by the Salzburg archbishops. A parish church was mentioned in 1244. At the time, Krimml was strategically important as a stop on the route connecting Salzburg with the Ahrntal and the County of Tyrol
The (Princely) County of Tyrol was an estate of the Holy Roman Empire established about 1140. After 1253, it was ruled by the House of Gorizia and from 1363 by the House of Habsburg. In 1804, the County of Tyrol, unified with the secularised ...
.
As in many Salzburg lands where the Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...
had spread, the peasants in the Krimml area were subject to Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...
measures enacted by the prince-archbishops and several Protestant families were expelled. After the Archbishopric was secularised, the former ecclesiastical estates finally passed to the Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
in 1815. From the late 19th century onwards, Alpine tourism gradually became an important economic factor.
Transport
Krimml station is the western terminus of the Pinzgauer Lokalbahn
The Pinzgauer Lokalbahn (formerly Pinzgaubahn or Krimmler Bahn) is a narrow-gauge railway in Salzburg (state), Salzburg in Austria. The 53 kilometre railway follows the Salzach valley from Zell am See and Krimml through the Pinzgau mountains. The ...
narrow-gauge railway line to Zell am See.
Politics
Seats in the municipal assembly (''Gemeinderat''):
*Austrian People's Party
The Austrian People's Party (german: Österreichische Volkspartei , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria.
Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. It is curre ...
(ÖVP): 7
*Social Democratic Party of Austria
The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...
(SPÖ): 5
References
{{authority control
Cities and towns in Zell am See District