St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut is a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

in central

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

Salzkammergut The Salzkammergut (; ; bar, Soizkaumaguad, label=Central Austro-Bavarian) is a resort area in Austria, stretching from the city of Salzburg eastwards along the Alpine Foreland and the Northern Limestone Alps to the peaks of the Dachstein Mou ...

region of

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, an ...

, named after Saint Wolfgang of Regensburg.

Geography

The town is located in central

. It is on the northern shore of the

Wolfgangsee Lake Wolfgang (german: Wolfgangsee) is a lake in Austria that lies mostly within the state of Salzburg and is one of the best known lakes in the Salzkammergut resort region. The municipalities on its shore are Strobl, St. Gilgen with the villages ...

lake (close to the towns of

Strobl Strobl (or Strobl am Wolfgangsee) is a municipality of the Salzburg-Umgebung District (''Flachgau''), in the northeastern portion of the Austrian state of Salzburg, right on the border with Upper Austria. It comprises the Katastralgemeinden of Aig ...

and St. Gilgen, both in the

State of Salzburg Salzburg (, ; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) (also known as ''Salzburgerland'') is a state (''Land'') of the modern Republic of Austria. It is officially named ''Land Salzburg'' to distinguish it from its eponymous capital — the city of S ...

) at the foot of the Schafberg mountain.

Culture

St. Wolfgang's tourist attractions include the ''

Schafbergbahn The Schafberg Railway (german: Schafbergbahn) is a metre gauge cog railway in Upper Austria and Salzburg leading from Sankt Wolfgang im Salzkammergut up to the Schafberg (1,783 m). With a total length of 5.85 km it gains about 1,200 m in h ...

'' (a

rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with th ...

that runs up the Schafberg), the Hotel Weißes Rössl (the setting of the operetta

White Horse Inn ''The White Horse Inn'' (or ''White Horse Inn'') (German title: ''Im weißen Rößl'' ) is an operetta or musical comedy by Ralph Benatzky and Robert Stolz in collaboration with a number of other composers and writers, set in the picturesque Salz ...

) and a

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

church with a late Gothic altarpiece by

Michael Pacher Michael Pacher ( 1435 – August 1498) was a painter and sculptor from Tyrol active during the second half of the fifteenth century. He was one of the earliest artists to introduce the principles of Renaissance painting into Germany. Pacher was a ...

. The railway and the church are among the many St. Wolfgang locations featured in

Christmas with Flicka ''Christmas with Flicka'' is a 58-minute television concert film starring Frederica von Stade, Melba Moore, Rex Smith and Julius Rudel.''Christmas with Flicka'': Kultur DVD, D2986, 2005 It is an American-Austrian co-production, shot on location ...

, a 1987 American-Austrian television film starring the operatic mezzo-soprano

Frederica von Stade Frederica von Stade OAL (born June 1, 1945) is a semi-retired American opera singer. Since her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1970, she has performed in operas, musicals, concerts and recitals in venues throughout the world, including La Scala, th ...

, which was shot entirely in the town and its environs. (As well as being shown on America's

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

, the film was released on VHS, Laserdisc and DVD.) A

destination spa A destination spa or health resort is a resort centered on a spa, such as a mineral spa. Historically, many such spas were developed at the location of natural hot springs or mineral springs; in the era before modern biochemical knowledge an ...

, St. Wolfgang is also a popular winter skiing resort.

History

Saint Wolfgang erected the first church at the shore of the Wolfgangsee after he withdrew to the nearby Mondsee Abbey in 976. According to legend he threw an

axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...

down the mountain to find the site and even persuaded the

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

to contribute to the building by promising him the soul of the first living being ever to enter the church. However Satan was disappointed as the first creature over the doorstep was a

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

. After Wolfgang's canonization in 1052, the church became a major pilgrimage site, as it was first mentioned in an 1183 deed by

Pope Lucius III Pope Lucius III (c. 1097 – 25 November 1185), born Ubaldo Allucingoli, reigned from 1 September 1181 to his death in 1185. Born of an aristocratic family of Lucca, prior to being elected pope, he had a long career as a papal diplomat. His pa ...

. In 1481 it was furnished with the famous Pacher

polyptych A polyptych ( ; Greek: ''poly-'' "many" and ''ptychē'' "fold") is a painting (usually panel painting) which is divided into sections, or panels. Specifically, a "diptych" is a two-part work of art; a " triptych" is a three-part work; a tetrapt ...

. There had been several places for lodging around the church since

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

times, while the ''Weißes Rössl'' hotel was not built until 1878. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, a subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp was located here."Linde, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany - Pages: List of subcamps of Dachau - glosk"
, www.glosk.com, 2010. Schafbergbahn Z13.jpg, Schafbergbahn St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut - Kirche.JPG, Parish church St. Wolfgang Sankt Wolfgang - središte.JPG, Buildings in the town centre

Transportation

St. Wolfgang can be reached via a branch of the ''B 158 Wolfgangsee Straße'' federal highway (

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...

), running from the city 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 ...

Bad Ischl Bad Ischl (Austrian German ) is a spa town in Austria. It lies in the southern part of Upper Austria, at the Traun River in the centre of the Salzkammergut region. The town consists of the Katastralgemeinden ''Ahorn'', ''Bad Ischl'', ''Haide ...

References

Cities and towns in Gmunden District {{UpperAustria-geo-stub

Geography

Culture

History

Transportation

See also

References