St. Johann im Pongau (''Saiga Håns'' or ''Sainig Håns'' in the local Pongau dialect, abbreviated St.Johann/Pg.) is a small

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

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 ...

. It is the administrative centre of the

St. Johann im Pongau District The Bezirk Sankt Johann im Pongau is an administrative district (''Bezirk'') in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria, and congruent with the Pongau region. Area of the district is 1,755.37 km², with a population of 77,872 (May 15, 2001) ...

Geography

Sankt Johann, kerk in straatzicht foto1 2011-07-17 17

The city is located in 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 ...

Valley of the

Eastern Alps Eastern Alps is the name given to the eastern half of the Alps, usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley up to the Splügen Pass at the Alpine divide and down the Liro River to Lake Como in t ...

, between the

Salzburg Slate Alps The Salzburg Slate Alps (german: Salzburger Schieferalpen) are a mountain range of the Eastern Alps, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Situated within the greywacke zone, they could be regarded either as part of the Northern Limestone Alps or of ...

in the north, the

Radstadt Tauern The Radstadt Tauern (german: Radstädter Tauern) are a subrange of the Central Eastern Alps in Austria. Together with the Schladming Tauern, the Rottenmann and Wölz Tauern and the Seckau Tauern the Radstadt Tauern form the major range of mounta ...

(part of the Niedere Tauern range) in the southeast and the Ankogel Group (

Hohe Tauern The High Tauern ( pl.; german: Hohe Tauern, it, Alti Tauri) are a mountain range on the main chain of the Central Eastern Alps, comprising the highest peaks east of the Brenner Pass. The crest forms the southern border of the Austrian states of ...

) in the southwest. The city lies in the centre of the Salzburg Pongau region. The municipal area comprises the cadastral communities of Ginau, Hallmoos, Maschl, Einöden, Plankenau, Reinbach,

Rettenstein Rettenstein is a part of the town St. Johann im Pongau in Salzburg (state), Austria. See also * Salzburgerland * St. Johann im Pongau * Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-l ...

, St. Johann, and Urreiting. Due to its picturesque setting, the area largely depends on tourism,

Alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...

in winter and

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

in the summer months. A dramatic gorge called

Liechtensteinklamm Liechtensteinklamm (Liechtenstein Gorge) is a gorge with walls up to 300m high, located in the Austrian Alps 50 km south of Salzburg. It is around 4 km long and is named after Johannes II, Prince of Liechtenstein, Johann II of Liechtenste ...

lies south of the city. This gorge is about long and can be explored via walkways first built by Prince

Johann II of Liechtenstein Johann II (Johann Maria Franz Placidus; 5 October 1840 – 11 February 1929), nicknamed the Good (german: Johann II. der Gute), was Prince of Liechtenstein from 12 November 1858 until his death in 1929. His reign of 70 years and 91 days is the th ...

in 1875.

History

The Salzach Valley, an ancient

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...

mining area, had been settled at least since the

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 ...

. The settlement was first mentioned as ''sanctum Johannem in villa'' in a 1074 deed, named after

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

. It was for centuries a possession held by the Prince-Archbishops of

. In the course of the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositi ...

of 1525/26, large parts of the population turned

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

. Under the rule of Prince-Archbishop Count Leopold Anton von Firmian in 1731, numerous inhabitants (called ''Exulanten'') were forced to leave the country, many of them found refuge in the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

, where they settled in

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...

( Gumbinnen). During the Austrian ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germa ...

'' to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, St. Johann was renamed ''Markt Pongau'' in 1939 and from 1941 was the site of the World War II

Stalag In Germany, stalag (; ) was a term used for prisoner-of-war camps. Stalag is a contraction of "Stammlager", itself short for ''Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschaftsstammlager'', a literal translation of which is "War-prisoner" (i.e. POW) "enlisted" "m ...

XVIII C (317) internment camp run by the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

armed forces. Mainly

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

POWs were interred here, about 4,000 Soviet inmates were killed or succumbed to the conditions of their detention. A 'Russian Cemetery' and a monument to this camp is located on the north end of the city. About 20 km north of St. Johann, a small portion of a picnic scene from ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, ''The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. S ...

'' was filmed on a hillside, in the Pongau city of

Werfen Werfen () is a market town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. It is mainly known for medieval Hohenwerfen Castle and the Eisriesenwelt ice cave, the largest in the world. Geography Werfen is located in ...

Julie Andrews Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy F ...

and crew filmed the opening shots of the "

Do-Re-Mi "Do-Re-Mi" is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''The Sound of Music''. Each syllable of the musical solfège system appears in the song's lyrics, sung on the pitch it names. Rodgers was helped in its creation by long-time ...

" sequence with the

Burg Hohenwerfen Hohenwerfen Castle (german: Festung Hohenwerfen, lit=Hohenwerfen Fortress) is a medieval rock castle, situated on a precipice overlooking the Austrian market town of Werfen in the Salzach valley, approximately south of Salzburg. The fortress is ...

in the background.See "''The Sound of Music'' Filming Locations" at ''The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations''. http://www.movie-locations.com/intromovies/soundmusic.html. Accessed 27 March 2007. Werfen was also the location for some filming of ''

Where Eagles Dare ''Where Eagles Dare'' is a 1968 war film directed by Brian G. Hutton and starring Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood and Mary Ure. It follows a joint British-American Special Operations Executive team of paratroopers raiding a castle (shot on lo ...

''. On 24 June 2000 St. Johann completed the ''Stadtserhebung'' process and received official

city privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

from the Austrian government.

Personalities

* Gerald Mild (born 1962), tennis player *

Petra Kronberger Petra Kronberger (born 21 February 1969, in Pfarrwerfen) is an Austrian former alpine skier, who participated in all disciplines. She was the first female alpine skier to win in all five World Cup events. Career Kronberger entered the World ...

(born 1969), skier * Iris Strubegger (born 1984), model * Joachim Puchner (born 1987), skier *

Mirjam Puchner Mirjam Puchner (born 18 May 1992) is an Austrian World Cup alpine ski racer from St Johann im Pongau in Salzburg. She made her World Cup debut on 12 January 2013 in St. Anton, Austria. Puchner attained her first World Cup podium in March 2016 ...

(born 1992), skier

References

External links

Gallery

File:Sankt Johann, stadszicht foto2 2011-07-18 11.37.JPG, Sankt Johann im Pongau, view to the town from the station File:Sankt Johann, straatzicht bij stadhuis foto4 2011-07-18 10.38.JPG, Sankt Johann im Pongau, street near the town hall {{DEFAULTSORT:Sankt Johann Im Pongau St. Johann im Pongau District Cities and towns in St. Johann im Pongau District