Dorfgastein is a municipality in

St. Johann im Pongau District The Bezirk St. 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), ...

, in the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n state of

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

Geography

It is located on the northern entrance of the Gastein Valley within the

Hohe Tauern The High Tauern ( pl.; , ) 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 Salzburg, Carinthia and East Tyr ...

mountain range, south of the broader

Salzach The Salzach (Austrian: �saltsax ) is a river in Austria and Germany. It is in length and is a right tributary of the Inn (river), Inn, which eventually joins the Danube. Its drainage basin of comprises large parts of the Northern Limeston ...

Valley. It is accessible by the

Tauern Railway The Tauern Railway () is an Austrian railway line between Schwarzach- Sankt Veit in the state of Salzburg and Spittal an der Drau in Carinthia. It is part of one of the most important north–south trunk routes (''Magistrale'') in Europe and als ...

leading up to

Bad Hofgastein Bad Hofgastein () is a market town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. The spa town is located in the Gastein Valley, a large ski resort belonging to the Ski Amadé network. Geography The Gastein valley i ...

and

Bad Gastein Bad Gastein ( is a spa town in the St. Johann im Pongau District. Picturesquely situated in a high valley of the Hohe Tauern mountain range, it is known for the Gastein waterfall and a variety of grand hotel buildings. Geography Bad Gastein i ...

, crossing the Alpine crest via the Tauerntunnel. The municipality consists of the cadastral communities of Dorfgastein and Klammstein.

History

The

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 ...

through the Gastein gorge up to the Tauern passes was first mentioned in a 1212 deed. The village itself (''ze Dorff''), then part of the

Archbishopric of Salzburg The Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg (; ) was an ecclesiastical principality and state of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised the secular territory ruled by the archbishops of Salzburg, as distinguished from the much larger Catholic diocese f ...

, was first documented in the oldest Gastein mining regulations of 1342. The St. Rupert parish church was founded in 1350. Dorfgastein burg klammstein

For centuries Klammstein Castle erected high above the historic trade route in the 12th century, served as the administrative seat of the archbishops' keeper of the Gastein Valley. Temporarily held by the Bavarian counts of Ortenburg, it was acquired by the Salzburg archbishop

Philip of Spanheim Philip of Spanheim (also: Philip of Sponheim; died 22 July 1279) was a 13th century bishop who was elected Archbishop of Salzburg (1247–1257) and Patriarch of Aquileia (1269–1271). He held the title of a Count of Lebenau (1254–1279) and was ...

in 1251, whose ''

ministeriales The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a legally unfree but socially elite class of knights, administrators, and officials in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire, drawn from a mix of servile origins, free commoners, and ...

'' imposed tolls and secured the area at the valley entrance. The surrounding estates were finally incorporated into the Archbishopric of Salzburg in 1297 with the consent of the Bavarian dukes

Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was the Holy Roman emperor and King of Italy from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was c ...

and

Stephen I Stephen I may refer to: *Pope Stephen I, Bishop of Rome from 254 to 257 *Stephen I of Antioch, Patriarch of Antioch from 342 to 344 *Stephen I of Iberia (died 627), of the Guaramid Dynasty, presiding prince of Iberia from c. 590 to 627 *Ecumenical ...

. The administrative seat was relocated to neighbouring Hofgastein, after Archbishop

Leonhard von Keutschach Leonhard von Keutschach (c. 1442 – 8 June 1519) was Archbishopric of Salzburg, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1495 until his death, the last to rule in the feudalism, feudal style. Biography He was probably born at Viktring Abbey, Viktri ...

transferred the castle to his relatives as a gift. In 1589 Archbishop

Wolf Dietrich Raitenau Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau (26 March 1559 – 16 January 1617) was Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1587 to 1612. Life Raitenau was born at Hofen Castle in Lochau, near Bregenz in Further Austria, the son of the Habsburg colonel Hans Werne ...

allowed the demolition of the outer walls. In 1735 the first school opened in Dorfgastein (with electric lighting in the classes from 1921). A telegraph office was established in 1893. A new school building was inaugurated in 1927. The first Dorfgastein ski lift opened in 1959. Today the local '' Großarltal-Dorfgastein'' ski area is part of the larger

Ski Amadé The Ski Amadé region of Austria is a network of 28 ski areas and towns that combined, make up the second largest ski area in Europe.largest ski domain is Dolomiti Superski It is named after the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who was born in th ...

region.

References

Ankogel Group Goldberg Group Cities and towns in St. Johann im Pongau District {{Salzburg-geo-stub