Flattach ( sl, Blato) is a municipality in

Spittal an der Drau District Bezirk Spittal an der Drau is an administrative district ('' Bezirk'') in the state of Carinthia, Austria. Geography With an area of the district is 2,763.99 km², it is Austria's second largest district by area (after Liezen), even larger ...

in the

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 ...

n state of Carinthia.

Geography

It is located in the valley of the

Möll The Möll (; presumably from sl, Mel, "rubble") is a river in northwestern Carinthia in Austria, a left tributary of the Drava. Its drainage basin is . Course The river rises in the High Tauern range of the Central Eastern Alps on the Pasterze ...

, a left tributary to the

Drava The Drava or Drave''Utrata Fachwörterbuch ...

, between the

Goldberg Goldberg or Goldberger may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Goldberg Ensemble, a British string ensemble * ''Goldberg Variations'', a set of 30 keyboard variations by Johann Sebastian Bach * ''The Goldbergs (broadcast series)'', American radio ...

and the Kreuzeck groups of the

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 S ...

mountain range. Flattach mainly depends on tourism, offering the nearby Mölltal Glacier

ski area A ski area is the terrain and supporting infrastructure where skiing and other snow sports take place. Such sports include alpine and cross-country skiing, snow boarding, tubing, sledding, etc. Ski areas may stand alone or be part of a ski resort. ...

located on the Schareck and the ''Wurtenkees''

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

and the ''Raggaschlucht'', a narrow

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to c ...

within the southern Kreuzeck range with walls up to 200 m (650 ft) high and wooden walkways above the water. It is also the site of a group of hydroelectric power stations collecting water from several

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...

s in the northern Ankogel mountains with an installed capacity of 474 MW. It can be reached via the ''B106 Mölltal Straße'' highway running from

Lurnfeld Lurnfeld is a market town in the district of Spittal an der Drau in the Austrian state of Carinthia. The municipality consists of the two Katastralgemeinden: Möllbrücke and Pusarnitz, comprising several small villages. It is located within t ...

in the Drava valley toward

Winklern Winklern is a town in the district of Spittal an der Drau in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Geography The municipality lies at the foot of the Großglockner massif between the Schober, Goldberg, and Kreuzeck groups in the upper Möll valley ...

and the

Grossglockner High Alpine Road The Grossglockner High Alpine Road (in German ''Großglockner Hochalpenstraße'') is the highest surfaced mountain pass road in Austria. It connects Bruck an der Großglocknerstraße, Bruck in the state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg with Heilige ...

. An old mule track over the Fragrant Tauern mountain pass in the north connects it with

Rauris Rauris is a municipality in Salzburg (state) in the area of Pinzgau in Austria. There are about 3,150 inhabitants living in Rauris. Geography The market town Rauris is located in the Pinzgau in the state Salzburg at the river Rauriser Ache at t ...

in the neighbouring 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 ...

. The municipal area consists of the

cadastral communities A cadastral community or cadastral municipality, is a Cadastre, cadastral subdivision of Municipality, municipalities in the nations of Austria,Cadastral Template for Austria, web-pageCT-AT Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Ser ...

Flattach and Fragrant.

History

The name of the settlement is probably derived from Slovene ''blato'', "swamp". The municipality did not emerge until 1895 from the market town of

Obervellach Obervellach ( sl, Zgornja Bela) is a market town in the district of Spittal an der Drau, in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Geography The town is situated in the valley of the Möll river, on the southern slope of the High Tauern mountain rang ...

in the east. For centuries it had been an agricultural (

transhumance Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower va ...

) and also a

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

area, especially for

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

and

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 pinkish ...

. The economic situation has undergone a fundamental change, since the Fragrant power plant group was erected from 1963 onwards and the first ski-lift was built in 1987.

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (''Gemeinderat'') as of 2015 local elections: *''Unabhängige Liste Flattach'' (

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

): 8 *''Team Alternative für Flattach'' (Independent): 4 *

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): 2 *

Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (german: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Austria. It was led by Norbert Hofer from September 2019 to 1 June 2021.Staff (1 June 2021"Au ...

(FPÖ): 1

Twin town

Waghäusel Waghäusel (, ; South Franconian: ''Woghaisl'') is a town located in the Rhine valley in the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Waghäusel consists of 3 townships which are the core town (1236 residents), Kirrlach (9347 residen ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

References

External links

Municipal site

Mölltal Glacier tourism association
Cities and towns in Spittal an der Drau District Kreuzeck group Goldberg Group {{Carinthia-geo-stub