Flattach () is a municipality in Spittal an der Drau District 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

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

Geography

It is located in the valley of the

Möll The Möll (; presumably from , "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 Glacie ...

, a left tributary to the

Drava The Drava or Drave (, ; ; ; ; ), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus, is a river in southern Central Europe.

, between the Goldberg and the Kreuzeck groups of the Hohe Tauern 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 (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

and the ''Raggaschlucht'', a narrow

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

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 Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

power stations collecting water from several

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

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 in the Drava valley toward Winklern and the Grossglockner High Alpine Road. An old mule track over the Fragrant Tauern

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

in the north connects it with Rauris in the neighbouring 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 ...

. The municipal area consists of the cadastral communities 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 in the east. For centuries it had been an agricultural (

transhumance Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or Nomad, 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 low ...

) and also a

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

area, especially for

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () 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, forming much of Earth's o ...

and

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) 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-orang ...

. 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 Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

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

Social Democratic Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria ( , SPÖ) is a social democratic political party in Austria. Founded in 1889 as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (, SDAPÖ) and later known as the Socialist Party of Austria () from 1945 unt ...

(SPÖ): 2 *

Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (, FPÖ) is a political party in Austria, variously described as far-right, right-wing populist, national-conservative, and Eurosceptic. It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the largest of five part ...

(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, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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