Golling an der Salzach 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 rura ...

in the

Hallein Hallein () is a historic town in the Austrian state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg. It is the capital of Hallein (district), Hallein district. Geography The town is located in the ''Tennengau'' region south of the City of Salzburg, stretching alo ...

district 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 ...

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 ...

Geography

It is located on the southern rim of the ''Tennengau'' region south of the city of

. Here at the confluence of 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 (river), Inn, which eventually joins the Danube. Its drainage basin of comprises large parts of the Northern Limeston ...

and its Lammer tributary, the river leaves the Salzachöfen Gorge between the

Berchtesgaden Alps The Berchtesgaden Alps (, ) are a mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps, named after the market town of Berchtesgaden located in the centre. It is crossed by the Austria–Germany border: the central part belongs to the Berchtesgadener Lan ...

and the Tennen Mountains ranges of the

Northern Limestone Alps The Northern Limestone Alps (), also called the Northern Calcareous Alps, are the ranges of the Eastern Alps north of the Central Eastern Alps located in Austria and the adjacent Bavarian lands of southeastern Germany. The distinction from the ...

and flows northwards into the broad Salzburg basin. The Hoher Göll massif of the Berchtesgaden Alps in the west comprise the Schwarzbachfall

Cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

and the high Golling

Waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

, a

natural monument A natural monument is a natural or cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities, or cultural significance. They can be natural geological and geographical features such as w ...

. Parallel to the Salzach River, the historic Salzachtal Straße enters the narrow gorge at Lueg Pass. Golling station is a stop on the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway, served by ÖBB trains and the Salzburg suburban

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

network. The market town also has access to the Tauern Autobahn (A10) from Salzburg to Villach. The municipal area comprises the cadastral communities of Golling, Torren, and Obergäu. Golling proper is colloquially just called ''Markt'' ("market").

History

The area on the road to the

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 ...

mines in the

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

region in the south had been settled at least since the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

. Here a

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

led from the city of Iuvavum (Salzburg) across the

Eastern Alps The Eastern Alps are usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley, up to the Splügen Pass at the Main chain of the Alps, Alpine divide, and down the Liro (Como), Liro River to Lake Como in the south. ...

Aquileia Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about from the sea, on the river Natiso (modern Natisone), the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times. Today, the city is small ( ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Formerly held by the Bavarian counts of

Plain In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...

, ''Golingen'' first appeared in a 1241 deed. It was the site of Golling Castle erected at the behest of the Salzburg Archbishop Eberhard II on a hill above the town. It served as seat of the local administration and to control the trade route passing the narrow Salzach Valley between Golling and Hohenwerfen Castle. The name is probably derived from Slavic ''golica'' ("bald mountain"). A market beneath the castle was already mentioned in 1284, market rights were officially granted about 1390. Golling was heavily devastated by the insurgents of the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt () was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It was Europe's largest and most widespread popular uprising befor ...

in 1526. The ''Pass Lueg'' ravine south of the town was further fortified by the Salzburg prince-archbishops during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

. In September 1809, it was the site of heavy fighting, when

rebels made a stand against united Franco-Bavarian occupation forces during the

War of the Fifth Coalition The War of the Fifth Coalition was a European conflict in 1809 that was part of the Napoleonic Wars and the Coalition Wars. The main conflict took place in Central Europe between the Austrian Empire of Francis I and Napoleon's French Emp ...

. They could however not prevent the annexation by the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria ( ; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1806 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingd ...

according to the

Treaty of Schönbrunn The Treaty of Schönbrunn (; ), sometimes known as the Peace of Schönbrunn or the Treaty of Vienna, was signed between France and Austria at Schönbrunn Palace near Vienna on 14 October 1809. The treaty ended the Fifth Coalition during the N ...

. With Salzburg, Golling finally passed to the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

in 1816 by resolution of the

Vienna Congress The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (''Gemeinderat'') as of 2009 elections: *

Austrian People's Party The Austrian People's Party ( , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since January 2025, the party has been led by Christian Stocker (as an acting leader). It is currently the second-largest p ...

(ÖVP): 13 *

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): 5 *

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): 3

Notable people

* Joseph Mohr (1792–1848), who wrote the words to the ''

Silent Night "Silent Night" () is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO The United Nations Educati ...

'' Christmas carol, served as priest of the Golling parish church from 1820 to 1821.

References

External links

Municipal website

Tourist site
{{authority control Cities and towns in Hallein District Tennen Mountains Berchtesgaden Alps