Gosau is a municipality in the district of Gmunden in

Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...

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 ...

Location

Gosau is situated along the Gosaubach stream in the

Salzkammergut The Salzkammergut (, ; ) is a resort area in Austria, stretching from the city of Salzburg eastwards along the Alpine Foreland and the Northern Limestone Alps to the peaks of the Dachstein Mountains. The main river of the region is the Traun (r ...

region. The center of the town is at an elevation of . 58.9% of the municipality is forested. At the southern end of Gosau there is a road leading to the Vorderer Gosausee, a lake with a view of the Dachstein. Gosau is one of the few

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

communities in Austria, with about 71% of the population being Lutheran.

History

The valley around Gosau was settled in the 13th century by monks from St. Peter's Abbey in

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 ...

. Timber production for the salt mine in Hallstatt was a major industry. In 1490 the town became part of the Principality above the Enns River. The area was repeatedly occupied by the French during the

Napoleonic wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. When the Republic of Austria was formed in 1918, Gosau became part of the federal state of Upper Austria. In 1938 the area was annexed by the

German Reich German ''Reich'' (, from ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty entirely from a continuing unitary German ''Volk'' ("na ...

along with the rest of Austria, and Gosau became part of the "Gau Oberdonau," returning to Upper Austria when the Republic of Austria was reconstituted in 1945.

Economy

In the past timber production and salt mining in neighboring Hallstatt were the major industries in Gosau. Today, tourism is the main source of income, although raising livestock, mainly cattle, is also an important economic activity.

Politics

Gosau is governed by a 19-member council and Mayor Markus Schmaranzer of the

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 ...

.nachrichten.at
/ref>

Notable people

* Gerhard Egger Mostrocker (born 1949), songwriter, composer, author and Alpenrockpioneer

References

Dachstein Mountains Cities and towns in Gmunden District {{UpperAustria-geo-stub