Jungholz () is a village in the district of

Reutte Reutte (; Swabian: ) is a town in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the administrative center of the Reutte district (''Districts of Austria''). Reutte is located on the Lech, and has a population of 6,704 (as of 2018). Neighbouring municipal ...

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

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

that is only accessible via

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 ...

. The lack of a road connection to anywhere else in Austria led to Jungholz being included in the German

customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

area before Austria joined the EU in 1995. It also used the instead of the

Austrian schilling The schilling (German language, German: ''Schilling''; ) is a former currency of Austria from 1925 to 1938 and from 1945 to 1999, and the circulating currency until 2002. The euro was introduced at a fixed parity of €1 = 13.7603 schilling t ...

as currency until 2002, when the

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

took over. Letters to Jungholz can be addressed with either a German or an Austrian

postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

Quadripoint

Jungholz forms a

pene-exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

of Austria that is connected to the rest of Austria by a single point, which is the summit of the mountain '' Sorgschrofen'' (). As well as housing border post number 110 on the normal

international border Borders are generally defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ...

between Tyrol and

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, a second border starts and, having gone round Jungholz, ends there. There are thus borders extending in four directions from the summit, called a

quadripoint A quadripoint is a point on Earth where four distinct political territories meet. The territories can be of different types, such as national and provincial. In North America, several such places are commonly known as Four Corners (disambiguatio ...

. Two Austrian (Tyrolean,

) and two German (Bavarian,

Oberallgäu Oberallgäu is a Districts of Germany, ''Landkreis'' (district) in Swabia (Bavaria), Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Unterallgäu and Ostallgäu, the Austrian states State of Tyrol, Tyrol a ...

) municipalities meet at that point, starting with Jungholz and continuing clockwise: *Jungholz (Austrian, north) *

Pfronten Pfronten ( Swabian: ''Pfronte'') is a municipality in the district of Ostallgäu in Bavaria in Germany. Geography Pfronten is one of a total of 45 towns, markets and municipalities in the district of Ostallgäu. Pfronten is located on the n ...

(German, east) * Schattwald (Austrian, south) *

Bad Hindelang Bad Hindelang is a municipality in the district of Oberallgäu in Bavaria in Germany. As of 2008 it has a population of 4,915. Its sulphur spring was used for cures in the 19th century and today the municipality is a major health resort. Geograp ...

(German, west)

History

On 24 June 1342, Hermann Häselin, a farmer from Wertach in Germany, sold the area to Heinz Lochpyler, an Austrian taxman from nearby Tannheim. The buyer had the area incorporated with his other possession of Tyrol. In the Bavarian–Austrian border treaty of 1844 Jungholz went to Austria. Its customs union with Germany dates to a Treaty signed in 1868. In 1938 following the German takeover of Austria, Jungholz and the similarly isolated

Kleinwalsertal Kleinwalsertal is a valley in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg and part of the Bregenz district. It includes the municipality of Mittelberg and consists of three villages along the River Breitach. Due to the geographic location in the All ...

were annexed to Gau Swabia in Bavaria, though returned to Austria after the end of WWII.Jahrhundert – Rückblick
(in German) Kleinwalsertal website

References

External links

Jungholz's official website
(in German only) Cities and towns in Reutte District Enclaves and exclaves Austria–Germany border crossings {{Tyrol-geo-stub

Quadripoint

History

See also

References

External links