Saalfelden am Steinernen Meer is a town in the district of

Zell am See Zell am See is the administrative capital of the Zell am See District in the Austrian state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg. Located in the Kitzbühel Alps, the town is an important tourist destination due to its Ski resort, ski resorts and shorel ...

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

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 ...

. With approximately 16,000 inhabitants, Saalfelden is the district's largest town and

the third is a light novel series, that has also been made into manga and anime series by Ryo Hoshino and illustrated by Ariko Ito. The anime series goes under the name . According to the New York Comic Convention, ''The Third'' has been licensed by ...

of the federal state after

and

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 ...

Geography

Although the Saalfelden area has always been the most populous of the historic

Pinzgau The Bezirk Zell am See is an administrative district (''Bezirk'') in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria, and congruent with the Pinzgau region (). The area of the district is , with a population of 84,124 (May 15, 2001), and population dens ...

region, the seat of the district administration is situated in the neighbouring town of

Saalfelden Basin

Saalfelden am Steinernen Meer lies at above sea level and its municipal area covers . The largest proportion of the municipality is formed by the Saalfelden Basin (''Saalfeldner Becken'') situated between 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 ...

ranges of: * the Steinernes Meer high plateau to the north, forming the border with

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 Leogang Mountains and the Biberg to the west * the Hochkönig massif and the

Salzburg Slate Alps The Salzburg Slate Alps () are a mountain range of the Eastern Alps, in the Austrian state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg. Situated within the greywacke zone, they could be regarded either as part of the Northern Limestone Alps or of the Central E ...

to the east. To the south the basin is generally open, running into the Zell Basin (''Zeller Becken'') with Lake Zell and 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 ...

river – hence the term Zell-Saalfelden Basin ''Zeller-Saalfeldener Becken'' is also used for the whole valley – and enables a view of the

High Tauern The High Tauern (plural, pl.; , ) are a mountain range on the Main chain of the Alps, 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 Salz ...

, especially the prominent Kitzsteinhorn and Wiesbachhorn peaks. The two basins are separated by a barely discernible valley floor divide. This trough is one of the largest inner-Alpine basins. The main river in the basin is the

Saalach The Saalach is a river in Austria and Germany, and a left tributary of the Salzach. Course The river begins, as the stream, in the Austrian state of Tyrol in the Kitzbühel Alps at the lake below the high Gamshag. From there it flows ini ...

. It rises in the upper Glemm Valley, empties into the basin south of Saalfelden and passes through it from south to north. A right tributary of the Saalach flowing through the borough of Saalfelden from east to west is the Urslau creek. A left tributary, the Leoganger Ache, empties into the Saalach from the west. In addition there are several smaller tributary streams. In the centre of the basin is the Kühbühel ("cow-hill") which is a good . The only lake in the expansive basin is the man-made Ritzensee, excavated for leisure purposes. Other artificial ponds have been laid out primarily for angling and tourism.

Subdivisions

The Saalfelden municipality comprises the cadastral communities of Bergham, Farmach, Gerling, Haid, Hohlwegen, Lenzing, Lichtenberg, and Saalfelden proper.

History

Early archaeological findings in the Saalfelden Basin date back to the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

Era. A continuous settlement is documented since the late

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

, when

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

tribes moved into the region. From the 7th century AD onwards,

Bavarians Bavarians are a Germans, German ethnographic group native to Bavaria, a state in Germany. The group's dialect or speech is known as Bavarian language, Bavarian, native to Altbayern ("Old Bavaria"), roughly the territory of the historic Electo ...

settled the area from the north. About 100 years later the estates of ''Salvet'' on the Saalach river were first mentioned in a register by the Bishops of Salzburg. While they became part of the

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Franks, Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as List of Frankish kings, kings of the Franks since ...

, the lands were incorporated into the

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...

Pinzgau county. The Saalfelden estates were acquired by Archbishop Hartwig of Salzburg about 1000; and by the early 13th century, the whole Pinzgau region was part of the

prince-bishop A prince-bishop is a bishop who is also the civil ruler of some secular principality and sovereignty, as opposed to '' Prince of the Church'' itself, a title associated with cardinals. Since 1951, the sole extant prince-bishop has been the ...

s' lands. Saalfelden was first mentioned as 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 mid 14th century. It remained part of the Salzburg prince-archbishopric until its

secularisation In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...

in 1803. With the Salzburg lands, Saalfelden finally fell 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. It achieved town status in 2000.

Sport and leisure

The Ritzensee and the adjacent Kollingwald forest are the recreation areas for Saalfelden's townsfolk. The lake is used in summer as a bathing lake and in winter for ice skating. Footpaths and trails are used in winter as

cross country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...

routes. In the village of Uttenhofen there several ski jumps including those of the Felix Gottwald Ski Jumping Stadium and a centre for Nordic combination. Saalfelden earned fame in the langlauf and biathlon sports through its top athletes: Felix Gottwald,

Simon Eder Simon Eder (born 23 February 1983) is an Austrian biathlete. Career His first World Cup win was in the Khanty-Mansiysk mass-start race on 29 March 2009. Eder represented Austria at the 2010 Winter Olympics and in 2014 Winter Olympics. He won 2 ...

, Julian Eberhard and Tobias Eberhard. Since 2006 an international

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...

competition has taken place annually in Saalfelden in August, the ''Tri Motion Austria''.

Notable people

* Rosl Schwaiger (1918–1970), operatic coloratura soprano

Sport

Wolfgang Feiersinger Wolfgang Feiersinger (born 30 January 1965) is an Austrian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Club career Feiersinger started his professional career in 1986 with Austria Salzburg and stayed with them for ten years, winn ...

(born 1965) footballer, played 430 games and 46 for

Austria national football team The Austria national football team () represents Austria in men's international Association football, football competitions, and is controlled by the Austrian Football Association. The Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) was founded on 18 Mar ...

* Gerhard Fellner (born 1970), football player and coach; played over 340 games *

Franz Zorn Franz Zorn (born 30 August 1970 in Saalfelden, Austria) is an Austrian ice speedway rider. Career In 2000, Zorn finished runner up in the 2000 Individual Ice Speedway World Championship. In 2008, he who won the Individual Ice Racing Europ ...

(born 1970) speedway rider; Ice Speedway European Champion, 2008 * Reinhard Schwarzenberger (born 1977) ski jumper, team bronze medallist at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events ...

* Thomas Hörl (born 1981), ski jumper, world record holder in March 2000 * Stefan Schwab (born 1990), football player, played over 410 games * Laura Feiersinger (born 1993), footballer, played over 100 games for

Austria women's national football team The Austria women's national football team represents Austria in international Women's association football, women's football competition. The team is controlled by the Austrian Football Association. The national team is made up mainly of playe ...

References

External links

Saalfelden official site
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Zell am See District