St. Michael im Lungau 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 district of

Tamsweg Tamsweg () is a market town in the Austrian state of Salzburg near the border with Styria. It is the administrative centre of the eponymous Tamsweg District (''Bezirk'') and the largest town of the Salzburg Lungau region. Geography Tamsweg is loca ...

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 ...

Geography

It is located in the historic Lungau region, in the valley of the upper Mur river, north of

Katschberg Pass Katschberg Pass (el. ) is a high mountain pass in the Central Eastern Alps in Austria between Rennweg am Katschberg in the state of Carinthia and Sankt Michael im Lungau in Salzburg. Geography It connects the Carinthian Katsch Valley in the s ...

on the border with the 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 ...

. With a population of about 3,500, St. Michael is the second largest municipality in Tamsweg District. The municipal area comprises the cadastral communities of Höf, Oberweissburg, St. Martin im Lungau, St. Michael im Lungau, and Unterweissburg. St. Michael has access to the

Tauern Autobahn The Tauern Autobahn (A 10) is an autobahn (motorway) in Austria. It starts at the Salzburg junction with the West Autobahn (A1), runs southwards, crosses the Tauern mountain range on the main chain of the Alps and leads to the Süd Autobahn ...

(A10) running from

Villach Villach (; ; ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the population is 61,887. Together wit ...

and is the site of a large

toll booth A tollbooth (or toll booth) is an enclosure placed along a toll road that is used for the purpose of collecting a toll from passing traffic. A structure consisting of several tollbooths placed next to each other is called a toll plaza, tollga ...

. The parallel ''Katschberg Straße'' (B99) highway leads from

Radstadt Radstadt (Central Bavarian: ''Rodstoud'' or ''Rodstod'') is a historic town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Geography The town is part of the Salzburg Pongau region. It is located in the valley of the ...

and

Radstädter Tauern Pass Radstädter Tauern Pass (el. ) is a high mountain pass in the Austrian state of Salzburg, connecting the town of Radstadt in the Pongau region with Mauterndorf in Lungau. Geography The pass separates the Radstadt Tauern in the west and the Sch ...

in the north to

Spittal an der Drau Spittal an der Drau is a town in the western part of the Austrian federal state of Carinthia (state), Carinthia. It is the administrative centre of Spittal an der Drau District, Austria's second largest district (''Districts of Austria, Bezirk'') b ...

, Carinthia via Katschberg Pass in the south. The ''Murtal Straße'' (B96) branch-off leads eastwards down the Mur valley to the district capital

and

Murau Murau () is a town in the western part of the Austrian federal state of Styria. It is the administrative seat of Murau District. Geography The historic town is located in mountainous Upper Styria in the valley of the Mur river between the Lower ...

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

History

The Lungau region has been continuously 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 ...

; the local

Hallstatt culture The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Western Europe, Western and Central European archaeological culture of the Late Bronze Age Europe, Bronze Age (Hallstatt A, Hallstatt B) from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and Early Iron Age Europe (Hallst ...

was gradually assimilated by

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 ...

immigrants about 450 BC. After the Celtic kingdom of ''

Noricum Noricum () is the Latin name for the kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the north, R ...

'' became a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

province in 15 BC, a

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

was laid out across Katschberg Pass, leading to the city of ''

Teurnia Teurnia (later Tiburnia) was a Roman Empire, Roman city (''municipium''). Today its ruins lie in western Carinthia (state), Carinthia. In Late Antiquity, late antiquity it was also a bishop's see, and towards the end of Roman times it was mention ...

'' in the south. In the 6th century AD,

Slavic tribes This is a list of early Slavic peoples reported in Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, that is, before the year AD 1500. Ancestors *Proto-Indo-Europeans (Proto-Indo-European speakers) ** Proto-Balto-Slavs (common ancestors of Balts and Slav ...

moved into the area, succeeded by Bavarian settlers 200 years later. The

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

parish church dedicated to

Saint Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

was first mentioned in an 1147 deed. Together with the Lungau region it became a part of the

Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg The Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg (; ) was an Prince-bishop, ecclesiastical principality and Imperial State, state of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised the secular territory ruled by the archbishops of Salzburg, as distinguished from the m ...

in the late 13th century, ruled from nearby

Mauterndorf Mauterndorf (Southern Bavarian: ''Mautndorf'') is a market town of the Tamsweg District in the Austrian state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg. The municipality also comprises the Katastralgemeinden ''Faningberg, Neuseß'' and ''Steindorf''. Geograph ...

, later from Moosham Castle. The ''Heihsgut'' manor house in the village of St. Martin, first documented in 1478, is one of the oldest preserved dwellings in the Salzburg Alps. Like several other Lungau municipalities, St. Michael is known for its annual

Samson SAMSON (Software for Adaptive Modeling and Simulation Of Nanosystems) is a computer software platform for molecular design being developed bOneAngstromand previously by the NANO-D group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science an ...

parades.

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (''Gemeinderat'') as of 2014 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): 6 *

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): 2

Twin town

St. Michael is twinned with: *

Bad Leonfelden Bad Leonfelden is a municipality in the district of Urfahr-Umgebung in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Steven Beller, author of ''A Concise History of Austria'', who has family links to Bad Leonfelden, cites episodes from the town's history ...

, Austria

Notable people

* Dagobert Peche (1887-1923), artist and designer *

Rudi Wilfer Rudi may refer to: __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Rudi (name), a given name, nickname and surname; includes a list of people and fictional characters with the name * * Places *Rudi (Tanzanian ward) *Rudi, Iran (disambiguation) *Rud ...

(born 1936), pianist and composer.

References

External links

homepage
Cities and towns in Tamsweg District Ankogel Group Radstadt Tauern {{Salzburg-geo-stub