Straßwalchen (

Central Bavarian Central or Middle Bavarian form a subgroup of Bavarian dialects in large parts of Austria and the German state of Bavaria along the Danube river, on the northern side of the Eastern Alps. They are spoken in the ' Old Bavarian' regions of Upper ...

: ''Strosswoicher'') 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 Salzburg-Umgebung (''Flachgau'') in the 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 ...

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

The municipal area stretches along the northeastern border of Salzburg with the state of

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 ...

. It comprises the cadastral communities of Bruckmoos, Brunn, Haselreith, Irrsdorf, Straßwalchen-Land, and Straßwalchen-Markt. Straßwalchen has access to the Austrian Western Railway line from the city of

to the capital

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, built in 1860 by the Empress Elisabeth Railway company. With the Western Railway Straßwalchen is connected to the Salzburg S-Bahn public transport network, as northeastern terminus of the S2 line. The parallel road link to Vienna (''Wiener Straße'') has become less important with the 1963 opening of the West Autobahn farther south.

History

Archaeological finds indicate a settlement of the area since 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. From the 6th century onwards,

Bavarii The Baiuvarii or Bavarii, sometimes simply called Bavarians (; ) were a Germanic people who lived in and near present-day southern Bavaria, which is named after them. They began to appear in records by the 6th century AD, and their culture, lang ...

tribes moved into the region—the name ''Strazzuualaha'', first documented in 799, is probably derived from ''

walha *''Walhaz'' is a reconstructed Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic word meaning 'foreigner', or more specifically 'Roman', 'Romance-speaker' or '(romanized) Celt', and survives in the English words of 'Wales/Welsh people, Welsh' and 'Corn ...

'', the Proto-Germanic denotation for a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

ized population they had encountered, similar to nearby Seewalchen or Wals. While the Lordship of Straßwalchen was held by the Prince-Bishops of Passau since 1243, the economically important toll station passed to the

Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a former Bavarian dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including the Electorate of Bavaria, the Electoral Palatinate, the Electorate of Cologne, County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, ...

dukes of

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 ...

in 1286, which sparked a long-time dissension between the rivaling rulers. In 1390 the Passau bishops bequeathed the larger Lordship of Mattsee with Straßwalchen to the

Archbishopric of Salzburg The Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg (; ) was an ecclesiastical principality and state of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised the secular territory ruled by the archbishops of Salzburg, as distinguished from the much larger Catholic diocese f ...

. Prince-Archbishop Burkhard Weisbriach granted market privileges to the citizens in 1462. The Salzburg archbishopric retained Straßwalchen 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, however, the Dukes of Bavaria— Electors from 1623—insisted on their claims. From 1810 to 1816 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 ...

, newly established with the support of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

, comprised the Salzburg territory with Straßwalchen, before it 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 ...

according to the resolutions 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 (''Gemeindevertretung'') 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): 7 *

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 *

Free Voters Free Voters (, FW) is a political party in Germany. It originates as an umbrella organisation of several Free Voters Associations (), associations of people which participate in an election without having the status of a registered party. These a ...

: 2

Gallery

Image:Straßwalchen kirche grundriß.jpg, Church and Cemetery Image:Straßwalchen kirche.jpg, Straßwalchen

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strasswalchen Cities and towns in Salzburg-Umgebung District