The Untersberg is the northernmost
massif
A massif () is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, ''massif'' is frequently used to denote the main mass of an ...
of the
Berchtesgaden Alps
The Berchtesgaden Alps (, ) are a mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps, named after the market town of Berchtesgaden located in the centre. It is crossed by the Austria–Germany border: the central part belongs to the Berchtesgadener Lan ...
, a prominent spur straddling the border between
Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden () is a municipality in the district Berchtesgadener Land, Bavaria, in southeastern Germany, near the border with Austria, south of Salzburg and southeast of Munich. It lies in the Berchtesgaden Alps. South of the town, the Be ...
,
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 ...
and
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 ...
. The highest peak of the
table-top mountain is the
Berchtesgaden Hochthron at .
The landmark gained international fame as the "distinctive, lopsided peak" featured at the beginning and end of the 1965 movie ''
The Sound of Music
''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...
'',
although the filming was done on the German side, not the Austrian side. It was where
Julie Andrews
Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over eight decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Fi ...
sang ''The Hills Are Alive'' at the opening scene and where the family climbed the mountain on their escape to Switzerland at the end of the film.
The mountain also lends its name to an 1829 opera, ''Der Untersberg,'' by
Johann Nepomuk von Poißl (1783–1865).
Geography
The Untersberg rises at the rim of the
Northern Limestone Alps, immediately at the Salzburg Basin and the broad
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 ...
Valley. Neighbouring peaks are the
Hoher Göll in the southeast and Mt.
Watzmann in the south, beyond the Berchtesgaden Basin. In the northwest, the
Saalach Valley with
Bad Reichenhall separates it from the
Hochstaufen massif of the
Chiemgau Alps
The Chiemgau Alps () are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps and belong to the Eastern Alps. They are crossed by the Austria–Germany border: their major part is situated in Bavaria, Germany, and only a small section is within the ...
. About two-thirds of the area, including the Berchtesgaden Hochthron peak, is located in Germany, while the northernmost steep edge above Salzburg belongs to Austria.
The mountain is a landmark popular with tourists, due to its proximity to the City of Salzburg: less than south of the city centre and within easy reach, e.g. by bus lines running to the southern suburbs of
Grödig and
Großgmain.
Several trails lead to the top, though most people prefer the ''Untersbergbahn''
cable car. Constructed over a period of over two years, and opening in April 1961, the eight and a half minute journey lifts passengers from the lower terminus at the village of Sankt Leonhard at over to the top station on the Geiereck spur at an altitude of , transporting them a horizontal distance of almost with a maximum height above the ground of .
The first recorded ascent was in the first half of the 12th century, by Eberwein, a member of the
Augustinian monastery at Berchtesgaden.
Peaks
* Berchtesgaden Hochthron:
* Rauheck:
* Gamsalpkopf:
* Salzburg Hochthron:
* Mitterberg:
* Geiereck:
Geology
The Untersberg massif is mainly made up of
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
. Within it, the Upper
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...
Gosau Group is the source of a pale cream, rose to gray yellow, massive and very dense limestone known as the ''Untersberg Marble''. This building stone is a fine to medium grained (partially
breccious)
arenite that forms the facade of notable buildings such as
Salzburg Cathedral.
[Moshammer, B., Uhlir, C., Rohatsch, A. and Unterwurzacher, M., 2015. ''Adnet ‘Marble’, Untersberg ‘Marble’and Leitha Limestone—Best Examples Expressing Austria’s Physical Cultural Heritage.'' In ''Engineering Geology for Society and Territory.'' 5, pp. 253-257). Switzerland: Springer.]
The
Karst
Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...
topography of the limestone includes numerous caves. So far, more than 400 have been explored—including the
Schellenberg ice cave at an elevation of , a
show cave
A show cave—also called tourist cave, public cave, and, in the United States, commercial cave—is a cave which has been made accessible to the public for guided visits.
Definition
A show cave is a cave that has been made accessible to ...
since 1925, and the
Kolowrat cave with a high dome. The
Riesending cave with a depth of and a length of is the largest known in Germany. There also is a lake at depth. An expedition in August 2008 revealed that its lowest point had not yet been reached.
Legend
First mentioned as ''Vndarnsperch'' ("
Noon
Noon (also known as noontime or midday) is 12 o'clock in the daytime. It is written as 12 noon, 12:00 m. (for '' meridiem'', literally 12:00 midday), 12 p.m. (for ''post meridiem'', literally "after midday"), 12 pm, or 12:00 (using a 24-hour cl ...
Mountain") in a 1306 deed issued by the
Salzburg archbishops, the prominent spur has been the subject of numerous myths and legends. According to a popular
king asleep in mountain
The king asleep in the mountain (D 1960.2 in Stith Thompson's Motif (folkloristics), motif-index) is a prominent folklore Trope (literature), trope found in many folktales and legends. Thompson termed it as the Kyffhäuser type. Some other design ...
legend, Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...
shall remain asleep inside Mt. Untersberg until his resurrection. His beard is said to be growing longer and longer around a round table and to have grown round two times. Myth says that when the beard has grown three times around the table the end of the world has come. When Frederick leaves the mountain, there will be no further
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...
and the last great battle of humankind will be fought at the pear tree on the Walserfeld, a pasture near
Wals, west of Salzburg. There is a similar legend for the
Kyffhäuser
The Kyffhäuser (,''Duden - Das Aussprachewörterbuch, 7. Auflage (German)'', Dudenverlag, sometimes also referred to as ''Kyffhäusergebirge'') is a hill range in Central Germany, shared by Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, southeast of the Harz mou ...
Mountain in
Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
and
Trifels Castle.
Other legends say that it is
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...
waiting inside the Untersberg,
taken care of by the ''Untersberger Mandln'', small dwarf-like creatures. Every hundred years he awakes and when he sees the ravens (actually
choughs) still flying around the Untersberg he sleeps for another century. Indeed, Charlemagne had held a
synod
A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...
in Salzburg in 803 AD, where he met with Bishop
Arno. The
Alpine tradition of the Untersberg
Wild Hunt (''Perchten'') has recently been revived. There are also several legends about the cave system below the mountain.
Marble ball mills
The Untersberger marble ball mills are located in
Marktschellenberg in
Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden () is a municipality in the district Berchtesgadener Land, Bavaria, in southeastern Germany, near the border with Austria, south of Salzburg and southeast of Munich. It lies in the Berchtesgaden Alps. South of the town, the Be ...
, at the opening of the Almbachklamm valley.
The ''Kugelmühlen'' (ball mills) were established in 1683. Once popular children's toys, these marbles were shipped all over the world. Through Rotterdam and London, marble shipping was directed toward the East and West Indies and exported at the rate of 60,000 to 80,000 (and sometimes as high as 100,000) pounds per year. Marbles were welcome as cargo in sailing ships, as they were suitable as ballast because of their high density. The last marbles went from Untersberg to London in 1921.
As late as the 1850s, the Almbach valley had 40 ball mills with another 90 in the surrounding region, worked mainly by poor mountain farmers. Today, a single ball mill operates primarily as a tourist attraction.
The ball mills were driven by the waters of the
Almbach river. The lower fixed grinding stones are made of hard sandstone and the upper turntables from beech wood. Grinding of the balls varies from two to eight days according to their size. After coarse grinding on the sandstone, the marble balls underwent sanding and a polish.
Gallery
Untersberg Salzburg Austria.jpg, Untersberg in April 2020
Untersberg 030704.jpg, View across the "Mittagsscharte", in the background on the left the "Salzburger Hochthron"
Untersberg Geiereck.jpg, Geiereck, a peak of the Untersberg
Salzburg (8).JPG, Untersberg cable car station
Untersberg (5).JPG, Cable car to Untersberg mountain.
Untersberg (19).JPG, View of the Salzburg basin from the Untersberg mountain top. Note Salzburg Airport on the left and Salzburg old & new towns to the right
Untersberg (24).JPG, Tourists atop the Untersberg mountain.
UntersbergView.JPG, View from Untersberg on a cloudy day.
See also
*
*
*
References
External links
Outlook from UntersbergSalzburg Tourist Officenbsp;– Salzburg city tourist board website.
{{Authority control
Mountains of Bavaria
Mountains of Salzburg (federal state)
Mountains of the Alps
Austria–Germany border
International mountains of Europe
Berchtesgaden Alps
Watermills in Germany
Articles containing video clips
King asleep in mountain