Bruck an der Großglocknerstraße (

Southern Bavarian Southern Bavarian or South Bavarian, is a cluster of Upper German dialects of the Bavarian group. They are primarily spoken in Tyrol (i.e. the Austrian federal state of Tyrol and the Italian province of South Tyrol), in Carinthia and in t ...

: ''Bruck a da Glocknerstrouss'') is a municipality in

Zell am See District 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 ...

, 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

Bruck in the historic ''Pinzgau'' region is situated in the valley of 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, at the northern entrance to the Grossglockner High Alpine Road running up to 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 ...

mountain range and the Alpine crest. Neighbouring municipalities are

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 ...

, Taxenbach, Fusch, Kaprun, and Maria Alm. The municipal area comprises the cadastral communities of Bruck, Hundsdorf, Reith, and Sankt Georgen. Local villages are: Brandenau, Bruck, Fischhorn, Gries, Hauserdorf, Hundsdorf, Krössenbach, Niederhof, Pichl, Reit, Sankt Georgen, Steinbach, Vorfusch, and Winkl.

History

Evidence points to a settlement as early as 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 ...

and

Hallstatt Hallstatt () is a small town in the district of Gmunden District, Gmunden, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Situated between the southwestern shore of Hallstätter See and the steep slopes of the Dachstein massif, the town lies in the Sa ...

period. The

Illyrians The Illyrians (, ; ) were a group of Indo-European languages, Indo-European-speaking people who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. They constituted one of the three main Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan populations, alon ...

and

Celts The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

settled here, as did the Romans from about 15 BC. In the course of the

Migration Period The Migration Period ( 300 to 600 AD), also known as the Barbarian Invasions, was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories ...

and the fall of the Roman Empire,

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 and mingled with the local population. The first mention of ''Prugg im Pinzgrey'' in 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 ...

occurred in a 1227 deed. Bruck schloss fischhorn

At the same time, the castle of ''Vischarn'' first appeared in the records, initially held as a fief by the Lords of Goldegg, later a possession of the Bishops of Chiemsee. The building was purchased by Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein and her brother Prince Johann II in 1862, who had it rebuilt in a

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

style according to plans designed by Friedrich Schmidt. Again rebuilt after a blaze in 1920, it was seized by the Nazi '' SS'' organisation in 1943 and temporarily served as a subcamp of

Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

. On 8 May 1945, American troops of the VIIe Army arrested

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

here before he was taken to

Camp Ashcan Central Continental Prisoner of War Enclosure No. 32, code-named ''Ashcan'', was an Allied prisoner-of-war camp in the ''Palace Hotel'' of Mondorf-les-Bains, Luxembourg during World War II. Operating from May to August 1945, it served as a proce ...

. Since the completion of the Grossglockner High Alpine Road in 1935, the city has been called ''Bruck an der Großglocknerstraße'' ("Bridge at the Grossglockner road"). In 1938, the independent village of Sankt Georgen was incorporated.

Coat of arms

After the Second World War, in Bruck's efforts to create a separate community stepped up arms again, there was a new draft, which was included in the former official seal of the municipality. This seal had included the then-unofficial emblem Eismadonna (iron madonna) as a coat of arms. Considering the fact that several communities in the region of Pinzgau, from a long time ago, had also used the Madonna's heraldic symbol, it had been discouraged by this kind of arms design. As provided in the following years, but again the link with the town's name of the bridge over the river, a crook was added to the former seal, symbolizing the close association with the Lord on Fischhorn Castle, the Bishop of Chiemsee. This kind of presentation of a herald was welcomed with little enthusiasm. After long deliberation, it was decided then at least to a so-called speaking of arms, which was created by Prof. Mag Gerd Nowotny and then from the Salzburg provincial government on 17 September 1976, the town was also awarded: the coat of arms shows, in a silver shield, a three-peaked green mountain, with a silver bridge, in front, crossing along a river. It is expressed therefore, in the coat of arms, as the bridge over the Salzach River, the name of the place and the connection with St. George brought about by the Three Brothers symbolized expression.

Politics

The local council of Bruck an der Großglocknerstraße has 21 members and is made up from local council elections since 2014 as follows: :: 9

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) :: 8

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) :: 2

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 Greens The directly elected mayor is Herbert Burgschwaiger (SPÖ).

Transportation

The Grossglockner High Alpine Road, as a high-altitude mountain road, connects the two Austrian provinces of

and

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 ...

. The span from Bruck to Heiligenblut along the road is long. At Bruck-Fusch station the municipality has access to the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway line.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruck an der Grossglocknerstrasse Cities and towns in Zell am See District Salzburg Slate Alps Glockner Group