Gerlos is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

with 793 inhabitants (as of Jan. 2019) in

Schwaz Schwaz () is a city in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the administrative center of the Schwaz district. Schwaz is located in the lower Inn valley. Location Schwaz lies in the middle of the Lower Inn Valley at the foot of the Kellerjoch and ...

district of the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n state of

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

. The village is popular with skiing tourists, mainly families, as there is easy access to Zillertal Arena Centre on Isskogel. The village lies in the

Zell am Ziller Zell am Ziller is a municipality in the Schwaz district in the Austrian state of Tyrol. The name derives from the river Ziller. Climate Population Facilities The Zillertal Arena was formed in 2000 from a merger of the ski area A ski area i ...

judicial district. The municipality of Gerlos has seven districts: Au, Gmünd, Innertal, Mitterhof, Oberhof, Ried and Schwarzach.

Geography

Gerlos is located in the :de:Gerlostal, which is a side valley of the

Zillertal The Ziller Valley (german: Zillertal) is a valley in Tyrol, Austria that is drained by the Ziller River. It is the widest valley south of the Inn Valley (german: Inntal) and lends its name to the Zillertal Alps, the strongly glaciated section of t ...

, branching to the east near Zell am Ziller. Gerlos consists of several hamulated located along the :de:Gerlospass on the floor of the valley, at an altitude of around 1200m. To the south, the side valleys of :de:Schwarzach, :de:Wimmerbach, and :de:Schönach lead to the Zillertal Alps, which are over 3000 meters tall. To the north, there is a ski area on the Kitzbuhel Alps. The municipal area of Gerlos has an area of approximately 120km². A third of this is forested, a quarter is High Alpine, and the rest are alpine pastures. Three percent of the area is used for

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

History

In the 9th Century, the

Archbishop of Salzburg The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg ( la, Archidioecesis Salisburgensis) is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria. The archdiocese is one of two Austrian archdioceses, serving alongside the Archdiocese of ...

acquired large estates in the Zillertal, and the only direct connection between

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

and its Tyrolean territories was a

mule track A bridle path, also bridleway, equestrian trail, horse riding path, ride, bridle road, or horse trail, is a trail or a thoroughfare that is used by people riding on horses. Trails originally created for use by horses often now serve a wider r ...

. In the 14th Century, several tax-paying Schwaighöfe (

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

and dairy producing farms) were established in Gmünd, Ried, and Oberhof. Until the erection of a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

filial church A filial church, in the Roman Catholic Church, is a church to which is annexed the cure of souls, but which remains dependent on another church. The term comes from the Latin ''filialis'', from ''filia'', “daughter”. Description The term ''fili ...

in 1470, Gerlos was part of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

of Zell am Ziller.

St Lambert Lambert of Maastricht, commonly referred to as Saint Lambert ( la, Lambertus; Middle Dutch: ''Sint-Lambrecht''; li, Lambaer, Baer, Bert(us); 636 – c. 705 AD) was the bishop of Maastricht-Liège (Tongeren) from about 670 until his death. Lam ...

's tower and Leonhard church were built circa 1500. The parish church in Gerlos today still contains its substructure, up to the octagonal attachment. The other parts of Gerlos' church were built in 1735 by :de:Hans Holzmeister. Gerlos became a parish in 1891. Gerlos was first mentioned in a 1507 document as "saltus gerlaise" (Gerlos Pass). The valley and place name "gerlaise" is probably derived from the words "ger", meaning "pointed property", and "laise", a wild

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

. Gerlos' forests are also referenced in the same year, under the name "silvam cui nomen Gerleis". The area experienced a high when

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

was discovered in the neighbouring towns of

Hainzenberg Hainzenberg is a municipality in the Schwaz district in the Austrian state of Tyrol. Geography Hainzenberg lies southeast of Zell am Ziller Zell am Ziller is a municipality in the Schwaz district in the Austrian state of Tyrol. The name derives ...

and

. Gold was also discovered in Gerlos itself, where it was mined from the 17th century up to 1870. The Gerlos Pass also played an important role in the

Tyrolean Rebellion The Tyrolean Rebellion (german: Tiroler Volksaufstand) is a name given to the resistance of militiamen, peasants, craftsmen and other civilians of the County of Tyrol led by Andreas Hofer supported by his wife Anna and a strategic council cons ...

of 1809, when troops from

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 ...

invaded

. Although the pass had been, for many centuries, the most important route from Tyrol to Salzburg, there were plans for the construction of a new road as early as 1630, although this never materialised: the roads were still in poor condition in late in the 19th century. In 1866, the "Bote für Tirol" wrote that Gerlos roads had road gradients of 20%, bumpy

pavements Pavement may refer to: * Pavement (architecture), an outdoor floor or superficial surface covering * Road surface, the durable surfacing of roads and walkways ** Asphalt concrete, a common form of road surface * Sidewalk or pavement, a walkway al ...

, rutted tracks over rock ground, and sharp bends. During this period, construction of a railway line had been planned, but this never happened. When construction of a new road began in 1910, huge problems were experienced due to

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...

and loosing of the soil. A new road on the Salzburg side was only completed in 1962, by Franz Wallach, the builder of the

Grossglockner High Alpine Road The Grossglockner High Alpine Road (in German ''Großglockner Hochalpenstraße'') is the highest surfaced mountain pass road in Austria. It connects Bruck an der Großglocknerstraße, Bruck in the state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg with Heilige ...

. It was another two years before the road on the Tyrolean side was passable.The Funsingau

Hydroelectric power plant Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

was also completed around this time. The population of Gerlos has been increasing since its founding, although the population has fluctuated in recent times. Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:900 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = late ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:10 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo PlotData= color:skyblue width:14 shift:(-50,-5) fontsize:M anchor:till bar:1869 from:0 till:416 text:416 bar:1880 from:0 till:377 text:377 bar:1890 from:0 till:339 text:339 bar:1900 from:0 till:365 text:365 bar:1910 from:0 till:365 text:365 bar:1923 from:0 till:367 text:367 bar:1934 from:0 till:480 text:480 bar:1939 from:0 till:426 text:426 bar:1951 from:0 till:528 text:528 bar:1961 from:0 till:561 text:561 bar:1971 from:0 till:680 text:680 bar:1981 from:0 till:749 text:749 bar:1991 from:0 till:781 text:781 bar:2001 from:0 till:820 text:820 bar:2011 from:0 till:779 text:779 bar:2021 from:0 till:805 text:805 TextData= fontsize:S pos:(35,20) text:"Zahlenleiste: Einwohner; Quelle: Statistik Austria"

Culture

Gerlos has 5 culturally significant buildings, for example the Gerlos parish church (pictured)

Economy and Infrastructure

Tourism

In addition to electricity generation by the Fusingau power plant and

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

, ski

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

plays a key role in the village's economy, as Gerlos has the third highest number of winter overnight stays per year in the ZIllertal, after

Mayrhofen Mayrhofen is a town in the Zillertal (Ziller river valley) in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is located approximately an hour from the Tyrolean capital city of Innsbruck. Population Tourism The town offers a variety of summer and winter sports ...

and

Tux Black tie is a semi-formal wear, semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for clothing, attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically ...

. From 2010 to 2019, the number of overnight stays increased from 590,000 to 670,000. The main ski season is busiest in February, with 125,000 overnight stays. Summer months are also busy, in particular August with 774,000 overnight stays (in 2019) The skiing season of 2020 was severely impacted by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

- stays over the entire year totaled 486,444, with February overnights being reduced to only 139,347.

Traffic

The main road through Gerlos is the :de:Gerlosstrasse, which connects Zell am Ziller to

Mittersill Mittersill ( bar, Mittasü) is a city in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria, in the Pinzgau region of the Alps. It is located on the Salzach River. It has a population of 5,408 as of 2011. Geography Mittersill lies approximately 25 km to the ...

. There is a seasonal bus service from Zell am Ziller at the Zillertalbahn train station.

Sports

* Swimming in the Durlassboden reservoir * Hiking in the Kitzbuelher Alps *

Via ferrata A via ferrata (Italian for "iron path", plural ''vie ferrate'' or in English ''via ferratas'') is a protected climbing route found in the Alps and certain other locations. The term "via ferrata" is used in most countries and languages except n ...

in :de:Riederklamm *

Mountain biking Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and pe ...

* Piste skiing in the

Zillertal Arena The Zillertal Arena is a winter sports area and the largest ski area in the Zillertal valley in Austria. It has 163 kilometres of piste and 50 lifts that can transport 76,000 people every hour. It consists of two parts: one with valley lifts from ...

Ski touring Ski touring is skiing in the backcountry on unmarked or unpatrolled areas. Touring is typically done off-piste and outside of ski resorts, and may extend over a period of more than one day. It is similar to backcountry skiing but excludes the u ...

Politics

Local Council

Eleven representatives are elected to the municipal council. Wappen-Gerlos-groß

Mayorship

* 1974–1992 Johann Kammerlander80igster Geburtstag Altbürgermeister Hans Kammerlander. Gerloser Gemeindeblatt März 2007 * 1992–2009 Franz Hörl (ÖVP) * since 2009 Andreas Haas

Coat of Arms

The municipal coat of arms of Gerlos was created in 1985. It primarily depicts a

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...

, which is the result of the merging of the heraldic animals of Salzburg and Tyrol, the eagle and the lion. This represents the location of the community, being on the border of the states, and also represents the ties to the local archbishopship of Salzburg,

Notable People

Honorary Citizens

Berthold Beitz Berthold Beitz (; 26 September 1913 – 30 July 2013) was a German industrialist. He was the head of the Krupp steel conglomerate beginning in the 1950s. He was credited with helping to lead the re-industrialization of the Ruhr Valley and re ...

(1913-2013) - cofounder of the Zillertal ski area. * Peter Haas (1927-2017) - a longtime

Kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

and

Choirmaster A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

in the village. * Johann Kammerlander (1926-2017) - former mayor of Gerlos,

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

Gerlos born

* :de:Simon Geisler (1686-1931), politician

Associated

Anja Haas Anja Haas (born 30 May 1971 in Gerlos) is a retired Austrian alpine skiing, alpine skier. She competed in Alpine skiing at the 1994 Winter Olympics, two events at the 1994 Winter Olympics. World Cup victories References

1971 births A ...

, (born 1971) - alpine skier, trains in the village * :de:Franz Hörl (born 1956) - politician, runs a hotel in the village.

External Links

Statistics Austria - local statistics for Gerlo
here

Village Website

References

Kitzbühel Alps Cities and towns in Schwaz District {{Tyrol-geo-stub