Golling an der Salzach 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 rural ...

in the

Hallein Hallein () is a historic town in the Austrian state of Salzburg. It is the capital of Hallein district. Geography The town is located in the ''Tennengau'' region south of the City of Salzburg, stretching along the Salzach river in the shadow of ...

district of

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 ...

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 ...

Geography

It is located on the southern rim of the ''Tennengau'' region south of the city of

. Here at the confluence 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, which eventually joins the Danube. Its drainage basin of comprises large parts of the Northern Limestone and Central E ...

and its

Lammer The Lammer is a river of Salzburg, Austria, a right tributary of the Salzach. The Lammer rises in the Tennen Mountains and flows from east to west, joining with the Salzach at Golling an der Salzach Golling an der Salzach is a market town in th ...

tributary, the river leaves the

Salzachöfen Gorge Salzachöfen, sometimes translated as Salzachöfen Gorge, is a narrow gorge in the Northern Limestone Alps of Salzburg State, Austria. The gap is formed by the Salzach river as it cuts between the Hagen Mountains and Tennen Mountains. Lueg Pass ...

between the

Berchtesgaden Alps The Berchtesgaden Alps (german: Berchtesgadener Alpen) are a mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps, named after the market town of Berchtesgaden located in the centre. The central part belongs to the Berchtesgadener Land district of southe ...

and the

Tennen Mountains The Tennen Mountains (german: Tennengebirge) is a small, but rugged, mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps, which lies in front of the Eastern Alps for its entire length. It is a very heavily karstified high plateau, about 60 km² in ...

ranges of the

Northern Limestone Alps The Northern Limestone Alps (german: Nördliche Kalkalpen), also called the Northern Calcareous Alps, are the ranges of the Eastern Alps north of the Central Eastern Alps located in Austria and the adjacent Bavarian lands of southeastern Germany. ...

and flows northwards into the broad Salzburg basin. The

Hoher Göll The Hoher Göll is a mountain in the Berchtesgaden Alps. It is the highest peak of the Göll massif, which straddles the border between the German state of Bavaria and the Austrian state of Salzburg. Geography On the Bavarian west side of t ...

massif of the Berchtesgaden Alps in the west comprise the Schwarzbachfall

Cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

and the high Golling

Waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

, a

natural monument A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance. Under World Commission on Protected Areas guidelines, nat ...

. Parallel to the Salzach River, the historic Salzachtal Straße enters the narrow gorge at Lueg Pass. Golling station is a stop on the

Salzburg-Tyrol Railway {{Infobox rail line , box_width = auto , name = Salzburg-Tyrol Railway , native_name = Salzburg-Tiroler-Bahn , native_name_lang = de , image ...

, served by

ÖBB The Austrian Federal Railways (german: Österreichische Bundesbahnen, formally (lit. "Austrian Federal Railways Holding Stock Company") and formerly the or ''BBÖ''), now commonly known as ÖBB, is the national railway company ...

trains and the Salzburg suburban

S-Bahn The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban- suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble co ...

network. The market town also has access to the

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

(A10) from Salzburg to

Villach Villach (; sl, Beljak; it, Villaco; fur, Vilac) 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 po ...

. The municipal area comprises the

cadastral communities A cadastral community or cadastral municipality, is a cadastral subdivision of municipalities in the nations of Austria,Cadastral Template for Austria, web-pageCT-AT Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, ...

of Golling, Torren, and Obergäu. Golling proper is colloquially just called ''Markt'' ("market").

History

The area on the road to the

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

mines in the

Pongau The Bezirk Sankt Johann im Pongau is an administrative district (''Bezirk'') in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria, and congruent with the Pongau region. Area of the district is 1,755.37 km², with a population of 77,872 (May 15, 2001) ...

region in the south had been settled at least since the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

. Here a

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

led from the city of Iuvavum (Salzburg) across the

Eastern Alps Eastern Alps is the name given to the eastern half of the Alps, usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley up to the Splügen Pass at the Alpine divide and down the Liro River to Lake Como in the ...

Aquileia Aquileia / / / / ;Bilingual name of ''Aquileja – Oglej'' in: vec, Aquiłeja / ; Slovenian: ''Oglej''), group=pron is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about from the sea, on the river N ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Formerly held by the Bavarian counts of

Plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

, ''Golingen'' first appeared in a 1241 deed. It was the site of Golling Castle erected at the behest of the Salzburg Archbishop Eberhard II on a hill above the town. It served as seat of the local administration and to control the trade route passing the narrow Salzach Valley between Golling and

Hohenwerfen Castle Hohenwerfen Castle (german: Festung Hohenwerfen, lit=Hohenwerfen Fortress) is a medieval rock castle, situated on a precipice overlooking the Austrian market town of Werfen in the Salzach valley, approximately south of Salzburg. The fortress is s ...

. The name is probably derived from Slavic ''golica'' ("bald mountain"). A market beneath the castle was already mentioned in 1284, market rights were officially granted about 1390. Golling was heavily devastated by the insurgents of the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositio ...

in 1526. The ''Pass Lueg'' ravine south of the town was further fortified by the Salzburg prince-archbishops during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

. In September 1809, it was the site of heavy fighting, when

rebels made a stand against united Franco-Bavarian occupation forces during the

War of the Fifth Coalition The War of the Fifth Coalition was a European conflict in 1809 that was part of the Napoleonic Wars and the Coalition Wars. The main conflict took place in central Europe between the Austrian Empire of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis ...

. They could however not prevent the annexation by the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...

according to the

Treaty of Schönbrunn The Treaty of Schönbrunn (french: Traité de Schönbrunn; german: Friede von Schönbrunn), sometimes known as the Peace of Schönbrunn or Treaty of Vienna, was signed between France and Austria at Schönbrunn Palace near Vienna on 14 October 1 ...

. With Salzburg, Golling finally passed to the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

in 1816 by resolution 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 B ...

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (''Gemeinderat'') as of 2009 elections: *

Austrian People's Party The Austrian People's Party (german: Österreichische Volkspartei , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. It is currentl ...

(ÖVP): 13 *

Social Democratic Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

(SPÖ): 5 *

Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (german: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Austria. It was led by Norbert Hofer from September 2019 to 1 June 2021.Staff (1 June 2021"Aust ...

(FPÖ): 3

Notable people

Joseph Mohr Josephus Franciscus Mohr, sometimes spelled Josef (11 December 1792 – 4 December 1848) was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest and writer, who wrote the words to the Christmas carol "Silent Night." Early life and education Mohr was born in S ...

(1792–1848), who wrote the words to the ''

Silent Night "Silent Night" (german: "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht", links=no, italic=no) is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an ...

'' Christmas carol, served as priest of the Golling parish church from 1820 to 1821.

References

External links

Municipal website

Tourist site
{{authority control Cities and towns in Hallein District Tennen Mountains Berchtesgaden Alps