Nötsch im Gailtal () 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

Villach-Land Bezirk Villach-Land () is a district of the state of Carinthia in Austria. Municipalities Towns (''Städte'') are indicated in boldface; market towns (''Marktgemeinden'') in ''italics''; suburbs, hamlets and other subdivisions of a municipalit ...

in the

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 ...

n state of

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 ...

Geography

Located west of

Villach Villach (; ; ; ) 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 population is 61,887. Together wit ...

, the municipal area stretches along the lower

Gail Gail may refer to: People * Gail (given name), list of notable people with the given name Surname * Jean-Baptiste Gail (1755–1829), French Hellenist scholar * Max Gail (born 1943), American actor * Sophie Gail (1775–1819), French singer ...

valley in southern Carinthia at the foot of the Villacher Alpe (Dobratsch) massif, the eastern extension of the

Gailtal Alps The Gailtal Alps ( or ''Drauzug''), is a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps in Austria. It rises between the River Drava (''Drau'') and the Gail (river), Gail valley (in southwestern Carinthia (state), Carinthia) and through the southe ...

. It comprises the cadastral communities of Kerschdorf (''Črešnje''), Saak (''Čače''), and Sankt Georgen (''Šentjurij''). Nötsch can be reached from Villach and

Süd Autobahn The Süd Autobahn (A2) ('South Motorway') is a Controlled-access highway, motorway (''Autobahns of Austria, Autobahn'') in Austria. Completed in 1999, it runs from the outskirts of Vienna south via the cities of Graz and Klagenfurt to the border ...

(A2) via the ''Gailtal Straße'' (B111) highway. In the north, a mountain roads leads up to the high valley of

Bad Bleiberg Bad Bleiberg () is a market town in the district of Villach-Land District, Villach-Land, in Carinthia, Austria. Originally a mining area, especially for lead (), Bad Bleiberg today due to its hot springs is a spa town. Geography Bad Bleiberg is ...

. Nötsch station is a stop on the ''Gailtalbahn'' railway line from

Arnoldstein Arnoldstein (, ) is a market town in the district of Villach-Land in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Geography Location Arnoldstein is located at Austria's southern border between the Carnic Alps and the Karawanken mountain range, near the c ...

Kötschach-Mauthen Kötschach-Mauthen is a market town in the district of Hermagor in Carinthia in Austria. Geography The municipality lies in the west of Hermagor at the transition of the upper Gail Valley into the Lesachtal, between the Gailtal and Carnic Alp ...

History

The settlement in the

Duchy of Carinthia The Duchy of Carinthia (; ; ) was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, and was the first newly created Imperial State after the original German stem duchies. Car ...

was first mentioned in a 1253 deed together with ''Lewenburg'' castle, present-day Wasserleonburg, then a fief of the Prince-Bishops of Bamberg. The area was devastated in the 1348 Friuli earthquake, which caused a massive

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

at Mt. Dobratsch and a flood of the Gail river. Wasserleonburg Castle, located high above the village of Saak, was rebuilt in the 14th century. During a series of ownership of several Villach merchant families, it was significantly enlarged in the 16th and 17th centuries, including a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

courtyard with an open loggia, a

Mannerist Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

facade, and a castle chapel. Up to today, the complex is privately owned and used as a hotel; after his abdication,

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January ...

, Duke of Windsor, and his wife

Wallis Simpson Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Spencer and then Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986) was an American socialite and the wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (former King Edward VIII). Their intentio ...

spent their honeymoon here from 5 June to 7 September 1937. From the early 20th century onwards, Nötsch temporarily was home of a group of

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

painters around Anton Kolig (1886–1950). The "Nötsch Circle" was in touch with the ''

Hagenbund The Hagenbund or Künstlerbund Hagen was a group of Austrian artists that formed in 1899. The group's name derived from the name Herr Hagen, the proprietor of an inn in Vienna which they frequented. Early history The group's most prominent member ...

'' group of artists around

Oskar Kokoschka Oskar Kokoschka (1 March 1886 – 22 February 1980) was an Austrian artist, poet, playwright and teacher, best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes, as well as his theories on vision that influenced the Viennese Expre ...

Anton Faistauer Anton Faistauer (14 February 1887, Sankt Martin bei Lofer – 13 February 1930, Vienna) was an Austrian Expressionist painter. Life He came from a family of farmers, grew up near Maishofen and originally wanted to be a priest. After a meeting ...

, and

Egon Schiele Egon Leo Adolf Ludwig Schiele (; 12 June 1890 – 31 October 1918) was an Austrian Expressionist painters, painter. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and for the many self-portraits the artist produced, including nude sel ...

. In a bombing raid on Nötsch on December 17, 1944, several residents were injured and killed.

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (''Gemeinderat'') as of 2021 local 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): 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): 7 * Greens: 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): 1 File:Nötsch Saak mit Wasserleonburg 20052007 01.jpg, Nötsch File:Noetsch Saak Hauptstrasse 2008 0814.JPG, Saak File:Noetsch Saak altes Haus Kulturdenkmal 2008 0814.jpg, Old farmhouse File:Noetsch Saak Friedhof Monumentalwerk Koligs Michorgrab 2008 0814.jpg

References

Cities and towns in Villach-Land District Gailtal Alps Carnic Alps {{Carinthia-geo-stub