Obernberg am Brenner is a municipality in the southern district of Innsbruck-Land in 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

Tirol 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 ...

Geography

Obernberg am Brenner is located nearly 30 km south from

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

in a valley with the same name, which departs from the west side of Wipptal at Gries am Brenner. The valley ends with the

massif In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...

of Schwarze Wand and the group of the Tribolaum. The popular

Lake Obernberg Lake Obernberg (German: Obernberger See) is a lake of Tyrol, Austria. Lake Obernberg lies at an elevation of 1,590 metres in the municipality Obernberg am Brenner near the Brenner. It is the biggest lake on the southern side of Tyrol. The fresh w ...

is visited by tourists; the

Obernberger Seebach The Obernberger Seebach, formerly called Obernberger Ache, is a river in Tyrol, Austria, a tributary of the Sill. The Obernberger Seebach originates south-west of the Brenner in the Stubai Alps and takes a north-east route to its mouth. On its c ...

flows through the village and provides Obernberg with drinking water.

Hamlets

Außerthal, Eben, Frade, Gereit, Leite, Innerthal.

History

Coat-of-arms

Obernberg's coat-of-arms is a red shield with three golden skittles. According to a legend the miners, at that time, were so rich to play with true golden skittles.

Origin

The valley was already inhabited since the Bronze Age and was used as pasture; the Romans occupied the place in 15 BC. Later were opened mining to extract gold, silver, copper and lead which remained active until the sixteenth century, and these were owned by the Bishops of Brixen until 1490 when they passed to the Principality of Tirol. In a 1238 document appeared the name “Padreins” while “Obernberg” is mentioned for the first time approximately in 1300, until then it was called “Vinaders”. The nearby villages of the Wippatal, as St. Leonhard, St. Jodok and Gries am Brenner, drew development from the mining activities as on their territories were foundries and warehouses. Around in 1560, with the advent of the imports of precious metals from the new world, the mines and the stock yards closed. A Chapel in Romanesque style, built by miners, dedicated to St. Nikolaus is mentioned in a document dated to 1339. In the fifteenth century, because of the growing population, the chapel was extended and the choir was built in Giothic style. Until 1758 the chapel depended on Matrei am Brenner, than had its own Curate and on the same site, under the direction of Franz de Paula Penz, a new baroque church was built; in 1891 it was elevated to Parish. Geschichte Tirol
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Population

References

External links

Cities and towns in Innsbruck-Land District {{Tyrol-geo-stub