Gemeinde Gaschurn-Partenen is a municipality in the district of

Bludenz Bludenz (; Alemannic: ''Bludaz'') is a town in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg. It is the administrative seat of the Bludenz District, which encompasses about half of the Vorarlberg's territory. Geography The town is located on the ...

in the westernmost

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

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label= Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the ...

. The two largest villages are Gaschurn Dorf (population 1083 as of 1.1.2020) and Partenen (population 376 as of 1.1.2020).

Geography

The center of Gaschurn lies 979 m above sea level. It is located in the

Montafon Montafon ( in local dialect: "''Muntafu''") is a 39 km long valley in the westernmost Austrian federal state of Vorarlberg. It is traversed by the river Ill (Vorarlberg) and extends from the city of Bludenz and the Verwall Alps in the nort ...

valley between Gortipohl and Partenen (the latter belonging to the municipality of Gaschurn). 12.7 percent of the municipal area is forested, and 51.7 percent are alpine. The river

Ill ILL may refer to: * '' I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibra ...

runs through the community. On the right are the Verwall mountains, and on the left the

Silvretta The Silvretta Alps are a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps shared by Tirol, Vorarlberg (both in Austria) and Graubünden ( Switzerland). The Austrian states of Tirol and Vorarlberg are connected by a pass road ( Silvretta Hochalpenst ...

mountain range.

Population

History

The Romansh place names were already mentioned in 15th century documents (in 1423 "Gaschurra", in 1499 "Parthenna"), some alps even earlier (for example, in 1089 "alpem in Signes" = Zeinisalpe). Benefiting from the warmer climate in the Middle Ages, and up into the 18th century, the high alp Vermunt was used by farmers from

Ardez Ardez () is a former municipality in the district of Inn in the canton of Graubünden in eastern Switzerland. The village is located in the Lower Engadin valley. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Ardez, Guarda, Tarasp, Ftan and S ...

and Guarda in the

Lower Engadine The Engadin or Engadine ( rm, ;This is the name in the two Romansh idioms that are spoken in the Engadin, Vallader and Puter, as well as in Sursilvan and Rumantsch Grischun. In Surmiran, the name is ''Nagiadegna'', and in Sutsilvan, it is '' ...

(cattle drive over the Vermuntpass). The Habsburgs ruled the places in Vorarlberg alternately from Tyrol and Vorderösterreich (Freiburg im Breisgau). From 1805 to 1814, the region belonged to

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, then reverted to Austria. Gaschurn has belonged to the Austrian state of Vorarlberg since the foundation of the state in 1861. In the middle of the 19th century, summer tourism started becoming popular. In 1885, a society for the city improvement was founded. Several

Alpine Club huts Alpine club huts (german: Alpenvereinshütten) or simply club huts (''Clubhütten'') form the majority of the over 1,300 mountain huts in the Alps and are maintained by branches, or sections, of the various Alpine clubs. Although the usual English ...

were opened: In 1885 the Madlenerhaus, in 1896 the Wiesbadener Hütte, in 1908 the Tübinger Hütte, in 1910 the Saarbrücker Hütte, in 1927 the Heilbronner Hütte. Around 1910 road construction from Schruns to Partenen was begun.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was created in 1966 following a design by the

Schruns Schruns is a municipality in the Montafon valley (altitude 690 meters), in the Bludenz district of the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg. To the west is the famous Zimba mountain, often called the "Vorarlberger Matterhorn," which is ver ...

artist and heraldist Konrad Honold. It shows a water wheel and a

halberd A halberd (also called halbard, halbert or Swiss voulge) is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. The word ''halberd'' is cognate with the German word ''Hellebarde'', deriving from ...

(referring to the legendary local hero and benefactor Lukas Tschofen) next to the crossed papal keys.

Culture

The Tourism Museum Gaschurn was opened in 1992 – the first tourism museum in Austria.Completed in 1986, the new community center of the village exhibits a 300-year-old traditional "Montafoner Stube" – the so-called Lukas Tschofen-Stube. The parish church Gaschurn, a neo-Romanesque church, was inaugurated in 1869 by Bishop Franz Josef Rudigier, who was born in Partenen. The altar and ceiling paintings were created by the Schrunser brothers Franz and Jakob Bertle, in the late Nazarene style. Kapelle Maria Schnee in Gaschurn und Michaelskirche

Kapelle Maria Schnee in Gaschurn und Michaelskirche

Maria Schnee Chapel. According to the inscription, the construction of the chapel dates back to 1637. The founder and builder was Lukas Tschofen. Located on a small hill in the center of the village, the chapel houses a picture of Maria Hilf (a copy of a picture of grace by Lucas Cranach the Elder) and has become a popular Marian pilgrimage site.

Sports

As the largest municipality in Vorarlberg, it contains an extensive network of hiking trails (266.8 km) and numerous mountain bike trails (71.9 km). From Partenen via Gaschurn to St. Gallenkirch there is a 12 km long cycling, walking and winter hiking trail. Gaschurn Panorama

References

External links

Website of the municipality
Verwall Alps Silvretta Alps Cities and towns in Bludenz District {{Vorarlberg-geo-stub