Radstadt (

Central Bavarian Central Bavarian form a subgroup of Bavarian dialects in large parts of Austria and the German state of Bavaria along the Danube river, on the northern side of the Eastern Alps. They are spoken in the ' Old Bavarian' regions of Upper Bavaria (wi ...

: ''Rodstoud'' or ''Rodstod'') is a historic

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in the district of St. Johann im Pongau 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

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 ...

Geography

Radstadt, Blick ins Tal der Pongauer Taurach

The town is part of the Salzburg

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. It is located in the valley of the Enns River, near the confluence with its Taurach tributary, at the foot of Roßbrand mountain, part of the

Salzburg Slate Alps The Salzburg Slate Alps (german: Salzburger Schieferalpen) are a mountain range of the Eastern Alps, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Situated within the greywacke zone, they could be regarded either as part of the Northern Limestone Alps or of ...

. In the south the road runs parallel to the Taurach stream up to Untertauern, the

Obertauern Obertauern is a tourist destination which is located in the Radstädter Tauern in the Salzburger Land of Austria. The winter sports resort is separated in two communities: Tweng and Untertauern. Geography Obertauern lies in the southeast o ...

ski resort and the

Radstädter Tauern Pass Radstädter Tauern Pass (el. 1,738 m or 5,702 ft) is a high mountain pass in the Austrian state of Salzburg, connecting the town of Radstadt in the Pongau region with Mauterndorf in Lungau. Geography The pass separates the Radstadt Tauern ...

at , which marks the border with the Salzburg

Lungau Bezirk Tamsweg is an administrative district (''Bezirk'') in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria. It is congruent with the Lungau region (). The administrative centre of the district is Tamsweg. Geography The area of the Lungau plateau is 1,0 ...

region. In the east, the Ennstal road leads to

Schladming Schladming is a small former mining town in the northwest of the Austrian state of Styria that is now a popular tourist destination. It has become a large winter-sports resort and has held various skiing competitions, including most notably the ...

Upper Styria Upper Styria (german: Obersteiermark), in the Austrian usage of the term, refers exclusively to the northwestern, generally mountainous and well-wooded half of the federal state of Styria. The southwestern half of the state around the capital of ...

. 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 Höggen, Löbenau, Mandling, Radstadt proper, and Schwemmberg.

History

In the 4th century before the Common Era the area was settled by

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

tribes, their

Noricum Noricum () is the Latin name for the Celts, Celtic kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were th ...

kingdom was incorporated as a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

province about 15 BC. The road across the Tauern Pass was part of a major

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 ...

, leading from

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 ...

to the city of Iuvavum (present-day Salzburg) in the north. A place called ''Rastat'' (i.e. "resting place") was already mentioned in a 1074 deed. The fortress of Radstadt was founded in the 13th century, when the Pongau region became part of the

Archbishopric of Salzburg The Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg (german: Fürsterzbistum Salzburg; Erzstift Salzburg; Erzbistum Salzburg) was an ecclesiastical principality and state of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised the secular territory ruled by the archbishops of ...

and border conflicts arose with the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

dukes of

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

; it received

city rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

in 1289. The town served as seat of the local administration and was of significant value for the protection of the Enns Valley and the road crossing the Alpine crest via

towards

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

and

. Radstadt has 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 ...

church consecrated in 1417, and a town hall dating from 16th century. In 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 ...

of 1524/25, the citizens sided with Prince-Archbishop

Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg (1469 – 30 March 1540) was a statesman of the Holy Roman Empire, a Cardinal and Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1519 to his death. Life Matthäus Lang was the son of a burgher of Augsburg and later received ...

and resisted a siege by a peasants' army of about 5,000 men led by

Michael Gaismair Michael Gaismair, (1490, Sterzing, County of Tyrol – 15 April 1532, Padua, Republic of Venice) was a leader of the German Peasants' War (1524-1525) in Tyrol and the Salzburg region. Life Michael Gaismair was the son of a mining entreprene ...

. The city walls are preserved, including three towers which the besiegers were forced to erect after their defeat. in 1629 the prince-archbishops established a Capuchin monastery here to spread the

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...

in the Enns Valley. As in many other Salzburg areas under the rule of Archbishop

Leopold Anton von Firmian Leopold Anton Eleutherius Freiherr von Firmian (11 March 1679 – 22 October 1744) was Bishop of Lavant 1718–24, Bishop of Seckau 1724–27 and Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1727 until his death. Early life He was born in Munich, on his ...

, the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

population was expelled in 1731/32; as '' Exulanten'' they were granted asylum by the

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

king Frederick William I and settled in the

Gumbinnen Gusev (russian: Гу́сев; german: Gumbinnen; lt, Gumbinė; pl, Gąbin) is a town and the administrative center of Gusevsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Pissa and Krasnaya Rivers, near the border ...

region of

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...

. Today Radstadt is also a popular tourism resort, with more tourists annually than the year-round population. It features its own ski area, and is part of an extended downhill ski and snowboard region (

Ski Amadé The Ski Amadé region of Austria is a network of 28 ski areas and towns that combined, make up the second largest ski area in Europe.largest ski domain is Dolomiti Superski It is named after the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who was born in the ...

) with links with the neighbouring town of Altenmarkt.

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (''Stadtsenat'') as of 2014 elections * 10

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'') * 7

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'') * 4

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'')

Notable people

Paul Hofhaimer Paul Hofhaimer (25 January 1459 – 1537) was an Austrian organist and composer. He was particularly gifted at improvisation, and was regarded as the finest organist of his age by many writers, including Vadian and Paracelsus; in addition he ...

(1459–1537), composer *

Putzi Frandl Josefine "Putzi" Frandl (later ''Crotty'', born 5 July 1930) is an Austrian former alpine ski racer. She was among the world's best ski racers in the mid-1950s. She competed in the 1956 Winter Olympics, the 1958 Alpine World Ski Championsh ...

(born 1930), alpine ski racer *

Michael Walchhofer Michael Walchhofer (born 28 April 1975) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Austria. Biography Walchhofer was born in Radstadt, Salzburg, Austria, and started his career in slalom, but then moved over to the speed events. During his car ...

(born 1975), alpine ski racer

References

Cities and towns in St. Johann im Pongau District Salzburg Slate Alps Radstadt Tauern {{Salzburg-geo-stub