Reichenau ( sl, Rajnava) is a municipality in the district of Feldkirchen 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

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 ...

Geography

The municipal area is situated in the upper valley of the Gurk River within the

Nock Mountains The Nock Mountains (german: Nockberge or ''Nockgebirge'') are the westernmost and highest mountain range of the Gurktal Alps in Austria, spread over parts of the federal states of Carinthia, Salzburg and Styria. Their appearance is characterised b ...

range (part of the

Gurktal Alps The Gurktal Alps (german: Gurktaler Alpen, sl, Krške Alpe) is a mountain range located in the Central Eastern Alps in Austria, named after the valley of the Gurk river. The range stretches west to Lake Millstatt and east to Neumarkter Sattel ( ...

). In the north, the road from Feldkirchen leads up to

Turracher Höhe Pass Turracher Höhe, also called Turracherhöhe, refers to a village, a pass across the Alps, and a countryside in the Gurktal Alps in Austria. The village and the Turracher Lake at the pass, which both share the same name, are separated by the bord ...

and Turracher See at a height of AA on the border with

Predlitz-Turrach Predlitz-Turrach is a former municipality in the district of Murau in Styria, Austria. Since the 2015 Styria municipal structural reform, it is part of the municipality Stadl-Predlitz. Geography The municipality lies in the upper valley of the M ...

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 ...

and further down into the Mur Valley. Another small mountain lake is Falkertsee at in the west. Reichenau is the eastern terminus of the ''Nockalmstraße''

scenic route A scenic route, tourist road, tourist route, tourist drive, holiday route, theme route, or scenic byway is a specially designated road or waterway that travels through an area of natural or cultural beauty. It often passes by scenic viewpoints ...

through the Nock Mountains to Krems. Reichenau consists of 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, ...

Ebene Reichenau, Sankt Lorenzen, Sankt Margarethen, Wiedweg, and Winkl.

Neighboring municipalities

History

The remote and densely forested area of the upper Gurk Valley 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 ...

colonists when the region was part of the

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, which in 15 BC was incorporated as a province of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

. From about 590

Alpine Slavs The settlement of the Eastern Alps region by early Slavs took place during the 6th to 8th centuries. It is part of the southward expansion of the early Slavs which would result in the characterization of the South Slavic group, and would ultimatel ...

immigrated into the lower parts of the valley, followed by Bavarian settlers in the 10th century. In the High Middle Ages, when the area was part of the

Duchy of Carinthia The Duchy of Carinthia (german: Herzogtum Kärnten; sl, Vojvodina Koroška) 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 Sta ...

, the valley belonged to the estates of

Millstatt Abbey Millstatt Abbey (german: Stift Millstatt) is a former monastery in Millstatt, Austria. Established by Benedictine monks about 1070, it ranks among the most important Romanesque buildings in the state of Carinthia. The Benedictines were succeeded b ...

. From about 1300 the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monks had large parts of the woodland cleared. The village of ''Reichenau'' (possibly derived from german: Rauch, "smoke" referring to

slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed vegeta ...

agriculture) was first mentioned in a 1332 deed. A chapel in the neighbouring village of Sankt Lorenzen at a height of (today the highest situated parish church in Carinthia) was already documented in 1216. A

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 ...

prayer house ('' Toleranzbethaus'') in Wiedweg was first mentioned in 1787. About 16% of the local population confess to the Protestant Church.

Politics

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

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): 9 *

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): 7 *

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): 3

Twin towns — sister cities

Reichenau is twinned with: *

Nersingen Nersingen is a municipality in the District of Neu-Ulm in Bavaria, Germany. The neighbours are Neu-Ulm, Elchingen, Bibertal and Pfaffenhofen an der Roth. Geography Geographic location Through the area of Nersingen flow three rivers: The Danub ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, since 2009

Notable people

Siegfried Grabner Siegfried "Sigi" Grabner (born 4 February 1975, in Waiern, Carinthia) is an Austrian professional snowboarder. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy he won bronze in the Parallel Giant Slalom competition. Having won the Junior W ...

(born 1975), snowboarder

References

Gallery

Image:Sankt_Margarethen,_kerk_foto4_2011-07-25_16.17.jpg, Sankt Margarethen, church Image:Wiedweg, kerk foto12 2011-07-25 16.42.JPG, Wiedweg, church

External links

*
Municipal site
Cities and towns in Feldkirchen District {{Carinthia-geo-stub