Ruhpolding is the municipality with the biggest area of the Traunstein district in southeastern

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 ...

, Germany. It is situated in the south of the Chiemgau region in the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

and next to the Austrian border. Ruhpolding has a

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...

track. It hosted the 1979, 1985, 1996 and 2012 Biathlon World Championships. It also has a ski jumping hill,

Große Zirmbergschanze Große Zirmbergschanze is a ski jumping large hill in Ruhpolding, Germany. History It was built from 1962 to 1962 and owned by Ski-Club Ruhpolding. It hosted one FIS Ski jumping World Cup The FIS Ski Jumping World Cup is the world's highest le ...

, where one World Cup event has taken place, in the 1992–93 season. The economy is based on tourism and sports. In the year 2007 the

Mountainbike 24h Race World Championships A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling. Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, which m ...

took place in the

Chiemgau Arena Chiemgau () is the common name of a geographic area in Upper Bavaria. It refers to the foothills of the Alps between the rivers Inn and Traun, with the Chiemsee at its center. The political districts that contain the Chiemgau are Rosenheim and Tr ...

. Other sports which are possible for tourists and residents are golf, mountainbiking, shooting, hiking,

fly fishing Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly diffe ...

and

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...

History

The name "Ruhpolding" originates from the Bavarian word ''Rupoltingin'' and means "the people of the strong famous one". The town is mentioned as ''Ruhpoldingen'' for the first time in 1193. It was connected to the railway in 1895. Since 1948, Ruhpolding has been a famous spa and tourist resort, especially for winter sports. The accommodation figures were 600,000 overnight stays per year in the mid 1950s, which increased to 1,122,732 overnight stays per year in 1991.

People

Ferdinand Max Bredt Ferdinand Max Bredt (1860–1921) was a German Orientalist painter, noted for his studies of female figures. Background Also known as F. M. Bredt because of that signature on his work,Christies Auction House website, http://www.christies.com ...

German Orientalist painter. * Andreas Wellinger, Olympic champion in ski jumping *

Georg von Hertling Georg Friedrich Karl Freiherr von Hertling, from 1914 Count von Hertling, (31 August 1843 – 4 January 1919) was a German politician of the Catholic Centre Party. He was foreign minister and minister president of Bavaria, then chancellor of t ...

, the German Chancellor from 1917 to 1918, died here *

Vanessa Hinz Vanessa Hinz (born 24 March 1992) is a former German biathlete and cross-country skier. Hinz started in her first world cup races at the end of the 2012/13-season. At the 2013 European Championships she won a gold medal with the German relay tea ...

, German biathlete *

Wolfgang Pichler Wolfgang Pichler (born 23 January 1955 in Ruhpolding) is a German biathlon and cross-country skiing coach. Wolfgang Pichler formerly trained Magdalena Forsberg, and won with her six World Biathlon Championships and six Biathlon World Cup titles. ...

, Biathlon Coach *

Ilse Braun Ilse Braun (18 June 1909 – 28 June 1979) was one of two sisters of Eva Braun. Born in Munich, Ilse was the oldest daughter of school teacher Friedrich "Fritz" Braun and seamstress Franziska "Fanny" Kronberger. She became the sister-in-law of Naz ...

sister of Eva and Gretl Braun.

Mayors

* ?–1893: Anton Pointner * 1893–1906: Mathias Huber (BBB) * 1906–1919: Georg Eisenberger (BBB) * 1919–1933: Bartholomäus Schmucker * 1933 until the end of war: Anton Kreidl, Josef Wallner, Karl Huber * 1945 and 1946: Alois Rappl, Valentin Plenk, Fritz Grübl * 1946–1966: Josef Mayer (CSU) * 1966–1970: Leonhard Schmucker (CSU) * 1970–1972: Anton Stengel (UW) * 1972–1978: Franz Schneider (SPD) * 1978–1996: Herbert Ohl (CSU) * 1996–2002: Gerhard Hallweger (SPD) * 2002–2008: Andreas Hallweger (CSU) * 2008–2020: Claus Pichler (SPD) * since 2020: Justus Pfeifer (CSU)

References

External links

Village of Ruhpolding
{{Authority control Traunstein (district) Ski areas and resorts in Germany