Tamsweg () is a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

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 ...

near the border with

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 is the administrative centre of the eponymous

Tamsweg District 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 ...

(''

Bezirk The German term ''Bezirk'' (plural ''Bezirke'', derived from la, circulus, "circle") translated as "district" can refer to the following types of administrative divisions: * ''Stadtbezirk'', a subdivision of a city in the sense of a borough (e. ...

'') and the largest town of the Salzburg Lungau region.

Geography

Tamsweg is located on the southern slope of the Schladminger Tauern mountain range within the

Central Eastern Alps The Central Eastern Alps (german: Zentralalpen or Zentrale Ostalpen), also referred to as Austrian Central Alps (german: Österreichische Zentralalpen) or just Central Alps, comprise the main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacen ...

, in the valley of the upper

Mur River The Mur () or Mura (; ; ; Prekmurje Slovene: ''Müra''Novak, Vilko. 2006. ''Slovar stare knjižne prekmurščine''. Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU, pp. 262, 269. or ''Möra'') is a river in Central Europe rising in the Hohe Tauern national park of th ...

, the driest basin in Austria. The municipality 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, ...

of Haiden, Keusching, Lasaberg, Mörtelsdorf, Sauerfeld, Seetal, Tamsweg and Wölting.

History

Once part of the Roman

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 ...

province, the Lungau from the 6th century onwards was a Slavic settlement area, which in the 8th century fell under the influence of the Bavarian dukes. The locality of ''Taemswich'' was first mentioned about 1156. The parish church, originally a

filial Filial may refer to: * Filial church, a Roman Catholic church to which is annexed the cure of souls, but which remains dependent on another church * Filial piety In Confucianism, Chinese Buddhism, and Daoist ethics, filial piety (, ''xiào' ...

of nearby

Mariapfarr Mariapfarr is a municipality in the district of Tamsweg in the state of Salzburg in Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. ...

, was acquired by Archbishop Eberhard II of

in 1246. The Prince-Archbishops had the Saint Leonard pilgrimage church erected about 1433, which in the late 15th century was enlarged as a

fortified church A fortified church is a church that is built to serve a defensive role in times of war. Such churches were specially designed to incorporate military features, such as thick walls, battlements, and embrasures. Others, such as the Ávila Cathedra ...

in view of repeated Ottoman invasions. In 1490, it was occupied by Hungarian troops of King

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several mi ...

and became the site of violent fights against the armed forces of Emperor Frederick III. The archbishops fought against the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

in their estates, in the course of 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 ...

, Tamsweg was enlarged as an episcopal residence and its citizens vested with further market rights in 1587, especially concerning the trade with

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

and

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

. During the Napoleonic

War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition (french: Guerre de la Première Coalition) was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797 initially against the Kingdom of France (1791-92), constitutional Kingdom of France and then t ...

, Tamsweg was occupied by French troops in 1797, and after the 1803

secularisation In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

of the Salzburg prince-archbishopric, it passed with the

Electorate of Salzburg The Electorate of Salzburg (german: Kurfürstentum Salzburg or ), occasionally known as the Grand Duchy of Salzburg, was an electoral principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1803–05, the short-lived successor state of the Prince-Archbi ...

to the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

according to the 1805 Peace of Pressburg. The economy of the remote area was decisively promoted, when Tamsweg received access to the Austro-Hungarian railway network with the opening of the

Mur Valley Railway The ''Murtalbahn'' (literally translated, the Mur Valley Railway) is a narrow-gauge railway largely located in the state of Styria in Austria. The line runs along the valley of the River Mur from the market town of Unzmarkt through Murau to Tam ...

line in 1894. Tamsweg is notable for its annual processions of a

Samson Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...

figure.

Politics

The municipal assembly (''Gemeinderat'') consists of 25 seats and as of 2009 elections is composed of * Austrian People's Party (ÖVP): 12 *

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 *

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): 4 *

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties * Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina * Greens of Burkina * Greens (Greece) * Greens of Montenegro *Greens of Serbia *G ...

: 2

Twin town

Iseo Iseo may refer to: Acronyms * International Sustainable Energy Organization (ISEO) Places Italy * Iseo, Lombardy, a ''comune'' in the Province of Brescia * Lake Iseo, a lake in the Provinces of Bergamo and Brescia, Lombardy * Provaglio d'Iseo, ...

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

, Italy

Transportation

Tamsweg lies at the junction of the

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...

n (federal highways) B95 ''Turracher Straße'' from

Mauterndorf Mauterndorf (Southern Bavarian: ''Mautndorf'') is a market town of the Tamsweg District in the Austrian state of Salzburg. The municipality also comprises the Katastralgemeinden ''Faningberg, Neuseß'' and ''Steindorf''. Geography It is located in ...

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 ...

in Styria and the B96 ''Murtal Straße'' from

Sankt Michael im Lungau Sankt Michael im Lungau is a market town in the district of Tamsweg in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Geography It is located in the historic Lungau region, in the valley of the upper Mur river, north of Katschberg Pass on the border with the s ...

and the A 10

Tauern Autobahn The Tauern Autobahn (A 10) is an autobahn (motorway) in Austria. It starts at the Salzburg junction with the West Autobahn (A1), runs southwards, crosses the Tauern mountain range on the main chain of the Alps and leads to the Süd Autobahn (A2) a ...

(

European route E55 European route E55 is an European Route, E-route. It passes through the following cities: Helsingborg … Helsingør – Copenhagen – Køge – Vordingborg – Nykøbing Falster – Gedser … Rostock – Berlin – Lübbenau – Dresden – Te ...

) to

Murau Murau is a town in the western part of the Austrian federal state of Styria. It is the administrative seat of Murau District. Geography The historic town is located in mountainous Upper Styria in the valley of the Mur river between the Lower Ta ...

. It can also be reached by the terminal station of the ''Murtalbahn''

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...

to the Austrian Southern Railway (''Südbahn'') at

Unzmarkt-Frauenburg Unzmarkt-Frauenburg is a municipality in the district of Murtal in Styria, 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 ...

Notable people

* Franz (Fuxi) Fuchsberger - 6 Times Powder 8 World Ski Champion * Ingrid Stöckl (born 1969), alpine skier

References

External links

{{authority control Cities and towns in Tamsweg District