Straßwalchen (

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 ( ...

: ''Strosswoicher'') 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 district of

Salzburg-Umgebung The Bezirk Salzburg-Umgebung (German, "surrounding area of Salzburg") is an administrative district ('' Bezirk'') in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria, and congruent with the Flachgau region (), except for the Statutarstadt of Salzburg, whic ...

(''Flachgau'') in the state of

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

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 ...

Geography

The municipal area stretches along the northeastern border of Salzburg with the state of

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, an ...

. It comprises the cadastral communities of Bruckmoos, Brunn, Haselreith, Irrsdorf, Straßwalchen-Land, and Straßwalchen-Markt. Straßwalchen has access to the Austrian Western Railway line from the city of

to the capital

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, built in 1860 by the

Empress Elisabeth Railway The Empress Elisabeth Railway (german: Kaiserin Elisabeth-Bahn, KEB) was the name of a former railway company during the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Its rail network was centred on the Western Railway line from Vienna to Salzburg wit ...

company. With the Western Railway Straßwalchen is connected to the

Salzburg S-Bahn The Salzburg S-Bahn is a large transport project in and around Salzburg in the Euroregion of Salzburg–Berchtesgadener Land–Traunstein, which crosses the border between Austria and Germany. Its S-Bahn network has been partially in operation s ...

public transport network, as northeastern terminus of the S2 line. The parallel road link to Vienna (''Wiener Straße'') has become less important with the 1963 opening of the

West Autobahn The West Autobahn (A1) was the first motorway (''Autobahn'') to be built in Austria, originating from plans drawn up for the so-called '' Reichsautobahn'' system. Completed in 1967, today it runs from the outskirts of Vienna via Linz to Salzburg, ...

farther south.

History

Archaeological finds indicate a settlement of the area since the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

era. From the 6th century onwards,

Bavarii The Baiuvarii or Bavarians (german: Bajuwaren) were a Germanic people. The Baiuvarii had settled modern-day Bavaria (which is named after them), Austria, and South Tyrol by the 6th century AD, and are considered the ancestors of modern-day Bavar ...

tribes moved into the region—the name ''Strazzuualaha'', first documented in 799, is probably derived from ''

walha ''Walhaz'' is a reconstructed Proto-Germanic word meaning 'foreigner', or more specifically 'Roman', 'Romance-speaker' or '(romanized) Celt', and survives in English as ' Welsh'. The term was used by the ancient Germanic peoples to describe in ...

'', the Proto-Germanic denotation for a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

ized population they had encountered, similar to nearby Seewalchen or

Wals WALS (102.1 FM) is an American radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Oglesby, Illinois, United States, the station serves the LaSalle-Peru area. Branded as WALLS 102, the station is currently owned by Laco Radio and fe ...

. While the Lordship of Straßwalchen was held by the Prince-Bishops of Passau since 1243, the economically important toll station passed to the

Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate ...

dukes of

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 l ...

in 1286, which sparked a long-time dissension between the rivaling rulers. In 1390 the Passau bishops bequeathed the larger Lordship of

Mattsee Mattsee is a market town at the eponymous lake in the district of Salzburg-Umgebung in the Austrian state of Salzburg. History About 765 Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria established the Mattsee Benedictine Abbey, which became a part of the Diocese of ...

with Straßwalchen to 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 o ...

. Prince-Archbishop

Burkhard Weisbriach Burkhard von Weisbriach (1420/23–1466) was a German Roman Catholic cardinal and Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1461 until his death. Biography He was probably born at Weißpriach Castle in the Salzburg Lungau region about 1420 or 1423, the ...

granted market privileges to the citizens in 1462. The Salzburg archbishopric retained Straßwalchen until its

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 ...

in 1803, however, the Dukes of Bavaria— Electors from 1623—insisted on their claims. From 1810 to 1816 the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German ...

, newly established with the support of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

, comprised the Salzburg territory with Straßwalchen, before it finally passed 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 resolutions of the

Vienna Congress The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

Politics

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

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 curre ...

(ÖVP): 13 *

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"Aus ...

(FPÖ): 3 *

Free Voters Free Voters (german: Freie Wähler, FW or FWG) in Germany may belong to an association of people which participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it involves a locally organized group of voters ...

: 2

Gallery

Image:Straßwalchen kirche grundriß.jpg, Church and Cemetery Image:Straßwalchen kirche.jpg, Straßwalchen

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strasswalchen Cities and towns in Salzburg-Umgebung District