Kötschach-Mauthen ( sl, Koča-Muta) is a
market town
A market town is a Human settlement, 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 marketplace, market; this distinguished it from a village or ...
in the district of
Hermagor in
Carinthia 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. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
.
Geography
The municipality lies in the west of
Hermagor at the transition of the upper
Gail
Gail may refer to:
People
*Gail (given name), list of notable people with the given name
Surname
* Jean-Baptiste Gail (1755–1829), French Hellenist scholar
* Max Gail (born 1943), American actor
* Sophie Gail (1775–1819), French singer and ...
Valley into the
Lesachtal
Lesachtal ( sl, Lesna dolina) is a municipality in Hermagor District, in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It comprises the western part of the eponymous valley formed by the upper Gail River, and stretches from the Carinthian border with East T ...
, between the
Gailtal and
Carnic Alps
The Carnic Alps ( it, Alpi Carniche; german: Karnische Alpen; sl, Karnijske Alpe; fur, Alps Cjargnelis) are a range of the Southern Limestone Alps in Austria and northeastern Italy. They are within Austrian East Tyrol and Carinthia, and Ita ...
. It is located at an important road junction: in the north, the highway leads up to
Gailberg Saddle and the market town of
Oberdrauburg
Oberdrauburg is a market town in the district of Spittal an der Drau (district), Spittal an der Drau at the western rim of the Austrian state of Carinthia (state), Carinthia.
Geography
Oberdrauburg is near the ''Kärntner Tor'' (Carinthian Gate) ...
, in the south to
Plöcken Pass on the Carinthian border with the
Carnia
Carnia ( fur, Cjargne or ''Cjargna''/''Cjargno'' in local variants, vec, Ciargna, german: Karnien, sl, Karnija) is a historical-geographic region in the northeastern Italian area of Friuli. Its 27 municipalities all belong to the Province of U ...
n region of
Friuli
Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giul ...
,
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 ...
.
Municipality arrangement
Kötschach-Mauthen is divided into the four municipalities Kötschach (''Koče''), Mauthen (''Muta''), Strajach (''Srejah''), and Würmlach (''Bumlje''). It covers 31 localities (in parentheses number of inhabitants according to the 2001 population census):
:
Population
According to the 2001 population census Kötschach-Mauthen has 3.613 inhabitants. 95,0% of its inhabitants are Austrian, 1,2% German and 0,9% Turkish citizens. 89,1% of the population are
Roman-Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a p ...
, 6,6%
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 ...
and 1,3% are
Muslim. 1,8% of the population are without any religious confession.
History
The area in the Gail Valley was already settled around 200 BC. A
Venetian rock inscription from this time still exists today in Würmlach. A
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 R ...
ran over Plöcken Pass and led to the
Noricum
Noricum () is the Latin name for the Celtic kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the nort ...
province, where a
mansio
In the Roman Empire, a ''mansio'' (from the Latin word ''mansus,'' the perfect passive participle of ''manere'' "to remain" or "to stay") was an official stopping place on a Roman road, or ''via'', maintained by the central government for the use ...
named ''Loncium'' stood above present-day Mauthen (derived from
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
: ''Maut'', "toll").
In the Middle Ages the remote region within 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 St ...
experienced economic growth due to the exploitation of iron ore, gold, silver and lead. Most of today's towns were already mentioned in the Middle Ages: Mauthen 1276, Höfling 1300, Kötschach 1308, Podlanig 1374, Würmlach 1374 and St. Jakob 1376. In the 16th century followed Laas 1510, Mandorf 1521, and Gentschach 1590. From 1319, Mauthen was the seat of a regional court. In the 15th century the area was held by the
Counts of Ortenburg
The Counts of Ortenburg (german: Grafen von Ortenburg) were a comital family in the mediaeval Duchy of Carinthia. Though they had roots in Bavarian nobility, an affiliation with the Imperial Counts of Ortenburg, a branch line of the Rhenish Fra ...
, who had a
furnace
A furnace is a structure in which heat is produced with the help of combustion.
Furnace may also refer to:
Appliances Buildings
* Furnace (central heating): a furnace , or a heater or boiler , used to generate heat for buildings
* Boiler, used t ...
erected, succeeded by several
ironworks
An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''.
Ironworks succeeded bloome ...
.
During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, the mountain crest of the Carnic Alps in the south was part of the
Italian Front. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the
Carinthian Plebiscite
The Carinthian plebiscite (german: Kärntner Volksabstimmung, sl, Koroški plebiscit) was held on 10 October 1920 in the area in southern Carinthia predominantly settled by Carinthian Slovenes. It determined the final border between the Republ ...
the town received
market rights
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 rura ...
in 1930. Kötschach and Mauthen were merged into the municipality of Kötschach-Mauthen in 1958. In a 1973 administrative reform, extensive areas in the upper Gail Valley and in the lower Lesachtal area were added to the municipality.
Sights

*Late
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 ...
parish church Our Lady (colloquially ''Gailtaler Dom'', "Gailtal Cathedral") in Kötschach, first mentioned in 1399, rebuilt extensively from 1518 to 1527 according to plans designed by Bartholomäus Viertaler
*St Marcus Church in Mauthen, first mentioned in 1466
*World War I Museum 1915–18
*Ruins of Weidenburg Castle, first mentioned in 1225, later held by the Meinhardiner
Counts of Gorizia and their
Graben von Stein descendants, acquired by
George Khevenhüller
Georg von Khevenhüller (, also spelled as Gjuro or George Khevenhiller; 22 April 1533 – 9 September 1587) was a Duchy of Carinthia, Carinthian Austrian nobility, nobleman of the Khevenhüller dynasty. Though a dedicated Protestant Reformation, ...
in 1571; the Khevenhüller family had a new castle erected beneath the ruins about 1615
*Ruined Pittersberg Castle, first mentioned in 1252, held by the Counts of Gorizia
*Late Gothic Mandorf Castle, erected by Ortenburg ''
ministeriales
The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a class of people raised up from serfdom and placed in positions of power and responsibility in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire.
The word and its German translations, ''Minist ...
'' first mentioned in 1521
Economy and infrastructure
Kötschach-Mauthen is a central municipality in the upper Gailtal and at the same time a gate to the
Lesachtal
Lesachtal ( sl, Lesna dolina) is a municipality in Hermagor District, in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It comprises the western part of the eponymous valley formed by the upper Gail River, and stretches from the Carinthian border with East T ...
.
Wood processing
Wood processing is an engineering discipline in the wood industry comprising the production of forest products, such as pulp and paper, construction materials, and tall oil. Paper engineering is a subfield of wood processing.
The major wood ...
, the production of heat exchangers, tourism in general and gastronomy in particular are important economic factors of the region. Kötschach-Mauthen is well known as a wellness and climatic spa. The town boasts a modern outdoor and indoor swimming pool ("Aquarena"), which is the biggest in both Upper Gailtal and Lesachtal.
The National Hospital in nearby Laas consists of a medical department as well as a department for chronic patients.
In Würmlach the pipelines
AWP AWP may refer to:
Organizations Political parties
*American Workers Party
*Animal Welfare Party, a political party in the United Kingdom
*Australian Workers Party, a political party in Australia
* Awami Workers Party, a left-wing political party ...
, which goes to Schwechat near Vienna, and
TAL, which leads to Karlsruhe in Germany, split up. Since 2005 gas is being pumped from Würmlach's biological gas facility to Kötschach into its combined heat and power station.
Politics
Since the 2009 local elections the municipal assembly (''Gemeinderat'') consists of
*
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): 12 mandates
*
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 curr ...
(ÖVP): 5
*
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"Au ...
(FPÖ): 4
* ''Liste Thurner'' (Independent): 2
Notable people
*
Josef Klaus (1910–2001), politician, Chancellor of Austria from 1964 to 1970
References
External links
Official site
Tourist information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotschach-Mauthen
Cities and towns in Hermagor District
Gailtal Alps
Carnic Alps