Lesachtal ( sl, Lesna dolina) is a municipality in

Hermagor District The Bezirk Hermagor is an administrative district (''Bezirk'') in Carinthia, Austria. The district has an area of and a population of (as of 1 January 2016). The administrative center of the district is Hermagor-Pressegger See. History Its nam ...

, 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 ...

. It comprises the western part of the eponymous valley formed by 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 ...

River, and stretches from the Carinthian border with

East Tyrol East Tyrol, occasionally East Tirol (german: Osttirol), is an exclave of the Austrian state of Tyrol, separated from the main North Tyrol part by the short common border of Salzburg and Italian South Tyrol (''Südtirol'', it, Alto Adige). It i ...

down to

Kötschach-Mauthen Kötschach-Mauthen ( sl, Koča-Muta) is a market town in the district of Hermagor in Carinthia in Austria. Geography The municipality lies in the west of Hermagor at the transition of the upper Gail Valley into the Lesachtal, between the Gai ...

in the east.

Geography

The Lesach Valley is located in the southwest of Carinthia. In adjacent East Tyrol, the uppermost continuation of the Gail river course is called Tilliach Valley. The lower eastern third of the Lesach Valley around the village of Sankt Jakob is part of the neighbouring Kötschach-Mauthen municipality. The narrow valley borders the Lienz Dolomites range of the

Gailtal Alps , ''Drauzug'' , photo=Grosse Sandspitze 1.jpg , photo_size= , photo_caption=Große Sandspitze, the highest peak in the range , country= Austria , subdivision1_type= States , subdivision1= , parent= , geology= Limestone , orogeny=Alpine o ...

to the north and the

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 Itali ...

up to high Mt. Hohe Warte ( it, Coglians) to the south, forming the border with

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 re ...

. Most settlements and paths are on the northern slopes over above the Gail River gorge. The municipality of Lesachtal (area 19.62 km², pop. 1,665) comprises 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 Kornat, Liesing, Maria Luggau, and Sankt Lorenzen im Lesachtal.

Language

The language spoken in the Lesachtal valley is linguistically remarkable, because the

Southern Bavarian Southern Bavarian or South Bavarian, is a cluster of Upper German dialects of the Bavarian group. They are primarily spoken in Tyrol (i.e. the Austrian federal state of Tyrol and the Italian province of South Tyrol), in Carinthia and in the west ...

dialect is not Carinthian, but rather East-Tyrolean with slight variations. Slovenian elements have also survived in local common speech.

History

The Lesach Valley (derived from Slavic: ''Les'', "forest") was inhabited by

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

about 600 AD. In the 8th century it was one of the first valleys in the Principality of Carantania to be

Germanised Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In ling ...

after Prince

Boruth Boruth, also Borut (from cu, borъ, "fighter") or Borouth, (died about 750) was the first documented Slavic prince (''Knyaz'') of Carantania, ruling from about 740 until his death. He was one of the few pagan leaders of the Carantanians to conver ...

had acknowledged the overlordship of Duke

Odilo of Bavaria Odilo, also Oatilo or Uatilo (died 18th January 748) of the Agilolfing dynasty was Duke of Bavaria from 737 until his death in 748. He had the ''Lex Baiuvariorum'' compilation edited, the first ancient Germanic law collection of the Bavarians. ...

about 740. In 1380, the Lesach circuit (''Landgericht Lesach'') was transferred to the lordship of Pittersberg, named after a nearby rock castle, then an administrative seat held by the East Tyrolean ''Meinhardiner''

Counts of Gorizia The County of Gorizia ( it, Contea di Gorizia, german: Grafschaft Görz, sl, Goriška grofija, fur, Contee di Gurize), from 1365 Princely County of Gorizia, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. Originally mediate ''Vogts'' of the Patriarchs of ...

. After their branch died out in the male line, the last countess Margaret bequeathed the lordship to the reigning princes of the

House of Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

in 1363. Later it fell to the Carinthian

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 ...

. With the creation of the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

municipalities (''Ortsgemeinden'') in 1850, the three municipalities Luggau, Sankt Lorenzen, and Liesing were constituted. The

(''Katastralgemeinden'') Kornach and Strajach merged with the municipality of Mauthen, but in 1182 obtained independent status as the municipality of Unterlesach. Ten years later the two localities Birnbaum and Sankt Jakob became independent municipalities as well. Through Carinthian local government reform in 1973, the eastern Lesach municipality of Sankt Jakob merged with

, while the four western municipalities were merged into the present municipality of Lesachtal. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the Italian front between the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...

and the

Royal Italian Army The Royal Italian Army ( it, Regio Esercito, , Royal Army) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfre ...

was located on the ridge of the

. Many old positions and fortifications bear witness to the attritional

mountain war The Mountain War ( ar, حرب الجبل , ''Harb al-Jabal''), also known as the War of the Mountain and Guerre de la Montagne in French, was a subconflict between the 1982–83 phase of the Lebanese Civil War and the 1984–89 phase of the ...

from 1915 to 1918.

Population

According to the 2001 census, the municipality of Lesachtal has 1,560 inhabitants, of which 98.4% are Austrian citizens and 1.3% are German citizens. The size of the population has been declining sharply in recent decades. ImageSize = width:550 height:200 PlotArea = width:450 height:150 left:50 bottom:30 AlignBars = late DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:0 till:3000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1000 start:0 PlotData= color:blue width:15 bar:1869 from:start till:2165 bar:1880 from:start till:2015 bar:1890 from:start till:2188 bar:1900 from:start till:2149 bar:1910 from:start till:1980 bar:1923 from:start till:1947 bar:1934 from:start till:1984 bar:1939 from:start till:1997 bar:1951 from:start till:2014 bar:1961 from:start till:1915 bar:1971 from:start till:1950 bar:1981 from:start till:1823 bar:1991 from:start till:1665 bar:2001 from:start till:1560 bar:2009 from:start till:1490 TextData= pos:(55,0,3) text:"Statistik Austria" According to the 2001 census, 98.4% of the population are Roman Catholic and 1.2% are Protestant.

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (''Gemeinderat'') as of 2009 local elections: * Austrian People's Party (ÖVP): 7 *

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): 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"Aust ...

(FPÖ): 2 *UBL (Independent): 1

Notable people

* Matthias von Lexer (1830–92), lexicographer

Gallery

Lesachtal-Kleblas-Bauernhäuser2.JPG, Farmhouses in Klebas Lesachtal Liesing Hauptplatz Holzhaus Ausschnitt 23052007 21.jpg, Liesing File:Filialkirche Ulrich und Martin, Lesachtal 01.jpg, Ulrich und Martin Church, Lesachtal Lesachtal Liesing Hauptplatz Volksmusik Akademie 23052007 42.jpg, Folk Music School in Liesing Kirche Obergail4.JPG, Saint Ann's Church in Obergail Lesachtal Sankt Radegund 23052007 02.jpg, Saint Radegund Lesachtal-Tscheltsch-Kirche1.JPG, Saint Joseph's Church in Tscheltsch Lesachtal Tuffbad 23052007 03.jpg, Tuffbad Vierzehn Nothelferkapelle, Wiesen.JPG, Fourteen Holy Helpers Chapel in Wiesen Xaveribergkapelle2.jpg, Chapell in Xaveriberg Kapelle hl Dreifaltigkeit, Frohn.JPG, Holy Trinity Chapel in Frohn

References

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Hermagor District