Achenkirch is a holiday resort in Tyrol. The community is located
in the Achental north of the Achensee. The community of Achenkirch
is quite elongated in the northern part of the Achental and consists
of the center and numerous districts, hamlets and Einödhofen. The
center of the village is already a good three kilometers north of
the end of the lake, while the northernmost parts of the village
reach Bavaria and the German border at the Achenpass.
A
church in place of today's parish church is mentioned in a deed of
donation as early as 1120 and is still referred to as a parish in
the Emaus valley. The name Achenkirch soon became common, however,
since 1313 the Achental has been mentioned as a separate local
community. The current political community emerged from the Bavarian
administrative reform of 1811, when Tyrol was temporarily part of
Bavaria. In 1867, the municipality of Achental was then assigned to
the Schwaz district administration.
Today tourism is the most
important branch of business in the town in summer and winter.
Achenkirch Parish Church: The church was originally owned by the
von Schlitters family, which was donated to the Georgenberg
monastery. With this donation, the church is referred to as the
Parish of the Emaus Valley. But very soon the name of the church in
Achen, Achenkirch, came up. Today's parish church of St. John the
Baptist in the "Achental" was built between 1748 and 1750 according
to plans by Jakob Singer. The onion-domed tower completed
construction in 1755. Several elements are reminiscent of the former
baroque furnishings:
Altarpiece with St. John the Baptist by
Philipp Haller (1762)
Confessionals and 12 pictures of the
apostles in the choir
Chair cheeks and statue of St. Johannes
Nepomuk in the nave
Further:
Four statues on the
neo-Romanesque high altar represent Saints George, Vincent, King
Heinrich II and Florian (1891).
On the left side altar: the Queen
of the Rosary, St. Dominic giving the rosary; next to them Saints
Benedict and Scholastica.
The right side altar is dedicated to
the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Ceiling frescos by Johann Endfelder
(1842).
Stained glass in the choir (1890).
Organ by Joseph
Aigner (1878)
The church has been restored and redesigned
several times since 1750, the neo-baroque wall painting from 1933/34
no longer exists. The current Nazarene-style wall painting dates
from 1870.
The peal consists of five bells:
Heart of Jesus
and Heart of Mary bell, 1488 kg, tone d/1
John the Baptist bell,
905 kg, f/1
Benedict and Scholastica bell, 640 kg g/1
Leonhard
bell, 360 kg, b/1
Death knell, 256 kg, c/2
Anna church
The baroque Annakircherl from the 18th century is located on a hill
outside of town, near what was once the largest Urhof in the
Achental, "Dolnhof". It was built in 1670 by the farm owner
Christoph Unterberger and is often used for weddings. The altarpiece
depicts the Assumption and Coronation of Mary and is by an unknown
painter from the 18th century.
Chapels
15 chapels within
the municipal area from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries have been
preserved. Some of them belonged to the original farms that no
longer existed and were built by the farm owners and innkeepers. A
wine house has been handed down since the 15th century and was built
in its present form in 1672. It was restored in 1992 and is again
run as a restaurant.
The Haus Salzstadel (privately owned)
was once the meeting point of the salt traders on the main transport
route between the salt works in Hall and the city of Munich.
Local museum
The traditional Einhof Sixenhof houses a local
history museum that gives an insight into the way of life and the
crafts of the past.
By plane
The nearest international airports are Innsbruck,
approx. 46 km away, and Salzburg Airport, approx. 145 km away. The
Munich / "Franz Josef Strauss" airport north of Munich is also
within reach, a distance of approx. 104 km.
By train
The
next train station is in Maurach and can be reached from Jenbach im
Unterinntal with the Achenseebahn. In Maurach, the train leads
directly to the lake shore to the landing stage of the Achsensee
shipping company.
Jenbach im Inntal train station is on the
Lower Inn Valley Railway from Kufstein to Innsbruck.
From
Maurach to Achenkirch by bus, boat or taxi.
By bus
From
Tegernsee (rail connection to Munich) there is also a bus line to
Achensee. The RVO line 9550 makes u. a. in Achenkirch, Buchenau and
Maurach stations. The end of the line is in Pertisau.
Attention: There is no bus service on the federal highway 13 between
Lenggries and Achenkirch. You can only use a taxi here.
In
the street
The Achensee region is located on the Achenseestrasse
on the east side of the lake, the Austrian state road B181, the road
with several exits leads past Achenkirch on the east side.
In
the south in the Lower Inn Valley, the B181 has a connection to the
Inntal motorway from Kufstein to Innsbruck.
On the north side
of the Achensee, the Achenseestrasse leads to the German state
border at the Achenpass, from where there is a connection to the
German federal highways B 13 and B 307.
The B 13 leads via
Lenggries and Bad Tölz into the Munich area, the B 307 leads via the
Tegernsee area to the A9 Munich-Salzburg motorway.
With the white guest card, holiday guests from Achenkirch,
Pertisau, Maurach and Steinberg am Rofan can use the buses in the
Achensee area free of charge. In summer a hiking bus runs every hour
between the places in the region.
Achenkirch has a landing
stage for the Achensee shipping in the south of the village in the
Landesetg Scholastika.
For more information on Achensee
shipping, see the article on Achensee
Geographical location and municipal area
The municipality of
Achenkirch consists of several scattered villages in the Achental
(Achenkirch, Achensee, Achental and Achenwald) and stretches from the
northern tip of Lake Achensee to the Achenpass on the Bavarian border.
Achenkirch has a share of the Achensee as the northern neighbor.
This was originally drained by the Seeache to the north to the Isar. In
1929 the outflow of the Achensee was blocked; since then it has drained
via the Achensee power plant in Jenbach, which was built between 1924
and 1927.
The municipal area also includes the former customs
station Scholastika (once important for the transport of salt; today a
hotel with its own pier); as well as the site of the former Achenseehof,
a retirement home for the singer Ludwig Rainer (1821-1893) that no
longer exists, today a lido with a chapel and its own landing stage.
The first documented mention of around 1140 concerns a donation of
the area around the Achensee "lacus et locus, qui Emmaus appellatur"
("lake and area that is called Emmaus") by the Lords of Schlitters to
the Abbey of St. Georgenberg-Fiecht at Schwaz. The name Achental first
appears in the early documents in the form "Achene" and "Vallis Achen",
i.e. Achental. In the 14th century the name "Sant Jörgental" also
appears. The name Achental itself was first used in Emperor Maximilian
I's fishing book around 1500.
The Achental has been mentioned as
a separate local community since 1313, and from 1530 the Achental
community has been referred to as a neighborhood or main team. It
belonged to the district court of Rottenburg (in Rotholz near Jenbach)
until 1835, then to the district court of Schwaz and from 1848 to the
district court of Schwaz.
Achental became a political
municipality in 1811 as a result of the administrative reform in the
Kingdom of Bavaria, to which Tyrol belonged from 1806 to 1814. When the
political district administration authorities were formed in 1867, the
municipality of Achental was assigned to the district of Schwaz. In 1971
the community was renamed "Achenkirch".
In addition to wood production, agriculture, trade and above all tourism at Lake Achensee and at the Hochalm-Christlum ski area are economically important. In the first half of the 20th century, forest management in the Achenwald area was operated with the Klammbachwaldbahn.
The road to Steinberg am Rofan
branches off from Achenkirch.
From Achenkirch, ÖBB Postbus buses
run every hour between 5 a.m. and 7 p.m. to Maurach am Achensee and on
to Pertisau and Jenbach. A bus from Regionalverkehr Oberbayern
(Oberbayernbus) runs twice a day from Tegernsee to Maurach and on to
Pertisau and back. In the summer season there is regular and occasional
traffic on the Achensee. There are two landing stages for passenger
ships in Achenkirch: Scholastika and Sachseneehof Lido.