Brixlegg is a market town (since 1927) with 3,012 inhabitants (as
of January 1, 2020) in the Kufstein district of the state of Tyrol,
Austria. The community is located in the judicial district of
Rattenberg.
The municipality of Brixlegg is located in the
Tyrolean Lower Inn Valley at the entrance to the Alpbach Valley. It
is one of the oldest settlement areas in the Lower Inn Valley.
Brixlegg can be reached via the A 12 Inntal motorway and the Lower
Inn Valley Railway with a S-Bahn connection (see Brixlegg station).
The municipal area includes the settlements in the valley floor
Brixlegg and Mehrn as well as the slopes on the right side of the
Zimmermoosbach.
The first documentary mention as Prisslech
comes from the Notitia Arnonis from 788-790, a list of goods of the
Salzburg Archbishop Arn. A copy of it from the second half of the
12th century has survived, the original has been lost. The relevant
position is:
In pago qui dicitur Inter Valles: ad Ratfeld
ecclesia cum territorio, ad Prisslech similiter ('In the Gau, which
is called “Between the Valleys”: in Radfeld a church with land, in
Brixlegg as well ‘). The 'Zwischenentalgau' roughly corresponds to
today's Lower Inn Valley.
The place name comes from the
Celtic * brig-s-, which means 'hill'.
During the heyday of
copper ore mining, the largest smelting works in Tyrol stood here
(prince smelting works, today mining works).
During the
Second World War, the site was largely destroyed by bombing. The
approximately 150 m long railway bridge was also the target of
several bombs and was ultimately blown up. It was rebuilt in 1948.
The Grasegg and Lanegg residences and the coppersmith's house from
the 17th century have been preserved.
Parish Church of Our Lady with the cemetery chapel
The parish
church of Brixlegg is slightly elevated in the market town of
Brixlegg in the Kufstein district in Tyrol. The Roman Catholic
parish church, which is subject to the patronage of Our Lady,
belongs to the deanery in Reith im Alpbachtal in the Archdiocese of
Salzburg. The church and the cemetery are under monument protection.
According to records, there was a parish in 788, later a branch,
and again in 1891 a parish. The Gothic church from 1508 was
consecrated in 1520. The interior of the church was baroque in the
middle of the 18th century. 1974/1977 was a restoration.
The
church building, which has been modified in the late Gothic and
Baroque style, has a nave, a clover leaf choir and a north tower.
The church is surrounded by a cemetery with a cemetery chapel and a
war memorial.
The high altar from the end of the 18th century
shows the altarpiece Marriage of the Virgin Mary painted by Kaspar
Waldmann in 1692. The organ was built by Karl Reinisch’s heirs in
1948. Johann Heinrich Wickrath mentions a bell in 1689.
Filial church of St. Bartholomew with the Mehrner healing spring
below in Bad Mehrn
Chapel Mariahilf, also Maria im Grünwald, east
on a hill
Chapel on the Mühlbichl
Schwarzenberg Chapel in
Zimmermoos
Wolfenkapelle
Lanegg Castle
Storage box on the
banks of the Inn
Former plague cemetery
Tyrolean mining and
steelworks museum - is dedicated to the historical mining tradition
The first documentary mention as Prisslech comes from the Notitia
Arnonis from 788-790, a list of goods of the Salzburg Archbishop
Arn. A copy of this from the second half of the 12th century has
survived, the original has been lost.
During the heyday of
copper ore mining, the largest smelting works in Tyrol stood here
(sovereign smelting works, today coal and steel works).
During the Second World War, the site was largely destroyed by
bombing. The approximately 150 m long railway bridge was also the
target of several bombs and was ultimately blown up. It was rebuilt
in 1948. The Grasegg and Lanegg residences and the coppersmith's
house from the 17th century have been preserved.
Economy and
Infrastructure
Companies
The Montanwerke Brixlegg, which
emerged from the smelting works, are today the only copper works in
Austria and an important employer in the region. Through various
measures, the emissions from the plant could be reduced considerably
at the end of the 20th century. today, copper is no longer mined
here, but old copper is processed.
In the 1980s, Montanwerke
Brixlegg had a negative impact due to the greatly increased PCDD
loads in the vicinity of the company and in the bodies of some
residents. In some cases, air concentrations of 2.56 picograms per
cubic meter of breathing air were measured near the company
premises. The contamination of the area was directly linked to the
Brixlegg coal and steel works.
Other employers are the
textile industry (Giesswein), bottling of natural mineral water and
the production of non-alcoholic beverages (Silberquelle) and tourism
(focus in winter) in the catchment area of the Kramsach and
Alpbach ski areas. The medicinal sulfur spring Bad Mehrn is used for
therapeutic purposes.
Sports
Brixlegg is internationally
known especially in the skateboard scene, as there is a Cradle
Skatepark in Brixlegg, the construction of which is unique in
Europe. The most outstanding feature of the park is the eponymous
cradle (a kind of half ball made of concrete in which skateboarders
can ride almost upside down due to centrifugal force).