Gmunden has 13,275 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2020) and is the
seat of the district administration of the Gmunden district. As the
center of the Gmunden judicial district, it houses the district
court. The city is known as the place of origin of Gmundner ceramics
with its characteristic white and green flamed decor. During the k.
u. k. Monarchy was Gmunden as a renowned summer resort, which the
numerous villas testify. The city also became known in the 1990s
through the television series Schlosshotel Orth.
The first
settlement of today's urban area goes back to the 5th century. The
first settlers were fishermen. The settlement takes its name from
the confluence of the Traun in the Traunsee and was initially called
about * (ze) munten ('At the mouths'). The plural was used because
the Traun was not yet regulated and flowed into the lake in several
arms.
It is not known exactly when Gmunden became a town from
a fortified market. Gmunden celebrated its town elevation in 1278.
Gmunden was heavily fortified in the Middle Ages. Gmunden only got
its own church around 1300. A regional court (today a district
court) already existed in 1217. The economic and political head was
the salt minister or city judge.
The livelihood of the city
remained the salt trade in the early modern period. The economic
situation of Gmunden deteriorated immensely in the course of the
Upper Austrian Peasant War, the salt trade could hardly be sustained
and looting was the order of the day. After a truce was negotiated,
musketeers moved in.
During the 17th century Gmunden grew in
economic importance as a supplier of warships. Because of the second
Turkish siege of Vienna, thousands of refugees had to be taken in
and fed, which is why the existing Turkish tax was increased
considerably.
During the Austrian War of Succession, Gmunden
and the surrounding area looked like a large field camp, although
there were never any armed conflicts. The burden of quarters, first
for the Bavarians, then for the French, and after the invasion of
the imperial troops in Upper Austria was considerable.
At the
beginning of the 19th century the end of the boom of the salt trade
was looming, which is why it was important to find new sources of
income. The development of Gmundens into a spa town and the
legendary competition with Bad Ischl that resulted from it began. In
1862 Gmunden was named a spa town.
In September 1914 Gmunden
took over the task of a hospital town. 190 wounded soldiers arrived
and were taken to the hospitals set up for this purpose. Hundreds of
wounded arrived in the months that followed. In 1916 there was a
rapid deterioration in the supply of the population, which could not
be improved for the time being.
On January 1, 1939, parts of
Eck and Ort as well as Traunleithen and Theresienthal had to be
ceded by the Altmünster community to Gmunden. As a result, the train
station was also integrated into the municipality of Gmunden. Until
the 1950s, the Altmünster community tried to get the ceded areas
back.
In 1942 Gmunden had to take in hundreds of refugees. A
year before the end of the war, Gmunden became a refugee town. The
population grew to 30,000, a crowd the community could not handle.
Although the city was spared bombing, the economy was completely in
ruins by the end of the war. During the Second World War, Gmunden
was also used as a hospital town. Of the more than 600 Gmundners
drafted into military service, not even 13 percent survived the war.
During the occupation, the US troops set up an espionage center.
Many former SS men were also hired, as it was assumed that they knew
about Soviet conditions. The city of Gmunden also benefited from the
American reconstruction program.
In 2008 the decentralized
state exhibition took place under the title “Das Salzkammergut”. The
leading and overview exhibition was in Schloss Ort in Gmunden. In
addition to Gmunden, eleven other communities in the Salzkammergut
took part. For this purpose the Kammerhof Museum was expanded or
rebuilt.
Due to the low number of pupils, the previously
independent secondary schools (Hebbel and Habert School) were merged
from the 2007/2008 school year.
For 2007 there was a catalog of measures by the municipality. The most important projects included the expansion of the city center and the construction of the Lacus Felix lake hotel. The construction of the hotel was supposed to start in 2007, but after the liquidation of the hotel company due to financial problems, the construction project was abandoned in 2014. In 2009, the implementation of the so-called “station package” was to begin, which contained the following plan: Since the Seebahnhof is being demolished as a result of the hotel project, a suitable solution is to be found - the most likely option is to erect a new building in the monastery area. The Gmunden train station is also to receive a modern central platform and the station building is to be renovated. The barrier system at the level crossing near the train station is to be eliminated through an underpass.
The most famous sights of Gmunden are the Landschloss and
Seeschloss Ort. The latter was also the location of the television
series Schlosshotel Orth. The Seeschloss is one of the oldest
buildings in the Salzkammergut (built in the 10th century) and was
first mentioned in documents in 909 and later in 1053.
The
Villa Toscana is not far from the Seeschloss. This building was
built between 1870 and 1877 in the middle of an 88,000 m² park as
the domicile of the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Maria Antonie of
Naples-Sicily. Other castles in the vicinity are Cumberland Castle
from the 19th century and Weyer Castle, which houses a permanent
exhibition on Meissen porcelain.
On the Rinnholzplatz there
is the salt carrier fountain, the only ceramic fountain in Austria,
from which drinking water flows from the “Holy Bründl”.
In
the parish church is the three king altar, which was created by the
Bavarian-Austrian sculptor Thomas Schwanthaler around 1678. In the
Capuchin Church, built in 1636, the high altar painting of the
Visitation of the Virgin, created in 1753 by the Tyrolean Baroque
painter Philipp Haller, is particularly noteworthy.
The
Gmundner Marktplatz is located near the parish church. In addition
to old houses, such as the first Gmundner Rathaus, which existed
until 1301, there is also the city fountain with the city coat of
arms. The town hall was built by an Italian master builder in 1574,
with a ceramic chime from the 16th century, and underwent extensive
renovations in 1925. When the city was founded, the market square
was the economic and political center. In a lane leading away from
the market square, there is the first pharmacy in the Salzkammergut,
as well as the Pepöckhaus, in which the Klo & So sanitary museum has
been set up since 1988.
The Kammerhof, built in 1450, once
the seat of the Habsburg salt chamber and representative of the
emperor, offers both historical and modern architectural elements.
In the Kammerhof there is not only the city museum but also the
Brahms Museum: Johannes Brahms often spent the summer months with
the Viennese industrialist Viktor von Miller zu Aichholz in his
Gmundner villa, after Brahms's death in 1897 he founded the first
Brahms Museum in Gmunden in 1900 World.
The famous paddle
steamer Gisela (built in 1871) is parked next to the Kammerhof at a
landing stage for the Traunsee shipping company. The ship was named
after the daughter of Emperor Franz Joseph, Gisela Louise Marie of
Austria.
Another attraction is the Gmundner tram built by
Stern & Hafferl. It connects the city center with the main train
station and is the oldest, shortest and - with a gradient of 10% -
the steepest tram in Austria.
In the Gmundner ceramics
factory you can watch how the typical “green flamed” is created
during factory tours. The influence of Gmundner ceramics is so
strong that Gmunden calls itself the “ceramic city”. From 1997 the
company, which had existed for more than 500 years, was owned by
Maximilian Graf von Moy's family, made losses before 2014 and was
sold to the MF Group, Anif by Markus Friesacher on August 1, 2018.
Vineyard outdoor seating in the Traundorf district.
Today
the city is a member of the Association of Small Historic Cities.