Hermagor-Pressegger See, Austria

Hermagor-Pressegger See (Slovenian: Šmohor-Preseško jezero) is a municipality with 6951 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2023) in the district of Hermagor in Carinthia, Austria. The city was named after the early Christian saint Hermagoras, who according to legend was the first bishop of the Patriarchate of Aquileia.

 

Culture and sights

Möderndorf Castle with the Gailtal local history museum
Lerchenhof Castle in Untermöschach was built between 1848 and 1851 as the manorial seat of Baron Julius von Wodley. The building, which has been a listed building since 1939 and is now used as a hotel-inn, is considered a prime example of late-classical Biedermeier architecture in Carinthia.
The castle ruins of Malenthein are located on the south-eastern slope of the Guggenberg near Kühweg. The oldest documented mention of a tower owned by Bamberg dates back to 1311, a further expansion is documented for 1317. Until 1395 the castle was the seat of a district court. At the end of the 15th century it went to Friedrich III. in 1506, his successor Maximilian I gave it to Johann Geumann von Galsbach, Grand Master of the Order of George in Millstatt. He gave it to his brother-in-law Georg von Malenthein, and the castle has borne his name ever since. The tower was still inhabited in 1688, but from the 18th century the castle gradually fell into disrepair. Parts of the outer ring of walls and the 6 to 8 meter high remains of the residential tower are still visible today.
Fortress Khünburg castle ruins. Within sight of Hermagor in an easterly direction, there is a mighty tower, the keep of the old fortress of Khünburg, on a receding hilltop on the south-east flank of the Egel group. A narrow, ridge-like ridge, secured by a ditch, leads to the castle. Originally, the building could not be very extensive, since the small plateau did not offer enough space for it. The existence of a chapel is suspected on the grassy forecourt on the south side of the tower. Fire, difficulties with the water supply, this had to be brought through long pipelines. In the end, the impassable location of this castle probably led to its abandonment. The Khünburg family later moved their headquarters to the more comfortable, easily accessible valley castle "castrum Kynegg" (today's Egg). In addition to possessions in South Tyrol and overseas, the Counts of Kuenburg still have their preferred family seat in Egg near Hermagor.
Branch church Schlanitzen. The branch church "St. Leonhard", a medium-sized, late Gothic building, stands south of Tröpolach, on a 116 m higher, abruptly falling wooded hilltop (Pleik). Paolo Santonino reported the consecration of this "new" church on October 23, 1485 by the bishop of Caorle. Traditions also tell of a wooden forerunner chapel that was built by miners. The church consists of a wide, spacious, almost square nave, whose flat ceiling with stenciled paintings is supported by a joist. The ceiling is divided into numerous longitudinal rectangular fields by narrow longitudinal and wider transverse strips and painted over and over, mostly with stencils, but also freehand. You can see an almost unmistakable abundance of different knot, wickerwork, star, swirl wheel patterns and rosettes. Also of interest is the right winged altar, the larger-than-life Christ in chains, holding a club and a whip, as well as the noteworthy group of crosses with Christ and the two thieves. Until around 1890 there was still a chain that was stretched twice around the church. It fell victim to rust, the remains of which were later processed into sheet metal and used to cover the entrance door of the Tröpolach parish church. Outside - on the north wall - you can see a late Gothic, larger than life fresco of Christopherus. The youthful giant carries the blessing Child Jesus on his right shoulder. This fresco could be seen from afar from the valley at the time when the forest was not yet covering the little church. Travelers looked up to him and asked the saint for his intercession. According to popular belief, her life was secured for that one day.
Rattendorf Parish Church
Hermagor Parish Church
Wimpy tolerance house of prayer

 

Geography

Geographical location
The community is located in the lower Gailtal at the confluence of the Gitschtal and Gailtal near the border with Italy. The community is bordered by the Carnic Alps to the south and the Gailtal Alps to the north. With the Pressegger See, the ninth largest lake in Carinthia is located in the municipal area.

 

History

Finds show that today's municipal area was already inhabited in pre-Roman times. The oldest known finds in the vicinity of Hermagor belong to the so-called urnfield period (1200 to 1800 BC) and are partly depot and stray finds. This includes a depot find from Dellach, formerly the municipality of Egg, which was salvaged in 1889 from under a stone slab. It contained two large, medium-sized lobed axes, one with faceted lobes, and two bronze rings. A handle dagger typical of the older Urnfield period was found in 1937 at an altitude of around 1400 m on the Jadersdorfer Ochsenalm, Gitschtal. He points to the influences from the southwest and northern Italy. Iron ore was mined here and exported to the Mediterranean Sea. Around 15 B.C. BC the Celtic kingdom of Noricum and today's municipal area were occupied by the Roman Empire and incorporated into the empire. The Hadnmauer, a dam that ran through the valley near Rattendorf and was probably intended to protect Gurina, is also located around this time.

The parish of Hermagor was first mentioned in a document in 1169, and its titular saint, Hermagoras, indicates that it was founded by Aquileia. Conveniently located at the crossroads from the Gitschtal to the Kreuzbergsattel, the town emerged as a scheduled market, was granted market rights in 1288 and developed into the main town of the Gailtal. In the 15th century, the Turks invaded and devastated the villages throughout the Gailtal. From the 16th century, the market town of Hermagor belonged to the dominion of the County of Ortenburg.

In 1779 Franz Xaver Freiherr von Wulfen discovered the Wulfenia flower named after him on the Gartnerkofel.

The place became the seat of the district administration in 1868 and thus the center of the Hermagor district of the same name at the time. During the k. u.k. Monarchy was Hermagor Garrison of the I. and II. Battalion of the k. k. Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 4.

In 1880 the then market town of Hermagor had 709 inhabitants. All of them belonged to the German language group. At that time the place was immediately north-west of the language border. The places from Potschach and Fritzendorf, which today belong to Hermagor, spoke Slovene. While the Slovene ethnic group was almost entirely Catholic, Hermagor also had a Protestant minority. This was to be found in almost all German-speaking villages in the area and in 1880 represented the majority in the towns of Achleiten, Aigen, Danz, Jenig, Kameritsch, Kreuth ob Rattendorf, Liesch, Radnig, Radnigforst, Rattendorf and Watschig, which today belong to the municipality.

Effective October 10, 1930, the market town of Hermagor was elevated to the status of a town by decision of the Carinthian state government. The occasion and background of this town elevation were the events surrounding the Carinthian defensive struggle (1918-1920) and the Carinthian plebiscite of October 10, 1920.

In April 1938, Hermagor was declared a so-called "Führergemeinde" because there was not a single negative vote in the entire community against the annexation of Austria to the National Socialist German Reich. In the course of Aryanization, the general store owned by the Jewish trader Arthur Glesinger was forced to close. The physician Albert Menninger-Lerchenthal, who lived in Hermagor, was transferred to Magdeburg in January 1943 because of his Jewish roots and died under unclear circumstances during a home leave in the summer of 1944 on the Radniger Alm near the city area.

During the war years, more than 3000 young women were held in the so-called "Maidenlager" of the Reich Labor Service in the upper part of Hermagor. The female workers, mainly from Styria and northern Germany, supported the farms in the community.

in April 1942, several Carinthian-Slovenian families were forcibly resettled or deported from the municipality of Hermagor. The main local responsibility for this was the National Socialist district leader of Hermagor Julian Kollnitz, who was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in 1949 in the course of denazification.

The city of Hermagor was also the location of the "Haßlacher" company, which manufactured wooden barracks for the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe. Some British and Soviet prisoners of war also had to work there, the latter under particularly adverse conditions. From October 1944, this led to several Allied bombing raids on the south-eastern district of Hermagoras, where the armaments factory and the train station were located. On May 8, 1945, British units advancing from the Plöcken Pass reached the town of Hermagor. The association "Remember Gailtal" counts more than 200 victims of National Socialism in the district of Hermagor and in the rest of the Carinthian Gailtal, but the number of unreported cases is estimated to be significantly higher.

In 1958 Möschach was connected and in 1973 the greater municipality of Hermagor-Pressegger See was created through the incorporation of Egg, Mitschig, Görtschach and parts of Rattendorf.

 

Population

Ethnic groups, religion

At the time of the 2001 census, Hermagor-Pressegger See had 7,232 inhabitants (1991: 7,403), mostly members of the German or Slovenian-speaking ethnic group. Of these, 94.7% had Austrian, 1.6% German, 1.1% Bosnian and 1.0% Croatian citizenship.

68.8% of the population belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, 25.6% to the Evangelical Church and 1.5% were of Islamic faith, 2.4% had no religious affiliation.

 

Economy and Infrastructure

In recent years, the community has developed into an important bi-seasonal tourist community (over one million overnight stays per year). In winter, the Skiarena Nassfeld (Mokrine) attracts many tourists as one of the largest ski areas in the southern Alps, while in the summer months there is a wide range of vacation options with water (Pressegger See, Gail), hiking, cycling, mountaineering, Geotrail, fishing, culinary festivals and various children's attractions.

Of the 3,228 employees in 2001, 600 were employed in the hotel and catering industry, followed by 471 employees in trade, repair of motor vehicles and consumer goods and 441 employees in manufacturing.

 

Agriculture and Forestry

In 1999 there were only 86 full-time and 455 part-time farms in the municipality of Hermagor-Pressegger See. The municipality is proportionally below the Carinthian state average. The large landowners are legal entities (agricultural communities) that account for slightly less than half of the cultivated areas. Arable farming is not of great importance. In 2009, 789 ha were designated as arable land, more than half of which are arable meadows and pastures. Spring barley, oats and grain maize are primarily grown on 134 hectares of pure arable land.

Of the 599 holdings existing in 2009, forestry was the main activity of 320 (53.4% of holdings), followed by cattle farming (177) and sheep farming (47). Livestock has halved in the last 50 years.

Forests and wood play a major role in rural livelihoods as an important economic mainstay. The management of the forest areas, which are consistently owned by farmers, is becoming increasingly important. However, apart from a few exceptions, it has not been possible to implement an industrial refinement of the wood on site. Wood is also gaining in importance in the context of environmental protection. For example, the town of Hermagor and the tourist resort of Tröpolach are supplied with district heating using biomass.

Alpine farming is also of central importance. Cattle and horses spend the summer on the alpine pastures. The milk is processed there into Gailtaler Almkäse and other regional specialties. These alpine farms are the destination of thousands of alpine and mountain hikers every year, who like to stop off and appreciate the Gailtal hospitality and cosiness, but also the enchantingly beautiful mountains of the Carnic and Gailtal Alps.

 

Trade and commerce

Although the smallest district capital in Austria, Hermagor is the economic center of the Gail, Gitsch and Lesach valleys. Here, at the intersection of two valleys, crafts and trade settled early on. In the last few decades, Hermagor has changed from a more agricultural economy to a strong tourist region. Numerous jobs have been created by tourism, trade and commerce benefit from it. The service industry in all its facets has increased enormously. Craftsmanship is still important, however.

As of May 1, 2012, 514 companies of various sizes and from a wide range of sectors were registered in the municipality of Hermagor-Pressegger See.

 

Tourism

Modern tourism emerged around 1800 with the bourgeois educational trip. Since Hermagor and the Gailtal could not score, the interest in this valley was limited. Only in the last third of the 19th century did the tourist development of the Gailtal begin. In 1882 the “Hermagor Tourist Association” was founded. The decisive impetus came in 1894 with the construction of the Gailtalbahn, which was extended to Kötschach-Mauthen in 1915 for war purposes. In Hermagor there were at least five inns with guest rooms. The "economic miracle" after the Second World War helped tourism to unimagined growth rates. Federal President Adolf Schärf spent numerous holidays at Lake Pressegger See. The Viennese in particular were drawn to the Pressegger See. The lake received modern lidos. Winter tourism played a subordinate role until then.

That changed in 1962. Arnold Pucher, later known as the "Nassfeld Emperor", built the first hotel, the "Wulfenia". At the same time, Hans Jenul built the first tow lift. Today, Nassfeld is the largest ski area in Carinthia. The ski area offers over 30 cable cars and lifts and over 100 kilometers of downhill runs, the longest monocable gondola in Europe and the longest valley run. The connection of the valley, the construction of new hotels and the creation of modern infrastructure caused the number of overnight stays and the number of day visitors to skyrocket.

490 tourism businesses in Hermagor-Pressegger See have a total of 10,576 beds on the mountain and in the valley (as of May 1st, 2012). With over a million overnight stays, the Hermagor-Pressegger See tourist community is now one of the most important tourist centers in Carinthia and southern Austria. In winter, Hermagor in Carinthia is at the top. All in all, Hermagor is among the 20 municipalities in Austria with the highest number of overnight stays.

 

Summer tourism

 The Hermagor area, especially the Presseggersee, was very popular with well-off middle-class families from the centers of the then monarchy even before the First World War. The constant weather, the pleasant temperatures of the Presseggersee and the exceptionally beautiful natural landscape around the lake with the second largest reed area in Austria (after Lake Neusiedl) were reasons for the popularity of this region. The first pensions and hotels were built around the lake, traffic routes were built and a modest infrastructure created. Today, guests are offered a modern infrastructure, beautiful lidos, very good gastronomy, cycle paths, hiking trails, Carinthia's first adventure park and accommodation from private accommodation to five-star hotels.

In summer, the Nassfeld is a popular excursion and holiday destination for geologists due to the unique mountain and rock structure. The region is also very popular with botanists. Among the rare plants and flowers, Wulfenia stands out. The mint family only occurs around the Gartnerkofel (altitude about 1700 m) and in the Prokletije mountains in the border area between Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania.

 

Bodies of water

The Pressegger See has the character of a lowland lake with a shallow basin in the middle of an extensive reed bed. This covers the adjoining fens to an extent of around 300 hectares and forms the second largest reed landscape in Austria after Lake Neusiedl. The emergence of the Pressegger See goes back to the conditions after the end of the Ice Age. During the Ice Age, a glacier flowed into the valley between the Spitzegel-Zug in the north and the phyllite ridge of the Eggforst in the south. Before the last glaciation, the Gitschtal was drained via today's lake area in the direction of Görtschach and the Gail. As the Gail bed rose more and more due to ballast, the lower section of the valley lost its previous drainage. The water from the precipitation collected in the catchment area of the lower Gitschtal to form a lake, the last remnant of which is today's Pressegger See.

The length of the lake in the E-W direction is about 900 meters and the width is about 600 meters. The lake area covers around 55 hectares. This puts it in ninth place among Carinthia's lakes. The greatest depth is almost 14 meters in the area of a spring funnel. Only a seventh of the bottom of the lake is more than six meters below the water level, the average water depth is not more than three and a half meters. The water volume is estimated at two million cubic meters.

The Pressegger See is fed on the one hand by the Vella stream and on the other hand by numerous underground, densely branched springs. A legend tells that a calf sank and drowned in Lake Constance, which lies halfway up the path to Nassfeld. The farmer was looking for it, but soon gave up looking for it. A few weeks later it was floating on the surface of Lake Pressegg. It had reached the lake, about 15 kilometers away, through gorges and underground waterways.

 

Politics

City Council and Mayor
The City Council (city government) consists of seven members. The directly elected mayor is Leopold Astner (ÖVP).

 

Mayor

1958-1973 Rudolf Tillian (SPÖ)
1973-1981 Josef Themesl
1979-1981 Rudolf Tillian (SPÖ)
1981-1983 Max Rauscher (SPÖ)
1983-2011 Vincent Rauscher (SPÖ)
2011-2021 Siegfried Ronacher (SPÖ)
since 2021 Leopold Astner (ÖVP)

 

Council

The Municipal Council of Hermagor has 27 members.

Since the municipal council elections in 2021, it has had the following composition: 12 SPÖ, 9 ÖVP, 2 FPÖ, 3 Karl Tillian – list of citizens
1 independent former FPÖ

 

Coat of arms

On June 18, 1619, Hermagor was awarded a parchment dragonfly of a coat of arms award certificate, of which only copies from 1642 without illustrations have survived. As a result, Hermagor kept a seal showing the half-length figure of Hermagoras. Between 1734 and 1796 a seal depicting the saint in full length was used, and subsequently some details of the Hermagoras depiction vary. When the coat of arms was confirmed in 1974, the oldest surviving seal was returned, which also corresponds to the blazon of 1619.

On the occasion of the coat of arms confirmation, the following heraldic description was determined:

"In red, the half-figure of Bishop Hermagoras in a violet cloak, holding a green palm branch in the right hand and a golden crosier in the left."
The flag is red and yellow with an incorporated coat of arms.

 

Community partnership

Since 1998 there has been a town twinning with the neighboring municipality of Pontebba in the Italian Canal Valley.

 

Sons and daughters of the town

Armin Assinger (born 1964), Austrian alpine skier, now TV presenter
Roland Assinger (born 1973), alpine skier
Anton Dean (born 1948), pseudonym Tony Dee, writer and musician
Hans Domenig (1901–1976), sculptor
Max Domenig (1886–1952), sculptor
George Essl III. (1931–2022), entrepreneur and inventor
Karlheinz Essl senior (* 1939), retail manager and art collector
Robert Essl (1980–2019), photographer
Franc Grafenauer (1860–1935), member of the Reichsrat for the Carinthian Slovenes and organ builder
Gerhard Lampersberg (1928–2002), composer
Matthias Mayer/Matija Majar-Ziljski (1809–1892), clergyman and national Slovenian activist
Oswin Moro (1895–1941), teacher and folklorist
Gotbert Moro (1902–1987), historian, director of the Carinthian State Museum and State Archives
Engelbert Obernosterer (born 1936), writer
Paul Pellar (1919–1988), Lutheran theologian, Superintendent of Carinthia and East Tyrol
Leo Pietsch (1905–1981), auxiliary bishop
Arnold Pucher (1940–2022), Nassfeld pioneer and honorary citizen
Stefanie Ranner (1923–1944), Nazi victim
Josef Rothleitner (1934–2011), theoretical physicist
Markus Salcher (* 1991), disabled sports
Hans Schabus (born 1970), artist
Robert Schabus (born 1971), filmmaker
Rudolf Tillian (1913–2013), politician, former mayor, president of the Carinthian state parliament; Winner of the Great Golden Medal of Honor of the State of Carinthia, bearer of the Great Golden Medal of Honor with the star for services to the Republic of Austria, honorary citizen and bearer of the ring of honor of the municipality of Hermagor, honorary president of the Carinthian Association of Municipalities and honorary member of the Austrian Association of Municipalities
Herbert Unterberger, (born 1944), sculptor
Ines Widmann (1904–2002), writer