Wagrain is a market town with 3121 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2020) in the St. Johann im Pongau district in the Austrian state of Salzburg.
The name Wagrain is made up of the two
Middle High German words wac (moving water, river) and rein (rain,
meadow, slope). In 1243 Wakrein is mentioned for the first time in
the Salzburg book of place names, Wachrain was written around 1350
and Wakchrain in 1382. Under the influence of the written language,
the current spelling was finally used.
In the Middle Ages the
area was a mining area.
Wagrain was the place in the
archbishopric of Salzburg with the highest number of Protestant
exiles. Over 80% of the locals preferred to be expelled (mostly to
Prussia) rather than converting to Roman Catholicism.
The Waggerlhaus, officially Waggerl Haus, in Wagrain (Land
Salzburg) was the home of the poet Karl Heinrich Waggerl (1897–1973)
for over 50 years and has served as a museum since 1994. The
building from the 18th century is a listed building.
History
Waggerl was born in poor conditions in Bad Gastein in 1897. Together
with his wife Edith († 1990) he moved to Wagrain as a teacher in
1920. He lived in the Waggerl House until his death in 1973. It was
first mentioned in a document as early as 1776 as the Aignerhaus.
The couple initially lived in two attic chambers in the 1920s, but
gradually acquired half the house by 1955. All of his literary works
were created here.
A donation from Edith Waggerl enabled the
market town of Wagrain to redesign the house in cooperation with the
Wagrain cultural association Blue Window and scientists as a museum.
The opening was celebrated in 1994.
Just as Waggerl left the
most important rooms, they were preserved. His handicrafts were
exhibited as bookbinders, painters, draftsmen, photographers and
collectors. Critical and informative boards, showcases, audio
stations and video films about the person and his work were set up
in some rooms. The aim of the museum is to provide access to the
poet and his work.
The majority of the exhibits come from the
collection of the Waggerl Archive, founded in 1987. When the
building was converted into a museum, the fabric of the building was
changed as little as possible in order to preserve the original
character while at the same time preserving the memory of
traditional rural architecture.
Special exhibitions
2013:
Watches from the Dolezal and Waggerl collection
Elisabeth
Dolezal, who was born in Vienna and came to Wagrain as a teenager in
the 1920s, spent every summer with her family in the
Pflegeerschlössl from then on. Over the years she got to love
Wagrain and so she maintained close contacts with the initiators of
the local museum association Erwin Exner, Karl Heinrich Waggerl,
Alois Doppler and Ursula Seiwald. Because of her ties to Wagrain,
she left the valuable family collection consisting of clocks and
other antique objects to the local museum association. The “Blaues
Fenster” cultural association is now taking care of the estate and
in 2013 presented the objects in a special exhibition.
2014/2015: “Letters to loved ones” - Waggerl, Wagrain and the First
World War
“Letters to loved ones” primarily contains entries
from Waggerl's war diary, in which the later poet describes his
experiences. The exhibition links the descriptions with the events
taking place in Wagrain at the same time. Using press releases,
diaries, letters, postcards, souvenir pictures, private photos,
posters and militaria, a picture of life at the front, everyday life
in Wagrain and media life in the days of the First World War should
be drawn. Loans from Wagrainers as well as from the museums in Bad
Gastein, Bad Hofgastein and the Erick Eybl poster collection will be
shown.
Silent night space
Since 2006, a room in the museum
has been dedicated to the vicar and lyricist Joseph Mohr, who wrote
the text for the Christmas carol "Silent Night, Holy Night" in 1816,
which Franz Xaver Gruber set to music two years later. Joseph Mohr
came to Wagrain in 1837. He remained in the historical memory of the
place as the founder of a new school building and the depository
system for the elderly.
Wagrain Castle is the ruin of a hilltop castle at 840 m above sea
level. A. on the so-called castle hill of the municipality Wagrain
in the district of St. Johann im Pongau in the state of Salzburg.
The castle protected the transition over the Wagrainer Höhe from the
Salzachtal to the Ennstal.
History
Two watchtowers stood
in Wagrain as early as Roman times. One of them is likely to be the
foundation of the parish church tower. The other stood on the castle
hill.
Wagrain castle was built by the Lords of Goldegg around
1200; the exact dates are not known. The conveniently located
complex was a bulwark against the Salzburg Archbishop, as the
Goldeggers always opposed the expansion of sovereign power.
In the controversy over the royal throne between Ludwig IV. The
Bavarian and Friedrich the fair, the Goldegger stood on the side of
Ludwig, the Salzburg Archbishop Friedrich III. von Leibnitz but on
Friedrich's side. Although Ludwig emerged victorious from the Battle
of Mühldorf (1322), the Archbishop of Salzburg had, among other
things, in the course of the fighting. Wagrain Castle destroyed.
This castle was not rebuilt, but the Hofmark Wagrain continued
to exist. The Hofmark was incorporated into the Prince Archbishopric
of Salzburg and given as a fief. In 1450 Wiguleius and Berhand
Grabner received the Hofmark and Goldegg Castle from Tyrol. But they
had to do without Goldegg as early as 1463. In 1593 the Welsers were
raised to the nobility with the title of Wagrain. Abraham Welser von
Labach zu Wagrain died in 1635. The last of the Welsers was his
grandson Johann Melchior Welser von und zu Einödberg, Truchseß in
Salzburg.
Wagrain castle ruins today
The castle grounds
are located on a spur between the upper and lower sections of the
market square, halfway up the church path. The place is protected on
all sides by steep slopes. The Burgplatz is still 60 × 80 m in size
and the courtyard is around 5000 m² in size. The 150 cm thick
circular wall has been preserved on the southwest side up to a
height of 3 m. Outside the remains of the curtain wall, there is a
narrow path that circles the castle grounds. The lower part of a
wall with a wall core is also present. The entrance gate was
probably located in the eastern wall front. A square stone building,
a former tower, was recognizable here at ground floor level. This
tower stood on the foundations of a mighty, free-standing round
tower with a wall thickness of about 2.7 m and a diameter of 11.5 m,
which was probably the keep of the castle. During the renovation,
the remains of the rectangular building that was later built on it
were removed. The interior construction in the northwest of the
castle plateau was presumably the palace hall of the castle with 22
× 13 m; Here you can see a square corner and two steps of an outside
staircase. The remains of the castle have been restored and
supplemented.
A castle house was built on the hill in the
19th century, but the owners moved away in 1939. The ruins were also
badly damaged by massive stone theft (e.g. for the swimming pool
construction in 1939), so that the castle disappeared from the
consciousness of the population. From the castle there were three
underground passages into the market: one to the cellar of the
Steinerwirt (walled up in 1878), the second to the castle chapel
(market church), the third was discovered in 1929 when the count's
inn was being built, but bricked up because of its dilapidated
condition.
Archaeological excavations have been carried out
every year since 2006 on the initiative of the Blue Window cultural
association. During the excavation work for the local art project 3
Hutschen for Wagrain, many finds came to light: ceramics, remains of
walls and a previously unknown building floor plan that was not
recognizable on the surface. Under the direction of Peter Höglinger
(Department of Soil Monuments of the Federal Monuments Office and in
cooperation with the Department of Classical Studies at the
University of Salzburg) the facility was examined and measured with
students in a three-week educational excavation; these
archaeological investigations continued between 2006 and 2010.
During excavations (2008) in the area of the Zwinger between the
hall and the surrounding wall, a dark, carbonaceous layer of earth
was discovered; fragments of clay vessels, fragments of glass
vessels, crossbow bolts, knives, belt buckles (all made of iron) and
finger rings (non-ferrous metal) were found here; likewise three
coins that refer to far-reaching trade connections based on their
mints (Enns, Salzburg, Munich).
In the grounds of the former
Wagrain Castle, boards now provide information about the history and
importance of the facility and the special features of the round
tower. An exhibition of art objects can also be viewed on a
“cultural walk”.