Colorful Kitzbuehel - Austria
by Juergen Weiss
Title
Colorful Kitzbuehel - Austria
Artist
Juergen Weiss
Medium
Photograph
Description
This image was taken in Kitzbuehel (Austria) and it shows a part of the colorful downtown.
Kitzbuehel is a small medieval town situated along the river Kitzbuehler Ache in Tyrol, Austria and the administrative centre of the Kitzbuehel district (Bezirk). It has a population of 8,134 (as of 1 January 2013). The town is situated in the Kitzbuehel Alps about 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of the state capital of Innsbruck. It is a ski resort of international renown.
The first known settlers were Illyrians mining copper in the hills around Kitzbuehel between 1100 and 800 BC. Around 15 BC, the Romans under Emperor Augustus extended their empire to include the Alps and established the province of Noricum. After the fall of the western Roman Empire, Bavarii settled in the Kitzbuehel region around 800 and started clearing forests.
In the 12th century, the name Chizbuhel is mentioned for the first time in a document belonging to the Chiemsee monastery (where it refers to a "Marquard von Chizbuhel"), whereby Chizzo relates to a Bavarian clan and Buehel refers to the location of a settlement upon a hill. One hundred years later a source refers to the Vogtei of the Bamberg monastery in Kicemgespuchel and, in the 1271 document elevating the settlement to the status of a town, the place is called Chizzingenspuehel.
Kitzbuehel became part of Upper Bavaria in 1255 when Bavaria was first partitioned. Duke Ludwig II of Bavaria granted Kitzbuehel town rights on 6 June 1271, and it was fortified with defensive town walls. During the next centuries the town established itself as a market town, growing steadily and remaining unaffected by war and conflict. The town walls were eventually reduced to the level of a single storey building, and the stone used to build residential housing.
When Countess Margarete of Tyrol married the Bavarian, Duke Louis V the Brandenburger, in 1342, Kitzbuehel was temporarily united with the County of Tyrol (that in turn became a Bavarian dominion as a result of the marriage until Louis' death). After the Peace of Schaerding (1369) Kitzbuehel was returned to Bavaria. Following the division of Bavaria, Kufstein went to the Landshut line of the House of Wittelsbach. During this time, silver and copper mining in Kitzbuehel expanded steadily and comprehensive mining rights were issued to her that, later, were to become significant to the Bavarian dukedom. On 30 June 1504 Kitzbuehel became a part of Tyrol permanently: the Emperor Maximilian reserved to himself the hitherto Landshut offices (Aemter) of Kitzbuehel, Kufstein and Rattenberg as a part of his Cologne Arbitration (Koelner Schiedsspruch), that had ended the Landshut War of Succession.
However the law of Louis of Bavaria continued to apply to the three aforementioned places until the 19th century, so that these towns had a special legal status within Tyrol. Maximilian enfeoffed Kitzbuehel, with the result that it came under the rule of the Counts of Lamberg at the end of the 16th century, until 1 May 1840, when Kitzbuehel was ceremonially transferred to the state.
An inscription in the Swedish Chapel dating to the Swedish War states "Bis hierher und nicht weiter kamen die schwedischen Reiter" ("The Swedish knights came as far as here but no further.")
The wars of the 18th and 19th century bypassed the town, even though its inhabitants participated in the Tyrolean Rebellion against Napoleon. Following the Treaty of Pressburg in 1805, Kitzbuehel once more became part of Bavaria; it was reunited with Tyrol after the fall of Napoleon at the Congress of Vienna. Until 1918, the town (named KITZBICHL before 1895) was part of the Austrian monarchy (Austria side after the compromise of 1867), head of the district of the same name, one of the 21 Bezirkshauptmannschaften in the Tyrol province.
When Emperor Franz Joseph finally resolved the confusing constitutional situation, and following completion of the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway in 1875, the town's trade and industry flourished. In 1894, Kitzbuehel hosted its first ski race, ushering in a new era of tourism and sport.
Kitzbuehel also had the good fortune to remain undamaged from the ravages of the First and Second World Wars. Since the year 2000 the town has been a member of the Climate Alliance of Tyrol.
The town's demographic evolution between 1869 and 2011 is shown in the list to the right. (Resource Wikipedia).
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August 29th, 2011
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Comments (3)
Ann Horn
Wow! What vibrantly colored houses. Stunning, Juergen!
Juergen Weiss replied:
Thank you for your lovely comment, Ann ! Each year when I go to Germany I visit Kitzbuehel for a couple of days ... it's so beautiful ... !