Tamsweg

Tamsweg is a market town in the Austrian state of Salzburg near the border with Styria. It is the administrative centre of the eponymous Tamsweg District (Bezirk) and the largest town of the Salzburg Lungau region.

Geography

Tamsweg is located on the southern slope of the Schladminger Tauern mountain range within the Central Eastern Alps, in the valley of the upper Mur River, the driest basin in Austria. The municipality consists of the cadastral communities of Haiden, Keusching, Lasaberg, Mörtelsdorf, Sauerfeld, Seetal, Tamsweg and Wölting.

History

Once part of the Roman Noricum province, the Lungau from the 6th century onwards was a Slavic settlement area, which in the 8th century fell under the influence of the Bavarian dukes. The locality of Taemswich was first mentioned about 1156. The parish church, originally a filial of nearby Mariapfarr, was acquired by Archbishop Eberhard II of Salzburg in 1246. The Prince-Archbishops had the Saint Leonard pilgrimage church erected about 1433, which in the late 15th century was enlarged as a fortified church in view of repeated Ottoman invasions. In 1490 it was occupied by Hungarian troops of King Matthias Corvinus and became the site of violent fights against the armed forces of Emperor Frederick III.

Tamsweg District

Bezirk Tamsweg is an administrative district (Bezirk) in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria. It is congruent with the Lungau region. The administrative centre of the district is Tamsweg.

Geography

The area of the Lungau plateau is 1,019.69 km², with a population of 21,283 (May 15, 2001), and population density 21 persons per km². It is located within the Central Eastern Alps, confined by the Hohe Tauern (High Tauern) range in the west, the Niedere Tauern (Low Tauern) in the north, and the Gurktal Alps (Nock Mountains) in the south.

The region is separated from the Salzburg Pongau region by the Radstädter Tauern Pass crossing the Niedere Tauern. In the south, the Katschberg Pass road leads to the neighbouring state of Carinthia. Since 1974, the Tauern Autobahn underpasses both ranges via the Tauern Road Tunnel and the Katschberg Tunnel. In the east, the upper Mur River, originating near Muhr, flows towards Murau in Styria, accompanied by the narrow-gauge Taurach Railway and the Mur Valley Railway.