Lungau looks back on an unforgettable history – from the Stone Age to Roman times and Slavic influences. Countless historical traces such as the Roman road and old castles and fortresses make the region unique.
Today, the Salzburg Lungau is a region that steadfastly preserves its history and brings it to life in a very distinctive way.
The Salzburg Lungau region forms a large basin landscape, which is surrounded to the north by the Schladminger and Radstädter Tauern, to the west by the foothills of the Hohe Tauern and to the south by the Alps of the Gurktal Valley (Nock region). The courses of the upper Mur and Taurach rivers with their numerous tributary valleys give this basin a distinctive internal structure.
Although the Salzburg Lungau region only opens up to the east and is accessible from there through the valleys of Murtal and Seetal, it was not politically connected to Styria, but first to Carinthia in the south and then to Salzburg in the north. The main traffic route, which has been running from Salzburg in the north via the mountain pass Radstädter Tauern and the Laußnitzhöhe or Katschberg pass to Villach for thousands of years, contributed to this development.
The presence of humans in the Lungau region since the early Stone Age has been confirmed by individual finds. Since the 2nd century BC, Lungau belonged to the Celtic kingdom of Noricum, which was occupied by the Romans in 15 BC and became a Roman province around AD 50.
There is still a wealth of evidence from the era of Roman rule, which lasted over four centuries: The Roman road over the Radstädter Tauern and the Laußnitzhöhe mountain passes, for example, has its evidence in the immovable milestones!
Since the end of the 6th century, the Salzburg Lungau region has been settled by the Alpine Slavs, who came from the east. Many Lungau place names have a Slavic origin – e. g. Lessach ("at the forest people's"). In the 8th century, Lungau came under Bavarian rule and became part of the great Carolingian Kingdom of the Franks after the fall of Bavarian Duke Tassilo III in 788!
The name "Lungau", which is perhaps connected to the Longa stream that flows out of the Weißpriachtal valley, contains the German word "Gau". In the Early Middle Ages, the Gau was usually an economic and administrative district.
From the High Middle Ages, Lungau formed a county. Subsequently to that, a provincial court was established in Lungau, which was administered by an archiepiscopal judge. This gave rise to the so-called Pfleggericht Moosham in the 15th century. Horrific inhuman trials with condemnations to death by hanging or beheading as well as "burning of witches" were the order of the day at this court.
The fortresses and castles in Lungau served as residences for the nobility, as border fortifications, and as administrative centers. The oldest spiritual center was Mariapfarr, the mother parish of the entire Lungau region, which was called plainly "the church in Lungau" as early as 923.
The predominantly rural population of the Salzburg Lungau region lived from agriculture and livestock farming. Alpine farming, which is still widespread today, was probably already practiced by the Slavs. In addition to agriculture, trade and mining formed the backbone of the Lungau economy.
The most important north-south trade route ran through the Lungau region. The people of Lungau found employment as pack animal herders and carters. In Mauterndorf, an archiepiscopal duty was levied on transit goods.
Wandern ©Wanderevent 24h Trophy/gipfelfieber
The Lungau region was also one of the most important mining areas in the province of Salzburg. Gold and silver were mined in the Mur Valley as early as 1287. Since the 14th century, the highly toxic arsenic, which was important for the production of medicines, was mined in Rotgülden (Murtal valley). The area around Ramingstein was characterized by profitable gold and silver mining.
After the end of mining in 1880, Salzburg's Lungau became the "poorest" region in the province of Salzburg due to its isolated location. It was only with the construction of the Tauernautobahn motorway (1974–1976) and the tourism, which started to flourish thanks to better mobility, that the Lungau region regained its economic importance.
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