Kitzbühel
Kitzbühel
Country	Austria
State	Tyrol
District	Kitzbühel
Mayor	Klaus Winkler (ÖVP)
Area	58.02 km2 (22 sq mi)
Elevation	762 m  (2500 ft)
Population	8,204  (1 January 2010)
- Density	141 /km² (366 /sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	KB
Postal code	6370
Area code	05356
Website	Kitzbühel Coordinates: 47°26′47″N 12°23′31″E / 47.44639°N 12.39194°E / 47.44639; 12.39194

Kitzbühel (pronounced 'kɪtsbyːl) is a small medieval town in Tyrol, Austria, situated on the Kitzbüheler Ache river. It has a population of 8,204 (as at 1 Jan 2010) and is the administrative centre of the district (Bezirk) Kitzbühel. The town is situated in the Kitzbühel Alps about 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of the state capital of Innsbruck and is a ski resort of international renown.

Geography

The town borough is subdivided into the municipalities of: Am Horn, Aschbachbichl, Badhaussiedlung, Bichlach, Ecking, Felseneck, Griesenau, Griesenauweg, Gundhabing, Hagstein, Hausstatt, Henntal, Jodlfeld, Kaps, Mühlau, Obernau, Schattberg, Seereith, Siedlung Frieden, Am Sonnberg, Sonnenhoffeld, Staudach, Stockerdörfl and Zephirau.

Kitzbühel's neighbouring municipalities are: Aurach bei Kitzbühel, Jochberg, Kirchberg in Tirol, Oberndorf in Tirol, Reith bei Kitzbühel, St. Johann in Tirol and Fieberbrunn.

History

The first known settlers were Illyrians mining copper in the hills around Kitzbühel between 1100 BC 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 Kitzbühel region around 800 and started clearing forests.

In the twelfth 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 Bühel 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.

Kitzbühel became part of Upper Bavaria in 1255 when Bavaria was first partitioned. Louis II, Duke of Bavaria granted Kitzbühel 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. So the town walls were reduced to the level of a single storey building and the stone used for building of residential housing.

When Margaret, Countess of Tyrol married the Bavarian, Duke Louis V the Brandenburger, in 1342, Kitzbühel 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 Schärding (1369) Kitzbühel was returned to Bavaria. Following the division of Bavarian, Kufstein went to the Landshut line of the House of Wittelsbach. During this time, mining in Kitzbühel expanded steadily and comprehensive mining rights were issued to her that, later, were to become significant to the Bavarian dukedom. On 30 June 1504 Kitzbühel became a part of Tyrol permanently after the Emperor Maximilian had reserved them for himself the hitherto Landshut offices (Ämter) of Kitzbühel, Kufstein and Rattenberg as a part of his Cologne Arbitration (Kölner 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 Kitzbühel, 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 Kitzbühel 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 eighteenth and nineteenth century bypassed the town, even though its inhabitants participated in the Tyrolean Rebellion against Napoleon. Following the Treaty of Pressburg in 1805, Kitzbühel once more became part of Bavaria, but was reunited with Tyrol after the fall of Napoleon at the Congress of Vienna.

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. Kitzbühel 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.

Places of interest

Architecture:

• St. Catherine's Church: built 1360–1365, High Gothic church in the heart of the town with a coppersmith altar; the high tower with its spire is a striking landmark in the town centre. Its carillon sounds at 11 am and 5 pm.
• Protestant Christ's Church in Kitzbühel: built in 1962 by Clemens Holzmeister
• Reisch Dance Cafe: built in 1928 by Lois Welzenbacher (architect of the Tiroler Moderne); the Plahl Medical Practice (Arzthaus) was also designed by him
• Berghaus Holzmeister, a guesthouse on Kitzbühel's local mountain, the Hahnenkamm; built in 1930 by Clemens Holzmeister
• Berghaus by Alfons Walde, 100m away
• Fresco by Max Weiler (1951) in Kitzbühel Primary School (Volksschule)
• Newly built tri-cable system by the firm of Doppelmayr, the cable car with the highest elevation above the ground (400 metres (1,300 ft)) in the world.

People

• Karl Wilhelm von Dalla Torre (1850–1928), entomologist and botanist
• Alfons Walde (1891–1958), expressionist painter and architect
• Peter Aufschnaiter (1899–1973), mountaineer and geographer
• Leni Riefenstahl (1902–2003), German filmmaker, photographer and dancer
• Patricia Lopez-Willshaw (1912–2010), style and fashion icon
• Anderl Molterer (born 1931), alpine skier
• Ernst Hinterseer (born 1932), alpine skier
• Hias Leitner (born 1935), alpine skier
• Toni Sailer (1935–2009), alpine skier
• Georg Hochfilzer (born 1937), Famous International Hotel Director of the Hotel Bristol in Vienna
• Christl Haas (1943–2001), alpine skier
• Roman Strobl (born 1951), Austrian sculptor
• Hansi Hinterseer (1954), alpine skier and singer
• Haddaway (born 1965), Famous musician, most famous song is "What is love"
• Klaus Sulzenbacher (born 1965), Nordic skier
• Markus Gandler (born 1966), cross-country skier
• Jörg Jaksche (born 1976), professional bicycle racer

Sport

Kitzbühel is one of Austria's best known and fanciest winter sports resorts, situated between the mountains Hahnenkamm (5616 ft., 1712 m) and Kitzbühler Horn (6548 ft., 1996 m). The Hahnenkamm is home of the annual world cup ski races, including the circuit's most important event, the downhill race on the famous Streif slope. This downhill is counted as one of the toughest downhill competitions in the world cup.

During summer time Kitzbühel also hosts an ATP tennis tournament on clay, the Austrian Open. The next tournament will be held from 23.07.2012 until 29.07.2012

From 2007 to 2011, ITU Triathlon World Cup races took place at the local Schwarzsee lake.

The Kitzbüheler Alpenrallye is an annual festival of historic automobiles. It was first held in 1988. The first trip of the United Buddy Bears was 2004 to Kitzbühel, following by the first trip into the "big wide world" – when they went to Hong Kong and many other metropolises on all five continents.

Tourism

Together with the pistes and ski lifts in neighbouring Kirchberg in Tirol, Jochberg and by the Thurn Pass Kitzbühel is one of the largest ski regions in Austria. With around 10,000 hotel and guest house beds, Kitzbühel and its neighbours have an unusually high density of guest accommodation.

Holidaymakers in Kitzbühel have 56 cableway and lift facilities and 168 kilometres of slopes available to them as well as 40 kilometres of groomed cross-country skiing tracks. Of note is the relatively new 3S Cable Car, the cable car with the highest above ground span in the world.

In summer there are 120 km (75 mi) of mountain bike paths and 500 km (311 mi) of hiking trails.

Other attractions are the six tennis courts and four golf courses, the Kitzbühel swimming pool, Austria's only curling hall and the bathing lake of Schwarzsee.

Kitzbühel also caters for the high end of the tourist market, as many celebrities and the jet set come here for the international races on the Hahnenkamm.

Transport

Road

The Brixental Road, the B170, from Wörgl intersects in Kitzbühel with the Thurn Pass Road, the B161, from Mittersill to St. Johann in Tirol. Kitzbühel station is a major bus stop for busses to Lienz and Worgl.

Rail

Kitzbühel Hauptbahnhof, Kitzbühel Hahnenkamm and Kitzbühel Schwarzsee are stops on the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway. Whilst Hahnenkamm and Schwarzsee stations are served by local trains only, long-distance services from Innsbruck and Graz stop at Kitzbühel station. Kitzbühel station has just been rebuilt (2010) and been equipped with new barrier-less platforms with underpasses and a lift. From 2011 there will be no stationmaster at Kitzbühel and it will not be possible to buy tickets at the counter any longer.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Kitzbühel is twinned with:

• Greenwich, United States, since 1961
• Yamagata, Japan, since 1963
• Sun Valley, United States, since 1967
• Sterzing, Italy, since 1971
• Rueil-Malmaison, France, since 1979
• Bad Soden am Taunus, Germany, since 1984

Gallery

• 

  The Schwarzsee lake and Wilder Kaiser mountains as the backdrop

• 

  The medieval churches of Liebfrauenkirche (l) and St Andrew's (r).

• 

  The Liebfrauenkirche church with its 48 m bell tower.

• 

  St Andrew's with its 13th century tower.

• 

  St Catherine's from the north.

• 

  St Catherine's from the south.

• 

  Kitzbühel's twin churches, the Liebfrauenkirche and St Andrew's.

• 

  The Kitzbüheler Horn seen from the cable car to the Hahnenkamm.

Panorama

Notes and references

See also

• Salzburg
• Salzburgerland