Bischofshofen

Geschichte

Bischofshofen is a town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau in the Austrian federal state of Salzburg. It is an important traffic junction located both on the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway line and at the Tauern Autobahn, a major highway route crossing the main chain of the Alps.GeographyBischofshofen is situated within the Northern Limestone Alps, in the valley of the Salzach river, about 50km south of the state capital Salzburg. It is surrounded by the Hochkönig massif in the west, part of the Berchtesgaden Alps, the Tennen Mountains in the northeast, and the Salzburg Slate Alps in the southeast.The municipal area comprises the cadastral communities of Bischofshofen proper, Buchberg, Haidberg, and Winkl.Villages in Bischofshofen and population Alpfahrt - 149 Bischofshofen - 7.134 Buchberg - 440 Gainfeld - 109 Haidberg - 98 Kreuzberg - 263 Laideregg - 488 Mitterberghütten - 1.323 Winkl - 83 Asten - 50HistoryIn Neolithic times local Celtic tribes mined copper and salt in the nearby hills. Later, the Celts were conquered by or assimilated into the expanding Roman Empire, when the area was incoporated into the Noricum province. In the 3rd/4th century, a Roman road led from the Salzach valley to Radstadt on the Enns river.