Mallnitz

Geschichte

Mallnitz is a municipality in the Spittal an der Drau District in Carinthia, Austria.GeographyIt is situated in a high valley of the Hohe Tauern mountain range stretching southwards down to Obervellach on the Möll river and separating the Ankogel Group in the east from the Goldberg Group in the west. In the north the Alpine crest marks the border with the Austrian state of Salzburg. At Mallnitz the Tauern Railway enters into the south portal of the Tauern Tunnel.The municipal area consists of the cadastral communities of Mallnitz proper and Dösen. The northern parts belong to the High Tauern National Park territory.HistoryA trade route across the mountain passes to the Gastein Valley in the north may already existed in the Bronze Age. It was used by the Celts from about 400 BC, and when the area was incorporated into the Roman Noricum province about 15 BC, these bridle paths were rebuilt as a Roman road. A first settlement on the ancient route was probably established during the Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps from about 600 onwards; the locality of Malinica, however, was not mentioned before 1299. The surrounding estates around Falkenstein Castle then were held by the Imperial Counts of Görz residing at Lienz.