Obervellach

Geschichte

Obervellach is a market town in the district of Spittal an der Drau, in the Austrian state of Carinthia.GeographyThe settlement is situated in the valley of the Möll river, on the southern slope of the High Tauern mountain range, where the Tauern Railway line descends from neighbouring Mallnitz and the southern Tauern Tunnel portal. The municipal area comprises the cadastral communities of Obervellach proper, Pfaffenberg, Lassach, and Söbriach.HistoryThe settlement of Velach was first mentioned in a 10th-century deed issued by the Bishop Abraham of Freising (d. 993/94), a Bavarian missionary among the East Alpine Slavs in the Duchy of Carinthia (former Carantania), known for the Slovene Freising manuscripts. The name is probably derived from Slavic bela ("white"). The local church was mentioned as 'Freising basilica' in 1072, it later became the seat of a deanery of the Salzburg archbishops.