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Mountain Grossglockner - Ski Resort Heiligenblut safely
tucked away in a remote valley in the far north-west of
Carinthia, in the heart of the Austrian Hohe Tauern
National Park. Heiligenblut (meaning holy blood) is a
municipality in the district of Spittal an der Drau in
the Austrian state of Carinthia. Situated in the
high-Alpine region of the Hohe Tauern mountain range at
1,288 meters, Heiligenblut is located at the foot of the
Großglockner, the highest mountain in Austria, and the
Pasterze Glacier. It is also the southern starting point
of the scenic Großglockner Hochalpenstraße to Bruck in
Salzburg, the continuation of the highway B107 from
Lienz in East Tyrol. The municipality of Heiligenblut
includes the Katastralgemeinden of Apriach, Hof, Rojach
and Zlapp. Heiligenblut and GroßglocknerThe Gothic
pilgrimage church of Saint Vinzenz, with its needle
spire, was built between 1460-1491 and contains a relic
of Christ’s Holy Blood. According to legend the relic,
which is kept in a sacrament house, was brought here in
914 from Constantinople by the Danish knight Briccius.
On his way home he was buried by an avalanche and his
corpse was found where three ears of wheat broke through
the snow (see the coat of arms). The church also houses
a late-Gothic winged altarpiece from 1520, and a crypt
and tomb containing the remains of Briccius. Once a gold
mining area from ancient history to the Middle Ages,
Heiligenblut nowadays chiefly is a tourism and
mountaineering resort. Nearby attractions include the
Heiligenblut-Roßbach-Schareck cable car (2,606 m), an
open-air museum, the Stockmühlen mills in Apriach with
nine flume mills, Lake Kachelsee to the west, the Möll
waterfalls, the Gößnitz waterfalls, the Leiter
waterfalls, the Margaritzen reservoir, and Lake
Sandersee. The construction of the nearby railway tunnel
to the Fleißalm mountain area (1,798 m) is unique in
Europe. The 1.6-kilometer long tunnel is filled with
water during the summer but serves as a railway tunnel
leading to the Fleißalm winter sports region in winter.
Carinthia - is the southernmost Austrian state or Land.
Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for
its mountains and lakes. The main language is German.
Its regional dialects belong to the Southern
Austro-Bavarian group. Carinthia's main industries are
tourism, electronics, engineering, forestry and
agriculture. The multinational corporations Philips and
Siemens have large operations there. |
