Traunstein: location, history, economy, politics and sights of the district town and district

Created: 03/29/2022, 17:14

The town of Traunstein has the function of a regional center for the Chiemgau region © Karl-Josef Hildenbrand / dpa

Traunstein has the function of a regional center for the Chiemgau region.

Numerous public administration institutions and larger private companies are based here.

• The

  town of Traunstein

  was repeatedly destroyed by major fires during its

  history

  , the last time in the middle of the 19th century.

• For many centuries, the extraction of salt and the trade in salt played an important role in the city's

  economy

  .

• Today, Traunstein is of great importance as an administrative and economic center for the district of the same name and the entire Chiemgau region.

Traunstein – On April 26, 1851, the town was almost completely destroyed by a devastating fire the previous night.

Around 120 houses and farm buildings were burned.

Almost 1,000 citizens became homeless, numerous people had lost their economic livelihood.

In this difficult situation, King Maximilian II Joseph of Bavaria granted the town of Traunstein generous financial aid.

Just a few years after this catastrophic fire, the people of Traunstein managed to rebuild their town.

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Traunstein: geography and location

Traunstein is centrally located in the Chiemgau region and thus in the foothills of the Chiemsee Alps at an altitude of almost 600 meters.

The urban area covers an area of ​​almost 49 square kilometers.

The Traun is a tributary of the Danube that is about 153 kilometers long.

Lake Chiemsee is around ten kilometers west of the city.

The location of the city in the Bavarian tourism region of Chiemsee-Chiemgau has a decisive influence on Traunstein's economy.

Traunstein: From the beginning of history to the beginning of the Wittelsbach rule

As early as the end of the 8th century, property belonging to the Salzburg Church was expelled from what is now the Traunstein region.

Several fortifications existed here in the 10th and 11th centuries.

They lay east of the Traun and stretched from Traunstein to Siegsdorf.

In the following centuries, the noble family De Truna ruled over the Traunstein area.

Traunstein was first mentioned in a document in 1245. In an ecclesiastical document from the Bamberg monastery, the town was referred to as "Trauwenstain" with a precursor to its current name.

It meant castle on the river Traun.

According to many historians, this was owned by the noble family De Truna.

Later, the Traunstein region came under the dominion of the Wittelsbachs, an ancient German noble family that ruled large parts of Bavaria for centuries.

The new rulers took advantage of the strategically advantageous location in the border area to the archbishopric of Salzburg.

In addition, Traunstein was on the then important trade route from Munich to Bad Reichenhall.

In the further course of history, the Wittelsbach family expanded the castle complex on the Traun and built a larger settlement.

Traunstein: From the founding of the town to the construction of the brine pipeline

There are no surviving documents that could provide information about the first granting of town rights to Traunstein.

Historians assume that this happened in the middle of the 13th century.

Later, in 1375, Duke Friedrich of Bavaria renewed the granting of city privileges in a letter of freedom.

The location on the important salt road from Bad Reichenhall to Munich promoted the development of the economy in the region in the following decades through intensive salt trade.

The city achieved greater prosperity for this reason.

It already had paved streets at the end of the 15th century.

This economic heyday, created by the salt trade, ended in 1587 when Wilhelm V the Pious Duke of Bavaria nationalized salt production in Bad Reichenhall and put a stop to private salt trading.

In the years that followed, the Traunstein craftsmen and manufacturers managed to largely compensate for this economic loss.

In the first half of the 17th century, Bad Reichenhall salt again gained great importance for the economy of Traunstein: From 1616 to 1619, Duke Maximilian I had a 31-kilometer-long pipe system built to bring the brine from a newly discovered salt spring in Bad Reichenhall to Traunstein carry.

There the salt boiling took place.

Traunstein: From the Thirty Years' War to the middle of the 19th century

Unlike many Bavarian towns, the town of Traunstein was largely spared from sieges, looting and arson during the Thirty Years' War (1618 to 1648).

However, the town on the Traun lost many of its citizens due to several plague epidemics that raged during this period.

In 1794, during the War of the Spanish Succession, the city was occupied by Austrian troops.

A major fire almost completely destroyed the medieval town center.

After a fundamental renovation of the saltworks, which led to a significant increase in the efficiency of salt extraction, Traunstein intensified salt production.

In the 18th century it again developed into an important branch of the economy.

Traunstein was also of great importance to the region as a grain trading market at this time.

The founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1808 led to the loss of extensive privileges and rights for the town of Traunstein, although it remained the commercial and administrative center for the Chiemgau region.

In 1851 there was another major fire that devastated the city.

Traunstein: From the early days to the present

The reconstruction of Traunstein gave the town its current appearance with numerous buildings in the Gründerzeit and Art Nouveau styles.

In 1912, centuries of salt production in Traunstein came to an end.

The Saline was misused as a military hospital and prison camp during the First World War.

After the end of the war, the global economic crisis and the resulting hyperinflation impoverished large sections of the population.

In the Third Reich, Traunstein became an important troop location, with the Mountain Infantry Regiment 100 billeting here.

US planes repeatedly bombed the Traunstein train station.

On May 3, 1945, the city was handed over to US troops without a fight.

Traunstein belonged to the American occupation zone and became an independent city.

She took in numerous expellees.

In the course of the large Bavarian regional reform, Traunstein was integrated into the district of the same name in 1972 and became its district town.

Traunstein: residents and administration

The population density in Traunstein is 424 inhabitants per square kilometer.

The urban area is divided into the following six districts:

• Ouch

• Haslach

• high mountain

• chamber

• Traunstein

• cloud village

The districts consist of a total of 63 communities.

Around 20,600 people live in these (as of 2019).

The population has thus increased by almost 20 percent since the end of the 1980s.

Traunstein: economy and politics

Breweries have played an important role in the Traunstein economy for many centuries.

In addition to numerous small and medium-sized companies, various large companies are based in the city, including:

• Clinics in East Bavaria

• Pohlig orthopedic technology

• Hausmann and Fich's engineers

• Spedition Eberl

• Health Center Chiemgau

Traunstein is considered the most important shopping center for the entire Chiemgau region.

Tourism is also an important economic mainstay of the city.

The CSU has had a decisive influence on politics in Traunstein since the Second World War.

In the municipal elections of March 15, 2020, the party secured ten of the 30 seats on the city council.

The Greens got seven seats, the Independent Voters and the SPD four each.

With Christian Hümmer, the CSU has also provided the mayor since 2020.

Traunstein: Sights

Various historic buildings and facilities from the time of salt production are among the most important sights in Traunstein, such as the former brewhouses and the salt works park.

In addition, the city has numerous important architectural monuments, which were built primarily during the Wilhelminian period before the First World War:

• the town hall

• Höllbrauerei building

• the viaduct of 1860

• several villas of wealthy citizens

From the Hochberg (774 meters), the local mountain of Traunstein, there is an excellent view over the entire Chiemgau in good weather.

Traunstein has a local history museum that illustrates the history of the town with the help of many documents and exhibits.

The Municipal Gallery presents a permanent exhibition of drawings, woodcuts and other works by local artists.