!!!Bad Hofgastein Bad Hofgastein, market town in the province of Salzburg, district of St. Johann, alt. 858 m, pop. 6,085, area 103.72 km%%sup 2/%, health and winter sports resort, old centre of the Gasteiner valley, hydropathic centre (1970-1974) with Alpine thermal indoor pool (radioactive springs, since 1828-1830 spring water has been piped in from Bad Gastein, which led to the development of a health resort, since 1936 called "Bad", i.e. "spa", hydropathic centre especially for rheumatic diseases, therapy centre, congress centre, Alpine spa park, Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium secondary school, hotel school; Schlossalm Mountain skiing area: funicular railway up the Kitzsteinalm Mountain and cable railway giving access to the Kitzsteinalm- Kleine Scharte skiing area (2,051 m); health and winter tourism (1,318,905 overnight stays) as main source of income. The first upswing in Bad Hofgastein, owing to gold mining, took place in the 15%%sup th/% and 16%%sup th/% centuries, when the town was the seat of a court ("Hof in der Gastein") and among the richest in the province. Interesting buildings include mansions of the wealthy associates of the mining companies, Weitmoserschloessl (small palace erected 1560; earlier residence of the Weitmoser mining family); late Gothic Lady Church (1498) with Baroque altar (1738) and Gothic Madonna (around 1560); Protestant Salvation Church, monument of Emperor Franz I (1847). !Literature W. Baetzing, Bad Hofgastein. Gemeinde-Entwicklung zwischen Oekologie und Tourismus, 1985; S. Hinterseer, Bad Hofgastein und die Geschichte Gasteins, 1977. %%language [Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Bad_Hofgastein|class='wikipage austrian'] %% [{FreezeArticle author='AEIOU' template='Lexikon_1995_englisch'}] [{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW comment All}][{ALLOW edit FreezeAdmin}]