Kitzbühel#

Kitzbuehel, Tirol, town in the district of Kitzbuehel, alt. 762 m, pop. 8,119 (in 1981: pop. 7,840), area 58.02 km2, most important town of the Leukental Valley and one of the best-known winter sports resorts in Austria (950,838 overnight stays), situated at the foot of the Kitzbueheler Horn mountain (1,996 m); open-air mud bath. - District commission, district court, rural police authorities, district fire brigade, health department of District Commission, internal revenue office, office of surveying, Tirolean water authorities, Chamber of Labour, Economic Chamber, Chamber of Agriculture, health insurance office, hospital, counselling centre, artificial ice rink, golf course, casino. Flying school, several types of schools: Vocational school of commerce, commercial academy, adult education centre; Hahnenkamm cabin cableway (Hahnenkamm mountain 1,712 m), cableway: Kitzbueheler-Horn-Bahn). In 1991, 75 % of the 4,890 gainfully employed people were working in the service sector; mostly in the hotel business and Bergbahn AG (cableway company), which are important seasonal economic factors), other industries: machine building and textile industry (manufacture of Austrian traditional costumes), building industry. - Prehistoric settlement, first documented mention as "Chizbuhel" in 1165 and chartered in 1271, since 1505 part of Tirol; silver and copper mining brought great prosperity in the 16th and 17th centuries; medieval town plan with three and four-storey gabled houses (15th -16th  century); late Gothic parish church, re-designed in Baroque style (1435-1506), in 1786 Baroque interior, ceiling painting (1847), Gothic wall paintings (14th -15th .), Rosa chapel (15th  century, stucco-work around 1750) with Gothic Madonna (around 1455), early Baroque high altar (documented mention in 1661-1663) and statues by B. Faistenberger; Gothic Church of Our Lady (Liebfrauenkirche, 14th  century) with Baroque frescoes by Faistenberger (1739); late Gothic Mount Olive chapel; Capuchin church and monastery (around 1702); church of St. Catherine (14th  century) with late Gothic winged altar (around 1520); former citizens´ hospital with church (1837); Protestant church (built 1962 by C. Holzmeister); Kapsburg mansion (16th  century); Lebenberg Castle; Pfleghof Castle with massive tower and adjacent town gate, the Jochberger Tor; old Einhof farmsteads near Kitzbuehel; first farmhouse museum in Tirol, museum of local art and history (finds of copper mining from the late Bronze Age at the Kelchalm), Lake Schwarzsee lies to the northwest of Kitzbuehel near the Schleier waterfall; excellent skiing pistes on the Kitzbuehel Alps in the immediate vicinity of Kitzbuehel; international Hahnenkamm ski races held every year in January (since 1931).

Literature#