!!!Semmering, Passlandschaft

Semmering Pass, mountain pass, alt. 984 m, at the border between 
Lower Austria and Styria, between Central Alps and Limestone Alps, 
crossed by the  Semmering Railway and Semmering road. Located between 
the limestone massifs of the Rax and Schneeberg mountains in the north 
and the gneiss and mica schist ridges of Stuhleck Mountain and Wechsel 
Region in the south, the Semmering Pass is characterised by steep 
limestone rock faces, craggy rocks, broad mountain ridges and wide 
valleys. There are magnesite, iron ore and gypsum deposits in the soft 
schist zone (near Schottwien). Linking the Muerztal Valley with the 
Vienna Basin, the Semmering Pass has formed the border between Lower 
Austria and Styria since 1254; watershed between Wiener Neustadt Basin 
in the east and Muerztal Valley and Froeschnitztal Valley in the west. 
The Semmering road, which links Gloggnitz (Lower Austria) and

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Muerzzuschlag (Styria, a simple mountain path existed as early as the 
12%%sup th/%  century), was constructed under Emperor Karl VI 
(monument on the summit of the pass) in 1728; extensive serpentines 
built to facilitate access under Emperor Ferdinand I in 1841; 
replaced by a new route between 1956 and 1958, further extensions 
later. Due to its beautiful landscape and large coniferous forests the 
Semmering Pass is an ideal high-altitude health resort and winter 
sports area. Tourism reached its peak around the turn of the 20th 
century, but the Semmering Pass continued to enjoy great popularity 
until the Second World War. The fall of the Iron Curtain led to an 
upswing in tourism in the 1970s.


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