Gallspach


Gallspach is a municipality and spa in the district of Grieskirchen in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Centre of the municipality ist the market town Gallspach. It comprises also the following villages: Enzendorf, Gferedt, Niederndorf, Schützendorf, Thall, Thongraben, Vornwald and Wies.

Neighbouring municipalities

Population

History

In the Roman era the forested tract of Gallspach belonged to the area of the Colonia Aurelia Antoniana Ovilabis/, which became the capital of the province of Noricum Ripensis in the 4th century. Settlement started probably not before the 10th century. Until 1180 Gallspach belonged to the dukedom of Bavaria, afterwards to the dukedom of Styria/Steiermark and since 1254 to the dukedom of Austria. As a consequence of the peace treaty of Schönbrunn in 1809/10 Gallspach came under French administration and from 1810 to 1816 large parts of the Gallspach municipality went to the kingdom of Bavaria.
In 1343/44 a separate parish was founded by Eberhard from Wallsee. In 1439 Gallspach was given the right to hold a regular market every week on wednesday by king Albert II of Germany, which was confirmed in 1442 by emperor Frederick III. In the 16th century Gallspach became a centre of Protestantism, which was promoted by the Geymann family. In the 18th and the first half of the 19th century a large number of weavers and peddlers of haberdashery settled there. As of 1920 Gallspach developed as a well-known health resort. In September 1940 and two weeks before his solo flight to Scotland in 1941, Rudolf Hess, the Nazi Deputy Führer and later war criminal met there with Albrecht Haushofer, who probably encouraged him in his failed mission to negotiate peace with the United Kingdom. In 1992 a successful drilling for a thermal spring was carried out on the premises of the Zeileis health & thermal centre.

Personalities related to Gallspach