Berchtesgaden

Berchtesgaden is a market in the district of Berchtesgadener Land in the extreme southeast of Upper Bavaria. As a medium-sized centre of the southern part of the Berchtesgadener Land district, it belongs to the planning region of south-eastern Upper Bavaria, in which the district town of Bad Reichenhall together with Freilassing forms the nearest regional centre; Salzburg, close to the border in Austria, partly performs functions of a regional centre. The nearest major city within Germany is Munich.

The village was first mentioned in documents between 1102 and 1105 as a settlement of the monastery foundation berthercatmen, which was granted forest sovereignty as a collegiate monastery in 1156 and with it the right to mine for salt and metal. Salt and metal extraction provided the first economic upswing and allowed the town to grow into a market. The provosts of the Augustinian Canons expanded it to become the capital of a territory that was already "secularly" independent from 1294. From 1559 to 1803, Berchtesgaden was the spiritual and secular center of the monastery, which was elevated to the prince-provostry of Berchtesgaden, and the prince-provosts ruled from there over the small, but independent principality of Berchtesgaden Land or Berchtesgadener Land, which has been part of the Berchtesgadener Land district since 1973 as the southern region that gave it its name.

In the mid-19th century, Berchtesgaden became a tourist destination with rapidly growing numbers of guests thanks to its sights and natural monuments. The upswing continued after the Second World War, initially mainly due to the Fuehrer Sperrgebiet in its Obersalzberg district and the associated role of Berchtesgaden in the National Socialist era. Obersalzberg, located on the mountain of the same name, was by no means only a "place of pilgrimage for die-hards", but is still a regular part of the visit programme of American tourists to Salzburg.

Since the 1990s, however, the number of guests has been declining, and the municipality is trying to distinguish itself with ecology and more environmentally friendly tourism.

Religion

Of the 7577 residents recorded in a census at the end of 2011, 5039 were reported as Roman Catholic (a 16.3% decrease from 1987) and 908 as Evangelical Lutheran (including free churches, an 18.7% decrease from 1987); the religious affiliation of the remaining 1630 residents was not broken down in the state statistics. So far, in addition to "Roman Catholic" and "Evangelical Lutheran", only the number of "foreigners" is reported in the census statistics - here with 819 (an increase of 75.0% over 1987) out of the 1630 inhabitants not specifically broken down. (On the information given in this regard in the 2011 Census, see also, among other things, the sections restricting or criticizing it: Household survey, Questions on religion and Scientific control).

More than 78 percent of Berchtesgaden's inhabitants thus still belonged to a Christian religious community, a percentage that tended towards 100 until secularization in 1803. Moreover, after the emigration of more than half of the Protestants in 1732/33 and the re-missionization of those who remained, they were exclusively members of the Roman Catholic Church. The edicts of King Maximilian I Joseph of 1808 and 1809 and the associated founding of an Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria also allowed a revival of Protestantism in Berchtesgaden. But it was not until more and more Protestant tourists visited Berchtesgaden and set up second homes there that the Evangelical Lutheran Christuskirche was added to the market's three Catholic churches in 1899. Before it was built, the Protestants used the dormitory in the royal castle and the former rent office building as prayer rooms.

→ See also the sections on the above paragraph: Reformation and Counter-Reformation, Expulsions and Emigration in the Princely Province of Berchtesgaden.

• The two Roman Catholic parishes of Berchtesgaden, St. Andreas and St. Familie (Au), belong to the Berchtesgaden Deanery of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. The pastor of the parish of St. Andreas currently (as of 2020) also serves as head of the parish association Stiftsland Berchtesgaden and holds the office of dean. The parish church of
  the parish of St. Andreas is the collegiate church of St. Peter and St. John the Baptist, the only so-called parish church of St. Andreas has functioned since 1803 as a side church. The parish is also responsible for the pilgrimage church of Maria Gern in the Gern district and the church of Maria am Berg in the Salzberg district. The parish also includes the Franciscan church (actually: Unserer lieben Frau am Anger) of the Franciscan monastery of Berchtesgaden.
  Zur Heiligen Familie in Oberau is the parish church of the parish of Heilige Familie Au. In addition to the parish church, the parish in Au also maintains the Church of St. Francis as a daughter church in the Buchenhöhe housing estate in Resten and until 2015 still belonged to the Marktschellenberg parish association together with St. Nicholas and its daughter church and pilgrimage church of the Visitation of Mary (Ettenberg) in Marktschellenberg.
  On 1 November 2015, the parish association Stiftsland Berchtesgaden
  was founded, to which the three parishes of St. Andreas Berchtesgaden, St. Familie Au and St. Nikolaus Marktschellenberg merged, and which was expanded on 1 June 2019 to include the parish Herz Jesu Bischofswiesen.

• The Evangelical Lutheran parish is in the diaspora and part of the Traunstein Deanery in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. The Christuskirche serves as the main church for the parish within the town. Outside Berchtesgaden, its jurisdiction also includes the Hubertus Chapel in Unterstein/Schönau am Königssee, the Insula Church in Strub (Bischofswiesen), the Creation Church in Bischofswiesen and the Church of the Good Shepherd in Ramsau.

• In addition to the Christian church congregations, Schöner also mentions 60 active Jehovah's Witnesses who inaugurated their Kingdom Hall in the rear building at Rathausplatz 16 in 1974, and the fact that a "Mohammedan prayer hall" was set up in the rear part of a company building at Bahnhofstraße 21 from 1 August 1980 to 30 September 1981.

Parish church St. Andreas in front of collegiate church


Christ Church

Economy and infrastructure

Berchtesgaden's economic power is mainly based on the tourist exploitation of its cultural assets as well as the scenic and climatic advantages within the high alpine region. According to the Bavarian Statistical Office, only a few of the employees subject to social insurance contributions in the municipality work in the manufacturing industry, but more than half work directly or indirectly as self-employed or employed service providers. According to a working report of the ARL, the "contribution of tourism to the national income (in the district) Berchtesgadener Land (...) shows shares of more than 10 to over 15 %." And according to a documentation of the Ö.T.E from 2005, the "greater Berchtesgaden area is strongly characterised by tourism". However, the numbers of guests and their length of stay have been declining since 1991, so that the municipality, as a member of the Berchtesgadener Tourismus Land GmbH, wants to set new accents and seeks to make tourism more environmentally friendly in the future.

The surrounding communities contribute to the financing of numerous central facilities, which are actually to be created by the market alone as a medium-sized centre, such as the spa and congress centre and the indoor and adventure pool Watzmann Therme.

There is no large industrial enterprise in Berchtesgaden, only smaller operating units. The largest employer is the salt mine with 135 employees, followed in second place by the spa management (including seasonal staff) with 100 employees.

Tourism

The municipality is represented with seat and vote in the Zweckverband Tourismusregion Berchtesgaden-Königssee (until 2004: Fremdenverkehrsverband Berchtesgadener Land). The Berchtesgaden Kurdirektion, which is located in the town, is not only the administrative headquarters of this special-purpose association, but also, among other things, of the Berchtesgadener Land Tourismus marketing company, which has been soliciting guests county-wide for the first time since 2005.

Since the middle of the 19th century, Berchtesgaden has been a popular tourist destination due to its sights and natural monuments on site and in the surrounding area - with growing numbers of guests until the 1990s. Since the end of the Second World War, the Obersalzberg district has been another "attraction" because of its role in the National Socialist era, but by no means only as a "place of pilgrimage for die-hards". Obersalzberg is still a regular part of the visit programme of American tourists to Salzburg.

Within the municipality are three of the tourist attractions in the southern part of the district known as the Big Five: the Kehlsteinhaus, the salt mine and the Watzmann Therme. The salt mine offers guided tours through several tunnels as well as a large salt healing tunnel for speleotherapy. It has been the community's largest employer for centuries.

Until the 1990s, mass tourism was still the main economic factor. According to the tourism associations, the number of guest arrivals in 2003 for the whole district was 578,082, the number of overnight stays 3,696,851 and the average length of stay 6.4 days. Guest arrivals reached their peak in 1991 with 692,381 guests. The enormous increase of about 10 percent (from 1990 to 1991) was explained by the first influx of tourists from the new federal states. Since 1991, however, with the exception of the period from 1998 to 2000, the numbers have been steadily decreasing. In 2003, for example, 413,716 overnight stays with an average length of stay of 5.0 days were recorded for the accommodation establishments with nine or more guest beds located in the market of Berchtesgaden, whereas in 2008 they increased to 440,751 overnight stays, but the average length of stay was only 4.3 days. The trend is even clearer for accommodation establishments with fewer than nine guest beds, where in 2003 169,325 overnight stays were recorded with a length of stay of 7.2 days, but in 2008 only 148,954 overnight stays were recorded with a length of stay of 6.4 days.

The motto "Natural - Sporty - Eventful - Healthy", of the Berchtesgadener Tourismus Land GmbH, founded in 2005, reflects a new tourist orientation. Berchtesgaden, along with Bischofswiesen, Marktschellenberg, Ramsau and Schönau, is one of the "healing climate communities" in the district, which thus has five of the 16 healing climate places in Bavaria.

As a member of the Alpine Pearls cooperation, Berchtesgaden is also trying to set new accents and make tourism more environmentally friendly. Since then, popular sports activities such as ski touring and the combination of snowshoe hiking and snowboarding within the national park have been considered problematic for the fauna living there, especially if they are also carried out at night. However, this has so far only been countered by initial "steering measures" for visitors, such as signposting and volunteer supervision of such activities.

The measures taken, however, seem to have had little effect so far: In 2014, the accommodation establishments with nine or more guest beds in Berchtesgaden recorded considerably more overnight stays with 160,668, while the length of stay, with an average of 3.3 overnight stays per guest, continues to fall - accommodation establishments with less than nine guest beds recorded 145,314 overnight stays and an average length of stay of 5.7 overnight stays per guest, so that the negative trend continued or stagnated at a low level. stagnated at a low level.

Other sectors

According to the figures of the Bavarian State Office for 2008, of a total of 2936 employees subject to social insurance contributions in Berchtesgaden, only 517 (17.6 percent) have a job in the manufacturing industry. In addition, 94 (3.2 percent) are employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing, 982 (33.5 percent) in trade, transport and hospitality, 277 (9.4 percent) in business service providers and 1066 (36.3 percent) in public and private service providers. A large proportion of the jobs are related to tourism.

Hellmut Schöner also noted in the early 1980s that there were only a few businesses with more than 50 employees within the "inner Berchtesgaden district". For the municipality, the salt mine was recorded as the largest employer with 135 employees, in second place the spa management (including seasonal staff) with 100 and in third place the Hofbrauhaus Berchtesgaden with 65 employees.

Traffic

Railway

The main station Berchtesgaden (Berchtesgaden Hbf) is the destination station of the InterCity train Königssee from Hamburg. The journey time to Freilassing is just under an hour. The line to Freilassing has been electrified since 1916. Local traffic on the Freilassing-Berchtesgaden line has been included in the Salzburg S-Bahn system since 2006. The Berchtesgadener Land Bahn connects as line S4 Berchtesgaden via Bad Reichenhall with Freilassing. There are connections to Salzburg, Munich and Mühldorf, among others.

From 1908 until the 1930s, the journey time from Berchtesgaden to Salzburg via the Berchtesgaden-Hangender Stein local railway, which connected to the Salzburg-Hangender Stein local railway on the other side of the state border, was considerably shorter than today via Freilassing. However, this connection was discontinued in the course of the extension of the road between Berchtesgaden and Marktschellenberg and because of a planned two-track main line via Marktschellenberg to Salzburg. Plans and ideas for a re-establishment of this railway connection emerge regularly, but there are bottlenecks at the border crossing Hangendenstein, in Unterau and shortly before Berchtesgaden at Gollenbach and the salt mine. The main project Regional Stadtbahn Salzburg-Bayern-Oberösterreich (RSB 5) aims at the construction of a regional light rail line which is to run from Königssee near Berchtesgaden via the city of Salzburg and Mondsee to Bad Ischl. The line has been served by buses since rail services were discontinued.

Until 1965, there was a railway line from Berchtesgaden to Königssee (Königsseebahn), so that at that time, in addition to the main station, there was an eastern station on the line to Salzburg at today's Watzmann Therme bus stop and the Königsee station at Triftplatz.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

As one of the first postal bus lines, the Berchtesgaden-Hintersee connection was established in 1907 from the forecourt of the former Berchtesgaden railway station.

The road-bound local public transport (ÖPNV) to and from Berchtesgaden is provided today by the bus lines of the Regional Transport Upper Bavaria (RVO), which mainly run every hour from the Central Bus Station (Z.O.B.) on the forecourt of Berchtesgaden Main Station in a star shape in all directions to the well-known excursion destinations as well as to Salzburg and Bad Reichenhall. From there, the following final destinations or places, among others, can be reached directly: Hintergern, Hinterbrand, Roßfeld, Kehlsteinhaus, Königssee, Jennerbahn, Strub, Bad Reichenhall, Freilassing and Salzburg.

Highways

Federal motorwaysThe
Bad Reichenhall junction or branch (115) of the BAB 8 leads on to the B 20 and connects it via Reichenhall and Hallthurm with Berchtesgaden, about 25 km away. Another way to get there would be to use the BAB 8 to the Austrian motorways West Autobahn (A1) and Tauern Autobahn (A10), and from the Salzburg Süd junction take the three-kilometre-long Austrian state road B 160 or Berchtesgadener Straße, and after the border take the German B 305, which leads to Berchtesgaden.

Federal roadsThe
roundabout in front of Berchtesgaden main station, which rests on three bridges, has been the junction for the
federal roads leading through Berchtesgaden
since 2006. From the northwest, the B 20, which leads south, and the B 305, which continues east, meet there. Shortly before the roundabout, also from the northwest, the Kreisstraße 1 leads to the Schönau district of Oberschönau. Under the bridges, the Königsseer Ache and the Ramsauer Ache flow together and form the Berchtesgadener Ache.

• : ... - Bad Reichenhall - Bayerisch Gmain - Hallthurm (Pass) - Bischofswiesen - Berchtesgaden - Königssee/Schönau am Königssee

In the Berchtesgaden area, the B 20 is part of the German Alps-Baltic Sea holiday route, which runs across Germany from south to north, starting around five kilometres south of Berchtesgaden at Königssee and ending around 1730 kilometres further on in Puttgarden or on the island of Fehmarn; the B 20 branches off beforehand in the direction of Furth im Wald and ends at the border with the Czech Republic. The next larger town on this route is Bad Reichenhall, 20 kilometres away. A few kilometres after Reichenhall is the junction to the BAB 8.

• : ... - Reit im Winkl - Schneizlreuth/Weißbach - Schwarzbachwacht (Pass) - Ramsau - Engedey - Berchtesgaden - Marktschellenberg - border crossing - Grödig - Salzburg

The B 305 is part of the German Alpine Road, which begins in Lindau on Lake Constance and runs from west to east along the Alps to Berchtesgaden. During the National Socialist era, the final loop of the Alpine Road was planned to be the Roßfeldhöhenringstraße, which today can be approached via the branches from the B 305 to the B 319 via the Obersalzberg or Oberau districts. The B 305 connects Berchtesgaden in a north-westerly direction with Bernau am Chiemsee, while in an easterly direction it runs along the Berchtesgadener Ache to the German-Austrian border crossing and then to Salzburg, some 24 km away, and the junction of the Austrian A10 motorway. The B 305 is used as a bypass to relieve Berchtesgaden's town centre of through traffic.

Media

Since 1882, the Berchtesgadener Anzeiger has published local news from the region in its own editorial office; national and international news is taken from press agencies.

Berchtesgaden receives the programmes of the Bayerischer Rundfunk via the Berchtesgaden transmitter in Schönau am Königssee.

Public facilities

The market operates two kindergartens and a youth home as well as the Martin-Beer-Haus retirement home. It also manages the Bürgerheim foundation as a nursing home. The municipality's own sports facilities include an ice rink, several gymnasiums, a sports field and the ski jumps at Kälberstein, which were built on the territory of the neighbouring municipality of Bischofswiesen. The community has a small market library. The volunteer fire brigade of the municipality provides fire protection and general assistance; it maintains three fire stations.

Other authorities and institutions in the municipality are the tax office as the only remaining office in Berchtesgaden with tasks that extend beyond the inner district, a police inspection, the national park administration and the spa management as the administration of the special purpose association tourism region Berchtesgaden-Königssee. The Berchtesgaden forestry operation of the Bavarian State Forests manages the state forests of the region. The Berchtesgadener Land municipal housing association is also based in Berchtesgaden.

The sewage treatment plant of the market is shared by the communities of Bischofswiesen, Ramsau and Schönau am Königssee, the slaughterhouse of the market is co-financed by the aforementioned communities as well as by Marktschellenberg. The administration of the cemetery association is integrated into the municipal administration. In addition, the registry office of the municipality is also responsible for the neighboring municipality Schönau am Königssee.

The market is a member of the Berchtesgaden-Königssee Tourism Region and Berchtesgaden Cemetery Association. The tourism association maintains the spa and congress centre as well as the indoor wellness pool Watzmann Therme in the town, the cemetery association maintains the old cemetery as well as the mountain cemetery in neighbouring Schönau am Königssee, which was awarded the prize for the Berchtesgadener Land district in a state-wide competition at the end of September 2015 and where the majority of Berchtesgaden citizens are buried.

The district of Berchtesgadener Land maintains the multiple gymnasium of the federal performance centre for bobsleigh and luge in the municipality, which is also used for school and popular sports.

The Berchtesgaden District Hospital in the Salzberg district is a standard care hospital with 118 beds and 32 rehabilitation beds. It belongs to the municipal hospital association Kliniken Südostbayern AG. Among other things, the clinic provides emergency care for simple cases in the region with its outpatient clinic. The clinic specializes in orthopedics.

Education

At the beginning of the 1980s, Berchtesgaden still had only one primary school, one secondary modern school and the state grammar school in Berchtesgaden. Pupils without a grammar school recommendation who wanted to obtain the Realschulabschluss or the mittlere Reife attended the Realschulen in Freilassing, girls also the Realschule of the monastery Sankt Zeno in Bad Reichenhall.

Today, in addition to the primary and secondary school Berchtesgaden Am Bacheifeld on the Buchenhöhe in the district Resten, there is another primary school and a secondary school of the CJD Christophorusschulen Berchtesgaden, in which children with allergies or asthma diseases, learning disorders and overweight are also supported. The CJD also runs a secondary school near the Dürreck in the neighbouring Schönau am Königssee and a grammar school since 1960.

The municipal primary school in the Au is a dwarf school because of its small, relatively remote catchment area.

From 1921 to 2004, the Berchtesgaden grammar school was located in Salzburger Straße. Since summer 2004, it has been housed in a new building complex at Am Anzenbachfeld, within sight of the salt mine.

The vocational school for woodcarving and carpentry of the Berchtesgadener Land district, locally usually just called the carving school, trains wood sculptors and carpenters. The training period at this vocational school is three years and ends after successful completion of the journeyman's examination with the release as a journeyman. Particularly successful graduates have been awarded the State Prize of the Government of Upper Bavaria for their journeyman's pieces made at this vocational school.

After the Kulturkreis im Rupertigau, founded at the end of 1946 and based in Berchtesgaden as a forerunner, the Volkshochschule Berchtesgaden was founded on 30 June 1948.

View of pedestrian zone at the market place of Berchtesgaden


Berchtesgaden seen from the Kehlsteinhaus