Gschnitz is a municipality with 415 inhabitants (1 January 2011) in the southern part of the District Innsbruck-Land

Innsbruck-Land

The Bezirk Innsbruck Land is an administrative district in Tyrol, Austria. It encloses the Statutarstadt Innsbruck, and borders Bavaria in the north, the district Schwaz in the east, South Tyrol in Italy to the south, and the district of Imst in the west.Area of the district is 1,990.09 km², with...

 and is located 25 km south of Innsbruck

Innsbruck

- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...

 at an elevation of 1242 m.

Setting

Gschnitz is placed at the end of the valley of the same name which branches off from the Wipptal

Wipptal

The Wipptal is a valley extending along the Sill River southward from Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria, where the Sill meets the larger Inn river, up to the Brenner Pass at the Austro-Italian border, one of the lowest passes across the Central Eastern Alps...

 at Steinach am Brenner

Steinach am Brenner

Steinach am Brenner is a market town in the district of Innsbruck-Land and is located south of Innsbruck in the Wipptal at the Sill River. It has 3340 inhabitants.-Geography:...

. The municipality borders cross from the Talschluss (3277 m.) to the South Tyrol

South Tyrol

South Tyrol , also known by its Italian name Alto Adige, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. It is one of the two autonomous provinces that make up the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province has an area of and a total population of more than 500,000 inhabitants...

. The Gschnitz brook

Gschnitz Brook

The Gschnitzbach has its source near Brenner. It flows from South to North and merges with the Sill River near Steinach am Brenner. It passes through the villages of Trins and Gschnitz.- Water quality :...

 provides the village with drinking water.

Nearby municipalities

Brenner

Brenner

Brenner might refer to:* The Brenner Pass, one of the major passes through the Alps, linking Italy and Austria* Brenner, a municipality in South Tyrol* Brenner Base Tunnel railway tunnel through the base of the Brenner massif.* Brenner...

, Neustift im Stubaital

Neustift im Stubaital

Neustift im Stubaital is a municipality in the district Innsbruck-Land. It has an area of and is the 3rd largest municipality of Tyrol in area. Its population is 4,522. It is a major tourist centre, with more than 1 million overnight stays per year.-Geography:Neustift is located 25 kilometres ...

, Obernberg am Brenner

Obernberg am Brenner

Obernberg am Brenner is a municipality in the southern Innsbruck-Land District, Tirol with a population of 360 , an area of 38,66 square kilometres at an elevation of 1380 metres.-Geography:...

, Trins

Trins

Trins is a municipality in the district of Innsbruck-Land and is located 20.30 km south of Innsbruck at the Gschnitz brook. The village was mentioned as “Trunnes” for the first time in 1030. Formerly a part of the village Gschnitz Trins became an own municipality in 1811. It has 1270...

.

Origin

The village is mentioned for the first time in 1284 as "Gasnitz". In 1288 the valley bought nine "Schwaighöfe”, alpine farms, seven of them in Gschnitz, which formed the centre of the village, and two at Laponesalm. The right of succession in Tirol originated from these nine Schwaighöfe and was adopted in all the other valleys in the region. In 1471 the rivalry between Gschnitz and Trins arisen and reached a point that the inhabitants of the two villages blocked the entrance to the valley; the Steinach am Brenner

Steinach am Brenner

Steinach am Brenner is a market town in the district of Innsbruck-Land and is located south of Innsbruck in the Wipptal at the Sill River. It has 3340 inhabitants.-Geography:...

 Court had to intervene to redeem the dispute. Gschnitz was awarded the title of Municipality in 1811. Major development occurred from the 18th century onward.

Coats-of-arms

Gschnitz coat of arms consists of a red background, crossed by three horizontal stripes, one of each, consisting of six lozenges, alternating white and black. This visualization looks like the roof of the nine mountain farms. The coat of arms was made official January 10, 1984

Religious architecture

Parish Our Lady of Snow

Gschnitz originally belonged, like most of the villages of Wipptal, to the parish of Matrei am Brenner

Matrei am Brenner

Matrei am Brenner is a small municipality in the southern part of the District Innsbruck-Land and is located approximately 17 km south of Innsbruck. Matrei has always been an important station for commerce. The village has 902 inhabitants , at 992 m...

. The church “Our Lady of the Snow" was built in 1730 and later, in 1755, restored in Baroque style with plans by Franz de Paula Penz. In 1775 Gschnitz was established as Vicariate and in 1891 as Parish.

Sanctuary of St. Magdalena

The Sanctuary of "St. Magdalena" is located near the border, between Gschnitz and Trins, at an altitude of 1661 m. accessible only on foot, under the Schönberg. The church is the oldest in the valley as confirmed by the Romanesque frescoes dating back around 1200 and discovered in 1959.

External links

Wipptal Gschnitz