Obernberg am Brenner is a municipality in the southern Innsbruck-Land District, Tirol

Tyrol (state)

Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...

 with a population of 360 (2010), an area of 38,66 square kilometres at an elevation of 1380 metres.

Geography

Obernberg am Brenner is located nearly 30 km south from Innsbruck

Innsbruck

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

 in a Valley, with the same name, which depart from the west side of Wipptal at Gries am Brenner. The valley has end with the massif of Schwarze Wand and the group of the Tribolaum.
The popular Obernberger See

Obernberger See

Lake Obernberg lies at an elevation of 1,590 metres in the valley with the same name near the Brenner Alps. With such a big area size and volume it is the biggest Lake on the southern side of Tyrol. The fresh water is provided subterranean by the Obernberger Seebach...

 is visited by tourists; the Obernberger Seebach

Obernberger Seebach

The Obernberger Seebach, formerly called Obernberger Ache, is a river in Austria originating south-west of Brenner and taking a north-east route to the Sill River. In the middle of the valley the brook passes through the village of Obernberg am Brenner. From the spring until to the mouth it...

flows through the village and provides Obernberg with drinking water.

Coat-of-arms

Obernberg coat-of-arm is a red shield with three golden skittles. According to a legend the miners, at that time, were so rich to play with true golden skittles.

Origin

The valley was already inhabited since the Bronze Age and was used as pasture; the romans occupied the place in the 15 BC. Later were opened mining to extract gold, silver, copper and lead which remained active until the sixteenth century, and these were owned by the Bishops of Brixen until 1490 when they passed to the Principality of Tirol. In a 1238 document appeared the name “Padreins” while “Obernberg” is mentioned for the first time approximately in 1300, until then it was called “Vinaders”. The nearby villages of the Wippatal, as St. Leonhard, St. Jodok and Gries am Brenner, drew development from the mining activities as on their territories were foundries and warehouses. Around in 1560, with the advent of the imports of precious metals from the new world, the mines and the stock yards closed. A Chapel in Romanesque style, built by miners, dedicated to St. Nikolaus is mentioned in a document dated to 1339. In the fifteeth century, because of the growing population, the chapel was extended and the choir was built in Giothic style. Until 1758 the chapel depended on Matrei am Brenner, than had its own Curate and on the same site, under the direction of Franz de Paula Penz, a new baroque church was built; in 1891 it was elevated to Parish.

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