The municipal area comprises the cadastral communities of Bischofshofen proper, Buchberg, Haidberg, and Winkl.
Villages in Bischofshofen and population
Alpfahrt - 149
Bischofshofen - 7.134
Buchberg - 440
Gainfeld - 109
Haidberg - 98
Kreuzberg - 263
Laideregg - 488
Mitterberghütten - 1.323
Winkl - 83
Asten - 50
History
St Maximilian's Church
In Neolithic times local Celtic tribes mined copper and salt in the nearby hills. Later, the Celts were conquered by or assimilated into the expanding Roman Empire, when the area was incorporated into the Noricum province. In the 3rd/4th century, a Roman road led from the Salzach valley to Radstadt on the Enns river.
In the 8th century, Bavarian tribes settled the region, promoted by the Agilolfing dukes and Bishop Rupert of Salzburg. The Pongau (pongowe) area was first mentioned in a 711 deed, when a monastery (Cella Maximiliana) was founded through the graces of the Salzburg archbishops and a noble family from Oberalm. Slavic tribes later destroyed this monastery. The village of Hoven itself first appeared in 1151. In the 12th century, the Archbishop of Salzburg gifted the present-day St. Maxmillian's church with the gold- and gem-encrusted relic St. Rubert's crucifix.[3]
Located south of the Salzburg Werfen valley, Bischofshofen was vested with market rights in the 14th century and rose to become an administrative center and residence for the Bishops of Chiemsee. It declined through the turbulent 16th century with its natural disasters, economic decline and religious warfare, culminating in the German Peasants' War of 1525–26. More than two thirds of the local population were expelled during the Counter-Reformation measures instigated by Prince-archbishop Count Leopold Anton von Firmian from 1731 onwards. Many of the Salzburg Protestants found a new home in East Prussia.
Finally Bischofshofen re-emerged as a railway hub with the building of the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway line in the late 19th century.[4] It was elevated to the status of a market town in 1900 and received town privileges on 24 September 2000.
Education
In Bischofshofen there are:
Elementary Schools
VS Markt
VS Neue Heimat
VS Pöham
High Schools:
Hermann-Wielandner-HS
Franz-Moßhammer-HS
Professional Education
Polytechnische Schule
Privatgymnasium Sankt Rupert
TS Bischofshofen der Salzburger Tourismusschulen [1]
die BAKIP, Bundesbildungsanstalt für Kindergartenpädagogik
