You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (April 2015) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
View a machine-translated version of the German article.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Prutz]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|de|Prutz}} to the talk page.
Prutz is a municipality in the Landeck district in the Austrian state of Tyrol. Located at the mouth of the Kauner valley on the upper Inn, it is 10 km south of the city of Landeck and 36 km north of Reschen Pass, that forms the border to Italy. The border to Switzerland is located 23 km away towards the south-west.
History
Prutz, situated on the former Via Claudia Augusta, was a resting place and later post station from Carolingian times, with favourable opportunities for the development of a settlement. The place is first recorded in 1027–1034 as locus qui dicitur Bruttes ("the place called Bruttes") in relation to a dispute over tithes between the bishops' churches of Brixen and Regensburg.[3] The Late Gothic parish church was refurbished in the Baroque style in the 17th century.
In 1903 a disastrous fire destroyed the greater part of the village, although the typical West Tyrolean layout of close housing still remains in the centre.
Prutz was originally administratively part of Ried im Oberinntal, which was dissolved as an administrative unit in 1978, when Prutz became part of Landeck.
Geography
Prutz is situated at the intersection of the rivers Inn and Faggenbach. The recreation area and nature park Kaunergrat is located at the east of the village. The skiing resort Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis is located to the west of the village.
Prutz is located on the cycling route Via Claudia Augusta.
The population of Prutz was declining in the second half of the 19th century inter alia because of the emigration to the Americas at this period but started to grow steadily from 1910 onwards.[5] As of 2013, 12% of the total population were of foreign nationality. The foreign population was divided as such: 43% of the foreigners were EU citizens, 28% were Turkish citizens, 20% were from countries of former Yugoslavia and some 9% were of other nationalities.[6] Evolution of the population can be seen in the table below.
Historical population
Year
Pop.
±%
1869
589
—
1880
559
−5.1%
1900
506
−9.5%
1910
473
−6.5%
1923
553
+16.9%
1934
591
+6.9%
1961
853
+44.3%
1971
1,206
+41.4%
1981
1,320
+9.5%
1991
1,444
+9.4%
2001
1,670
+15.7%
2011
1,741
+4.3%
2016
1,777
+2.1%
Economy and infrastructure
One of the biggest hydroelectric power plants of Austria is located in Prutz and operated by Tiroler Wasserkraft. The hydro-power plant is linked by a 14.8 km long pipe to the Gepatschspeicher (Gepatsch Reservoir), which was constructed in 1964. Average electricity production per year is 661 GWh. Many of the neighbouring communities are major tourist resorts, whereas Prutz is home to a number of small businesses that serve the surrounding area.
The village is home to one of Austrias biggest sledge production plants. Several agricultural fields are located in the village including an apricot plantation that serves a distillery. The village also claims the highest located winery of Austria.
Culture and sights
The local football club, SV Prutz, hosts an annual musical festival on the pentecost weekend where often nationally recognized artists are performing. Other clubs that are active in the village include an orchestra group, the voluntary firebrigade, a shooting club, the distiller association and a carnival group.
In 1212 a special fountain was discovered that is called Saurbrunn Quelle today. The water from the fountain contains iron, calcium, magnesium and sulfur and is of carbonic nature. It is known for its special healing character. The village has built a resting place around the fountain where the water is made available to the public free of charge.
Other main sights in the village include:
The parish church of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary (Pfarrkirche Mariä Himmelfahrt), with Chapel of St Anthony, graveyard with two chapels and adjoining priest's house
Kaltenbrunner Chapel at the southern end of the village
Tullen Chapel to the south-west of the old Inntal road
Wiesele, a former hermitage on a wooded mountain slope
Late Gothic houses in the village centre, and two outlying towers
Pontlatz bridge, an iron parallel bridge of 1899
Transportation
Innsbruck Airport is the closest available airport and is located 80 km away from Prutz. The next train station is Landeck-Zams railway station that is located 20 km away and is connected with a bus. A regular bus service is further maintained to Kaunertal, Scuol and Serfaus.
^Martin Bitschnau; Hannes Obermair (2009), Tiroler Urkundenbuch, II. Abteilung: Die Urkunden zur Geschichte des Inn-, Eisack- und Pustertals. Bd. 1: Bis zum Jahr 1140 (in German), Innsbruck: Universitätsverlag Wagner, pp. 173–174 Nr. 200, ISBN978-3-7030-0469-8
