Mandling Fortress

A forged document, dated 890, already attempted in the High Middle Ages to establish the Mandling Pass as the border between Austrian rule and Salzburg. However, the uncertain course of the border led to constant border disputes, as a result of which a fortification was initially built by Duke Albrecht in 1287 on the Habsburg side, but this was destroyed two years later by the Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg. In 1295, the Salzburg Prince-Archbishop Konrad IV, for his part, had the border at the Mandling Pass expanded into a barrier.

During the Thirty Years' War, the fortifications were repaired and strengthened. After the Napoleonic Wars and the definitive loss of Salzburg's state independence in 1816, the fortification lost its significance, the defensive wall fell into disrepair and was finally partially demolished for road and railway construction. After a first section of the wall had already been secured in 2002, a series of preliminary investigations of the defensive structure followed from 2004. In close cooperation with the landowners and with financial support from the Federal Monuments Office, the State of Salzburg and the municipality of Radstadt, it was possible to secure the existence of this historic defensive structure for the future.