Snapshot

Bischofshofen is where three railway lines meet in the Pongau and where the Four Hills Tournament ends every New Year. It has been inhabited for 5,000 years, first for copper, then as a religious outpost, then as a market town and rail junction. The ski jump hill is the most dramatic thing here, but the Kastenturm and the Rupertikreuz tell a longer story.

The Story

People came to the Götschenberg above Bischofshofen for copper roughly 5,000 years ago, following iron-oxide veins that gave the site its local name “the Red Rock.” Radiocarbon dating places extraction activity between approximately 4,132 and 3,117 BCE. The ore connected this valley to Bronze Age trade networks reaching across the Alps. Celts fortified the hilltop later, and Romans repurposed it as a market post on the Alpine road through the Salzach valley.

In 712 AD, Bishop Rupert of Salzburg established Maximilianszelle, a small monastery on the Alpine road linking Salzburg to Italy, on the site now occupied by the parish church. The early settlement was vulnerable: Slavic raids burned the complex in the mid-8th century and again in 820, prompting Archbishop Adalram to order a full rebuild, consecrated on October 12, 821. The Rupertikreuz, a 158 cm cross of likely Northumbrian workmanship from the same century, arrived in Bischofshofen by the 12th century. It is now held at the DomQuartier, regarded as the most significant early medieval artefact owned by the parish.

The Kastenturm on Rathausplatz, a four-storey Romanesque granary tower from the 12th century, served the Diocese of Chiemsee (established 1216) as granary, episcopal residence, and court venue, until a 1755 mudslide cleared the surrounding courtyard and triggered an 18th-century rebuild. It now houses the town’s museum, covering 5,300 years of settlement and mining history. Market rights and then the railway, specifically the convergence of lines toward Villach, Innsbruck, and the Enns valley, turned Bischofshofen into the functional transit anchor of the entire Pongau. Town status came on St. Rupert’s Day in September 2000.

The Paul-Außerleitner-Schanze ski jump hill sits just outside the town centre on a marked walking path. It has hosted the final competition of the Four Hills Tournament since the event’s founding, and its K-125 profile (HS-140) is the largest in the series. The hill was renamed in 1952 after Paul Ausserleitner, who died in a training fall that January. The summer mat covering allows year-round practice and the slope is open to walk past freely at any time.

Planning

Bischofshofen is 50 km south of Salzburg, about 40 minutes by train, and the most important rail junction in the Pongau. If travelling to Bad Gastein, Flachau, or St Johann im Pongau, this is likely where you change trains. The Kastenturm museum charges modest admission; verify the current entry fee before visiting. The ski jump hill is a free walk. The Four Hills Tournament final takes place annually around January 6, with advance tickets required. The Geopark Erz der Alpen visitor centre provides guided context for the copper mining heritage.