Gmund in Karnten

Gmünd is a walled town of a few thousand people at the mouth of the Maltatal, with two castles - the old one ruined above and the newer Renaissance one in the town - a market square, gates and a wall largely intact. Its outsized claim is automotive: Ferdinand Porsche moved his design office here during the war and afterwards, and between 1948 and 1950 the first cars badged as Porsche, the aluminium-bodied 356 series, were hand-built in a converted sawmill in Gmünd - about fifty of them - before production moved to Stuttgart. A private Porsche museum in the town holds cars and material from that period. The town has also positioned itself as an artists' town with workshops and galleries in the old buildings.

History

A Roman post station stood here on the road from the Drava valley over the Katschberg Pass to Iuvavum, now Salzburg, and the town was probably founded by Archbishop Eberhard II of Salzburg as a southern outpost of the archbishopric, first recorded in 1252, with a market by 1273 and town privileges in 1346. The castle on the hill above dates from the middle of the 13th century; troops of Matthias Corvinus took and wrecked it in 1487 after a siege of seven years, it was rebuilt from 1502 to 1506 under Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach and enlarged by Wolf Dietrich Raitenau in 1607, and after a fire in 1886 it was restored from 1950; the Gothic parish church was consecrated in 1399, and the Kreuzbichl chapel of 1588 has the Roman road running between its altar and its nave (Wikipedia, Gmünd, Carinthia).

The main sights

• The first Porsches - the hand-built Gmünd 356 cars of 1948 to 1950.
• A private Porsche museum - vehicles and material from the Carinthian years.
• An intact walled town - gates, wall and two castles in a small compass.
• Artists' workshops - galleries and studios in the old buildings.

When to go

April to October; the museum has seasonal hours. Half a day.

Things to know

The museum is private and modest by comparison with Stuttgart. The town is very small. The sawmill where the cars were built is not itself the museum site.

Nearby

The Maltatal and the Kölnbrein dam are up the valley; Spittal is south.

Key facts