Kitzbühel, nestling between the smooth Kitzbühel Alps and the jagged walls of the Wilder Kaiser, is an old town noted for its long historical tradition. Its origins date from prehistoric times, since between the 12th and 8th century B.C. the then extremely precious copper (needed for the production of bronze) was mined in this area. Prehistoric graves containing cremation relics discovered near the old quarters of the town give evidence of considerable economic development based on copper mining and trade. The end of the bronze age brought an economic recession, and much of the population migrated to other areas.
The Barbarian Invasions brought a Teutonic tribe known as the Baiuwarii into the valleys of the Kitzbühel Alps. In the 10th or 11th century a Bavarian nobleman called Chizzo had a castle built on top of the present "Stadtbühel" (Town Hill) and founded a settlement for his clan. He called his castle "Chizbuhel". The castle and settlement became a market-town about 1250. On June 6 1271, Duke Ludwig II of Bavaria bestowed the freedom of the city of Munich upon the settlement, naming it Kitzbichl. The new city became the seat of a court of justice: until then jurisdiction in this region had belonged to the lords of the now lost Leukenstein Castle near St. Johann.
The municipal organisation of Kitzbühel is closely linked to the erection of the town walls. Soon after 1321 a town council came into being. Kitzbühel's city-arms was also created at that time; it displays a chamois on top of a 3-peaked hill against a silver background (see depiction on the stamp issued to commemorate the 700th anniversary of Kitzbühel). The first burgomaster of Kitzbühel was invested in 1444. Kitzbühel remained dependent on the mother-church of St. Johann, whose origins can be traced to the 7th century; Kitzbühel's parish church was founded in 1435, but it was not until 1857 that Kitzbühel obtained its own town parsonage.
The Kitzbühel region was a mining district of great importance as early as 1000 BC, but its mining industry became even more important in the 15th century so that the whole life of the city was influenced by it. At that period the silver & copper mining industry underwent a considerable expansion in Kitzbühel and its surroundings and became one of the most important mining centres in the Tirol. The Rerobichl mine had a pit 900 m deep. Kitzbühel became the seat of the court of mines and the mine management. Emperor Maximilian promoted the growth of the Kitzbühel mines in particular and transferred Kitzbühel, Kufstein and Rattenberg from Bavaria to Tirol in 1505, after the War of the Bavarian Succession.
The flourishing mining industry influenced both the economic development and - through the wealth of the Kitzbühel citizens - the cultural life of the city. The town became a centre of art of considerable and far-reaching importance during the 17th and 18th century; it also had a great reputation for its Passion Plays. Following wars with Napoleon, the Treaty of Pressburg (26 Dec 1805) gave the Tirol to Bavaria (which had supported Napoleon). Austria recaptured it in 1814, and this was confirmed by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
The 19th century paved the way for the present position of Kitzbühel as a tourist and winter sports resort. Even in the 1850s, tourists used to stay at Kitzbühel and 1894 marked the year of its first winter season. On 5th February 1895, the spelling of the city's name officially changed to KITZBÜHEL, but the older Kitzbichl remains in local dialect usage. (A "Bichl" is a small hill.)
The postal service is for Kitzbühel a recent innovation! In its issue of March 29, 1840, the Official Gazette of the Royal and Imperial Supreme Postal Administration decreed under No. 3480/645 (1840) that a postal station was to be opened in Kitzbichl on May 1, 1840. This establishment had to handle ordinary correspondence as well as insured letters and other items eligible for conveyance by mail coaches. Three times a week, mails were exchanged between this station and the post office of St. Johann situated one-and-a-half miles distant.
In 1914 a post bus line began running from St. Johann via Kitzbühel to Mittersill. The gradual increase in the volume of traffic made it necessary for the post office of Kitzbühel to change its quarters more than once. Finally, in 1926, it was installed in the County Court building on the main square of the town. There, the post office remained for almost thirty years, even though an acute shortage of space made itself felt as tourist traffic rose in importance. The community of Kitzbühel donated in 1946 a building plot; in 1952 planning for the new post office started; in the autumn of 1954 the first sod was cut; and on October 26, 1956 the new building was ready for occupation.
Adapted from the text accompanying the Blackprint for the commemorative stamp, with material from the Tourist Information Office and other sources.
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©Andy Taylor. Last updated 5 Jan 2014