Großglockner (3,798m – Heiligenblut, Fusch and Kals am Großglockner) (OTS) – DThe Federal Monuments Office protects the summit cross of the Großglockner and thus the first and highest summit cross in Austria. The process has been completed and the decision to place you under protection is now legally binding. The Glockner summit cross from 1880 is the only summit cross that is under monument protection.
The summit cross of the Großglockner
stands on Austria’s highest mountain peak, the Grossglocknerat 3,798m in the heart of the national park High Tauern (Central Alps the Eastern Alps), the largest protected area in Central Europe.
The first summit cross was built in the afternoon First ascentam July 28th 1800 brought to the Glockner summit. At daybreak on 29th of July In 1800 four carpenters, including the brothers Martin and Sepp Klotz, left the building Salmhütte to put up the cross. At 11 a.m. it stood and from Holy blood Gunshots echoed up the rock faces. The crosses on Kleinlockner (1799) and Großglockner (1800) were among the first summit crosses in today’s sense, which were artfully made specifically for installation on a summit. However, due to its exposed location, the wooden cross fell into disrepair after just a few years.
The Austrian Alpine Club (ÖAK) secured himself 1879 the reason for erecting a new cross. This became Kaiser on the occasion of their 25th anniversary of marriage Franz Joseph I. and Empress Elizabeth of Austria dedicated. The emperor had already 1865 the Großglockner from the Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe from visited, the Empress was up The pallet shed, today’s ‘Elisabeth Rock’ named after her. The cross was made free of charge by the ‘Hüttenberger Eisengewerks-Gesellschaft’ in Klagenfurt. At the October 2nd 1880 The three meter high and 300 kg iron imperial cross was erected at the summit by Kals mountain guides.
To mark the 200th anniversary of its first ascent, the cross was flown into the valley in a helicopter in 2000 and restored with the Großglockner Hochalpenstraßen AG (GROHAG) sharing the costs. During this time a replacement cross was installed. In August 2010, the cross, which stood directly in the rock (and not on a pedestal), was destroyed lightning strike torn from its anchorage and was in danger of falling, so that it had to be re-fixed in a complex operation. The condition of the Großglockner summit cross is excellent – despite various lightning strikes and the extreme exposure – which is probably also due to the lower oxidation at the given altitude. The ÖAK and its cooperation partner GROHAG, which is also the owner of the domain ‘grossglockner.at’, were coordinated in the process and want to master monument protection and the associated obligations together in the future.
The Austrian Alpine Club (ÖAK)
is a cross-club and national group of mountaineers with a performance-oriented attitude. Admission requirements are primarily the ability to independently carry out difficult mountain climbs on rock and ice as a rope climber (a ‘complete’ alpinist, so to speak), but also artistic, scientific, literary or media achievements in the field of alpinism.
The ÖAK is also the owner of the Großglockner summit cross and is closely linked to Austria’s highest mountain: through its Erzherzog-Johann-Hütte, as well as as the owner of 114 m² of the Glockner summit area on the Tyrolean side and the summit cross. In addition, the majority of the Glockner climbs were climbed for the first time by Alpine Club members.
“As owners, we discussed the protection of the property, and at times we were skeptical. But now that it is official that ‘our’ summit cross is the first protected summit cross in the world and also the highest monument in Austria, we are all very proud. We would like to thank the Großglockner Hochalpenstraßen AG, which brought this topic to the table, and the Federal Monuments Office for the initiative and the professional and appreciative cooperation.”said President Christian ZinklÖAK.
The initiative for protection
arose from a suggestion by the BDA head of special materials, Gerd Pichler. During a trip to the Großglockner High Alpine Road by a delegation from the Federal Monuments Office (BDA) in the summer of 2018, the idea of examining the monument value of the summit cross was deepened, as the famous Ringstraße architect Freiherr Friedrich von Schmidt (he was, among other things, the architect of the Vienna City Hall and as cathedral builder and responsible for the renovation of the spire of St. Stephen’s Cathedral) the one to whom the imposing appearance of the summit cross on the Großglockner was attributed.
GROHAG, as the operator of the Großglockner High Alpine Road, which itself was listed as the largest monument in Austria in 2015, was a member of this delegation trip to Heiligenblut am Großglockner through its board member Johannes Hörl and subsequently communicated the topic to the ÖAK and discussed it with them. This was the second step, as this issue had to be carefully coordinated before the BDA experts initiated an examination in order not to present the owner ÖAK with a fait accompli. It was only after the COVID-19 period that the idea was taken up again in the summer of 2023, after further consultation between Hörl and the new ÖAK President Christian Zinkl and the BDA. The BDA reacted immediately and within a few weeks Gerd Pichler from the BDA – accompanied by the Kals mountain guide Toni Riepler (landlord of the Erzherzog-Johann-Hütte at 3,454m, the highest refuge in Austria and owned by the ÖAK) – was there on September 12, 2023 at the summit of the Großglockner to establish the basis for the SV report. After the report was completed, it was clear that the property was worthy of protection. According to information from the legal parties, the municipality of Kals am Großglockner and the state of Tyrol, it became legal on February 8, 2024.
Reasons for the protection
From the perspective of the Federal Monuments Office, the reasons for this are varied: “We originally assumed that the summit cross was designed by the architect of the Vienna City Hall, cathedral builder Friedrich von Schmidt, as drawings by his hand have been preserved in the Vienna Museum. However, his ideas could not be realized at the time due to the size and weight of the cross. A member of the Alpine Club, Hermann Behrendt, designed a special construction for the “Kaiserkreuz”, which consisted of 60 individual iron parts. A component could not be heavier than 16 kg. The summit cross, which weighs a total of around 300 kg, was carried to the summit in individual parts, where it was assembled using sophisticated screw and plug connections. The riveted connection for iron structures that was common at the time was of course not applicable at the summit of the Großglockner.“, so Dr. Gerd PichlerHead of the Department for Special Materials at the Federal Monuments Office.
The ten-page report acknowledges the historical, artistic and cultural significance and justifies that the preservation of the summit cross
is in the public interest: Regarding the special design and construction, the BDA summarized that the summit cross of the Großglockner is not only a symbolic marker of the highest point in Austria and a symbol of the alpinistic achievement of the first ascent of the Großglockner, but also an important document from the time of emerging alpinism and the Surveying and scientific observation of the mountain world in the second half of the 19th century.
„When designing the summit cross, technical and scientific aspects of early alpinism were also taken into account by mounting a large mercury thermometer on the longitudinal beam. But that no longer existed around 1900.”, says Dr. Pichler from the BDA, who climbed the Großglockner himself in September 2023 to inspect the summit cross.
The President of the Federal Monuments Office
Dr. Christoph Basil emphasizes the importance of Alpine monuments for Austria. In a country with almost 1,000 three-thousand-meter peaks, the Alpine region contains numerous evidence of settlement history, mining and the agricultural economy, often pointing far back into the past, but also historical paths, modern developments and also relics of wars. The Federal Monuments Office has been focusing on this for a long time, and now the findings should be brought more into the public eye. A symposium and corresponding publications are planned for 2025 to present the Alpine monuments to the specialist public and the population, including the Großglockner High Alpine Road, which has been a listed building since 2015, and many other monuments from and in the Alpine region.
„The protection of the summit cross on the Großglockner, Austria’s highest monument, is literally and metaphorically a highlight of our efforts to bring many other monuments located in Alpine regions into the public eye.“, said President Christoph BasilFederal Monuments Office.
You can find further image material in our media library using the following link: https://mediathek.grossglocknernews.at/index.php?/category/156
Questions & Contact:
Dr. Johannes Hörl, CEO of Großglockner Hochalpenstraßen AG
Rainerstraße 2, 5020 Salzburg, Tel.: +43 662 873673-114, hoerl@grossglockner.at
Dr. Christian Zinkl, President of the Austrian Alpine Club
Getreidemarkt 3/12, 1060 Vienna, Tel.: +43 664 6154136, alpenklub.oeak@gmail.com or christian@zinkl.co.at