On October 8, 1970, the Salzburg legislature conferred upon the Borough of Bergheim, at its request, the following coat of arms: A golden shield with a green, three-topped mountain, atop the middle of which rests an eight-spoked wagon wheel. The mountain evokes the town’s name, while the wheel has its origins in the coat of arms of the Lords of Bergheim (three wheels on a crossbar), who possessed jurisdiction over Bergheim in 1295. Here in Bergheim, evidence of human settlement can be traced back for thousands of years. One find on the Muntigler Hügel dates from the Middle Stone Age, indicating that this area was already settled some 10,000 years ago. In Bergheim itself, the oldest settlement, located on the western foot of the Plainberg, dates back to the Urn Field Culture (around 1000 BC).
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The Celts, who had populated our area since the 1st millennium BC, were absorbed into the Roman Empire in 15 BC, when the Romans occupied the kingdom of Noricum. Two estates, unearthed in Kerath and Kemething (villa of Lucius Vedius), remind us of those Roman times.
With the departure of the Roman populace ordered by King Odoaker (488 AD), Roman rule over the Salzburg region came to an end. Beginning in the 2nd half of the 7th century, this area became settled by the Bayuvarii. Evidence of this settlement is provided by a field of row graves, located 200 metres north of the church in Bergheim. These were uncovered in 1896.
The name “Bergheim” presumably has its origins in these days of Bavarian settlement, since early Bavarian place names mainly end in –ing and –heim / -ham, though existence of the name is not actually chronicled until 927. At that time, Archbishop Odalbert transferred the estates and church of Bergheim, with all serfs and tithes, in a deal with Deacon Reginold, who had previously possessed these lands as a feudal holding. At that time, Bergheim was a large, fortified estate with its own church and was typical of noble estates of its day. A priest is first mentioned here in 1211. At the end of the 11th century, there arose from the unfree bondsmen of the Salzburg archbishops a new form of nobility by office, the so-called “Ministarialien”. In the Bergheim area, it was primarily the Lords of Itzing and Fischach who presided over rich holdings. From a younger line of this house came the man named Rüdiger who, since 1190, had named himself after the estates in Bergheim.
The Lords of Bergheim, who initially were invested with prominent positions in the service of the Salzburg archbishops, came repeatedly into conflict with the archbishops during the 13th century. The ensuing economic decline led to the sale of numerous estates and rights, even including that of their family seat in Bergheim in 1295.
At the end of the 17th century, St. George’s parish church was in such disrepair that the high altar collapsed in 1695. In the next two years, the church was newly rebuilt under master mason, Matthias Köllersperger. Due to a lack of funds, the high altar and the two side altars could only later be erected.
The Plainberg had become a rapidly growing pilgrimage destination since 1652 due to a supposedly miraculous painting of the Virgin Mary. Archbishop Max Gandolf Graf von Kuenburg commissioned construction of the Maria Plain pilgrimage church in 1674, handing it over one year later to St. Peter’s Abbey in Salzburg, with which it is affiliated to this day. Despite the changing course of history, the area was spared any serious threat of war, causing the Salzburg City Senate to have the picture crowned in 1751. The anniversary of this event was celebrated every year, and it was for such a ceremony that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote his famous “Coronation Mass”.
Bergheim only made the step from a small village community to a full-fledged outlying city in recent decades. Outstanding infrastructure developments, especially with regards to roads, housing and school construction, along with an excellent energy and water system, are the mark of exceptional community efforts. |
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