Austria 100 Schilling Silver Coin 1978 Gmunden
Commemorative issue: 700th Anniversary of Gmunden
Obverse: Gmunden, Schloss Ort within circle, two dates at upper left.
Lettering: + 1978 + 700 - JAHR - JUBILÄUM DER STADTERHEBUNG VON GMUNDEN.
Reverse: Box surrounds stylized Austrian Eagle and shield on breast, holding hammer and sickle, value below.
Lettering: REPUBLIK ÖSTERREICH 100 SCHILLING.
Engraver: Helmuth Gsolpointner.
Edge: Smooth with inscription.
Lettering: - + HUNDERT SCHILLING + - *
Composition: Silver (.640).
Weight: 23.93 g.
Diameter: 36 mm.
Shape: Round.
Gmunden
Gmunden is a town in Upper Austria, Austria in the district of Gmunden. It has 13,104 inhabitants (estimates 2015). It is much frequented as a health and summer resort, and has a variety of lake, brine, vegetable and pine-cone baths, a hydropathic establishment, inhalation chambers, whey cure, etc. It is also an important centre of the salt industry in Salzkammergut.
Gmunden covers an area of 63.49 km² and has a median height of 425 m. It is situated next to the lake Traunsee on the Traun River and is surrounded by high mountains, as the Traunstein (mountain) (5446 ft.), the Erlakogel (5150 ft.), the Wilder Kogel (6860 ft.) and the Höllengebirge.
A settlement was in existence already in the fifth century AC. By 1186 Gmunden was a fortified place surrounded by walls, although it did not receive a church until about 1300. In 1278 Gmunden became a town. On November 14, 1626 an army of rebellious peasants was completely defeated at Gmunden by General Pappenheim, who had been ordered by Maximilian I to suppress the peasant rebellion in Upper Austria. The dead peasant insurgents were buried in nearby Pinsdorf, where an obelisk styled memorial known as the Bauernhügel in their honour can still be seen.
Gmunden supplied battleships to Austria during the 17th century and helped wounded soldiers in hospitals in World War I. During World War II, an SS maternity home was located here, "to insure racial purity" in accordance with Nazi racial theories.
Schloss Ort
Schloss Ort (or Schloss Orth) is an Austrian castle situated in the Traunsee lake, in Gmunden, 19 km from Vöcklabruck, the gate to Salzkammergut.
The castle was founded around 1080 by Hartnidus of Ort, and improvements continued to be made into the thirteenth century - for example by Hartnidus V in 1244. In 1344 the brothers Friedrich and Reinprecht I of Wallsee purchased the castle, which became Friedrich’s sole possession on January 25, 1350. The castle remained in the possession of the Wallsee family until 1483, when Schloss Ort passed to Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor.
From 1484 to 1491, the castle was governed by Gotthard von Starhenberg, the Governor of Upper Austria. In 1492, Bernhard of Starhenberg and later his descendants ruled the castle until 1584. In 1588, the castle was purchased by Weikhard Freiherr of Pollheim, but he sold the castle on April 6, 1595 to the city of Gmunden. However, Gmunden sold the castle to Rudolf II that same year. The castle then passed to other owners before finally being acquired by Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.
In 1876, the castle was acquired by Archduke John Salvator of Austria (John of Tuscany) (1852-ca. 1911), but on October 6, 1889, he renounced his title and connections to the Habsburg imperial house and changed his name to Johann Orth, the tenth and last child of Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany and Maria Antonietta of the Two Sicilies departing for South America in 1890 with his morganatic wife on his own ship, the St. Margaret. Johann Nepomuk Salvator was presumed lost at sea in 1890, and declared dead in 1911, but his actual date of death is unknown.
The castle was acquired by Franz Joseph I of Austria in 1914, and it was intended for students of Gmunden’s schools to be allowed to visit the castle, but this plan was interrupted by World War I.
The castle was not well maintained between 1919 and 1973.
At present the castle is being used for a study center of the Federal Ministry for Land and Forestry (Bundesministeriums für Land- und Forstwirtschaft). On January 5, 1995, the castle was officially acquired by the city of Gmunden. In 1996, it began to be used as a location for the TV series Schlosshotel Orth.