The Plainberg is a hill located primarily in the municipality of Bergheim, north of the city of Salzburg, Austria. It forms part of the Flyschzone, which lies north of the Alps, and is believed to have been inhabited since prehistoric times. The hill holds particular significance as the site of the Maria Plain pilgrimage church, considered the most important pilgrimage destination in the Salzburg region."Maria Plain has been and remains a magnet for pilgrims from near and far. It is the most visited pilgrimage church in the Archdiocese of Salzburg." (Franz Ortner: Die Geschichte der Kirche und Seelsorge der Pfarre Bergheim vom 16. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart. In: Gemeinde Bergheim (Ed.): Bergheim. Geschichte und Gegenwart, Bergheim 2009, p. 272.) The Plainberg also serves as a local recreation area and a popular destination for residents of the surrounding area. Nearly the entire hill is designated as a protected landscape area.
Etymology The name Plain derives from Medieval Latin. The word plaga (meaning slope, field, or plain) evolved into the diminutive form plagina (small slope), which, through the loss of the g and final a, became plain. The name thus refers to the sloping terrain of the hill. The naming likely draws inspiration from the expansive, largely treeless southern slope in the west. The earliest documented references to the name appear as Play in 1285 and Play(e)n around 1415.
The notion that the Plainberg's name originates from the Plainburg castle and the Counts of Plain in Großgmain, southwest of Salzburg, is likely incorrect. The jurisdiction of the Counts of Plain and the subsequent Plain Court ended just before the Plainberg, which, since the Middle Ages, belonged to the Radeck Court (later Neuhaus). Nevertheless, both Plain names share the same Latin root. The name of the municipality Plainfeld, approximately 10 km east of the Plainberg, is unrelated to plagina.
As the meaning of plagina and its derivative plain became less understood, and with the connotation of a slope, the name increasingly became a simple field name. To clarify its status as a hill, the suffix -berg was added, first documented in 1803. The name Plain alone was also used for the hill, as seen in references like “Maria Trost auf dem Plain bey Salzburg” (1753), “erzbischöfliche geistliche Räthe und Superiorn auf dem Plain” (1848), and “entlang der 15 Bildstöcke und zweier Säulen nach Plain” (1990).. This statement may also refer to the Bergheim locality Plain.
The use of Plain alone indicates that the field name was also applied to the Plainberg as a settlement area. Since the 19th century, Plain has been one of the five localities of the municipality of Bergheim,. In the population statistics table, the five localities of Bergheim, Lengfelden, Muntigl, Plain, and Voggenberg are listed. encompassing the settlement areas on the hill. This led to variations like Plainerberg. Here, the variant Plainer Berg is written separately. and Plainer Hügel. Names like Plainer Hügel and PlainhügelThe commonly used variant can be found, for example, at woman.at (image caption), accessed on February 18, 2013. reflect the hill's relatively low elevation. The meadows on the Plainberg were historically referred to as Plainfelder (“The procession went around the Plainfelder,” 1848).
The Plain region has inspired names for other features, such as Maria Plain, Plainbach, Plainbrücke, and Plainstraße. The latter, a northern arterial road from Salzburg, was documented as Plainer Weg as early as the 18th century. The Plainberg is so closely associated with the Maria Plain pilgrimage church that it is sometimes mistakenly believed to be named after it.“On it [the Plainberg] stands the Maria Plain pilgrimage basilica, from which the Plainberg takes its name.” In: Some also believe, via emigrants, that the name Maria Plain influenced the naming of the American village of Plain in Sauk County, Wisconsin, though this is also incorrect.The local history exploration discusses whether its name is linked to “Maria Plain.” Despite no historical evidence, this rumor persists. See “auswanderer”, accessed on February 26, 2012.
Geography Topography Location and extent
The Plainberg lies in the transition zone between the Northern Limestone Alps and the Alpine Foreland, forming part of the northern boundary of the Salzburg Basin. It stretches in a west–east direction along the northern city limits of Salzburg to Bergheim, with almost its entire area within the Bergheim municipality. Only the initial southern slopes fall within the city of Salzburg. The hill spans approximately 2.4 km in length and about 1 km in north–south extent, including the Rauchenbichl, a southeastern ridge between the localities of Gaglham and Radeck. Including the lowermost part of the hill in Salzburg's city area north of the Alterbach, the north–south extent reaches slightly over 1.5 km. The northern slope descends steeply along most of its length, while the southern ascent is gentler. The highest point reaches . Relative to its surroundings (Salzburg locality at 424 m, Bergheim locality at 435 m), the hill's elevation is modest, at approximately 115–125 meters. The total area of the hill is just over 2 km2.
Settlement topography Several settlement areas are located at the base and on the Plainberg itself, all part of the Bergheim municipality and the cadastral community Bergheim I: Bergheim: The main village with a rural character at the northwest and western base of the hill. Gaglham: A partly rural settlement located roughly centrally on the southern side. Hagenau: Primarily a residential area with suburban characteristics at the southwestern base; a small portion west of the Bergheim state road L118 belongs to the city of Salzburg, within the northern half of the Itzling Nord district. Kemating (also Plain-Kemating): A centrally located settlement on the hill with a partly dispersed settlement character. Maria Plain: A cluster of religious buildings, ancillary structures, and hospitality businesses on the western of the hill's two summits (530 m). Radeck: Primarily a residential area on the eastern slope. Additionally, the western side features the Hofstätt isolated settlement. The Rauchenbichl in the southeast is entirely forested, with no residential structures, and is designated as a retreat for deer and small game, off-limits to the public.
East to northeast of the Plainberg lies the residential and commercial area of Kasern, primarily within the city of Salzburg (Kasern district). A smaller portion, including the Lengfelden settlement separated from Radeck by a federal road, belongs to Bergheim. The Bergheim portion of Kasern, together with Radeck, is termed Radeck-Kasern. However, in terms of Bergheim's localities, the Bergheim part of Kasern (excluding Lengfelden) falls under the Lengfelden locality. The Lengfelden settlement, like other Bergheim settlements on the Plainberg, belongs to the Plain locality, also referred to as Maria Plain.The designations of the localities and settlements Plain, (Plain)-Kemating, and Maria Plain are often not strictly distinguished. For instance, a sign at the border between Salzburg-Itzling and the Bergheim locality of Kemating reads Maria Plain. The Bergheim and Hagenau settlements at the western base belong to the Bergheim locality.
The small Salzburg portion of the Plainberg lies in the Itzling district (cadastral community Bergheim II). Salzburg's settlements at the hill's base include the Grabenbauernsiedlung on the western slope toward Kemating, a settlement midway to Gaglham, and one below Rauchenbichl in the east, which also hosts a campsite.
Water bodies
The Plainbach, a stream approximately 4.3 km long, flows parallel to the northern edge of the hill's base. It originates from multiple sources east of Kasern, flows westward, then turns north at the Bergheim locality, and joins the Fischach stream west of Bergheim's Fischach district, which flows into the Salzach after about 1.4 km. Another small stream originates northeast of the Maria Plain pilgrimage church and flows north but dries up during low-precipitation periods.
The southern boundary of the Plainberg is marked by the lower course of the Alterbach. On the southern slope, south of Kemating and mostly within Salzburg's city limits, a 350 m-long tributary of the Alterbach (officially Alterbach AfSee Geographic Information System of the State of Salzburg (SAGIS), Water Network Layer.) flows southwest. On the western side, a stream officially named Salzach Sa crosses from Hagenau through Salzburg's Itzling Nord district and flows into the Salzach after 330 meters.
Small ponds, each a few hundred square meters, are located 330 m south of the Plain church, 300 m northwest of Gaglham, and at the northern base in the eastern half. Drinking water reservoirs are present in Radeck, Maria Plain, and roughly halfway between the pilgrimage church and Bergheim.
Land use Regarding land use, the area is distributed as follows: 37.6% deciduous forest, 55.1% grassland (partly with tree cover), 7.3% built-up area. Forests are located in the north and east, while the southern and southwestern parts are treeless. From a spatial planning perspective, these forests are not designated as protective forests or primarily for forestry but serve welfare and recreational purposes, contributing to water purification, water balance, climate regulation, and public recreation.
Climate No weather station is located on the Plainberg, but several monitoring points exist within Salzburg's city limits at various elevations and on other hills bordering the Salzburg Basin. Exact data for the Plainberg are unavailable but can be inferred from these measurements.The following data are sourced from: Gabriele Rupnik: Umweltklimatologische Studie Salzburg, Salzburger Geographische Arbeiten Nr. 37, edited by Werner Mahringer and Herbert Weingartner, Self-published by the Institute of Geography, University of Salzburg, Salzburg 2003.
The weather conditions around the Plainberg align with the climate of Salzburg city and the Salzburg Basin. The climate features relatively mild winters and rainy summers, with June to August being the wettest months and December to February the driest. From 1961 to 1990, average January precipitation was about 60 mm, while July saw approximately 200 mm, measured at Salzburg Airport. Precipitation on the slightly more northern Plainberg may be lower, as rainfall decreases northward. A consistent snow cover typically occurs from New Year to mid-February, with extremes in the last century ranging from 14 days in 1913 to 121 days in 1971.
The Salzburg region experiences typical basin-related inversion weather conditions, with lower temperatures in lower layers than in higher elevations year-round. This effect is most pronounced at 200–400 m above ground but is also evident at the Plainberg's elevation in about 30% of annual cases and 42% in January. Temperature differences in this range are typically less than 1 °C and are most significant from October to February. Data collected on Salzburg's Rainberg at 518 m, roughly the Plainberg's elevation, from 1987 to 1998 show the following monthly average temperatures: + Average Temperatures on the Rainberg (1987–1998) in °C Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 0.2 1.9 4.8 8.6 13.4 15.6 18.2 18.0 14.2 9.8 3.8 0.8 These values are likely similar for the Plainberg due to its comparable elevation. However, slight deviations of about 0.5 °C lower may occur due to the Rainberg's proximity to urban areas, which yield slightly higher readings.