The Lesach Valley is located in the southwest of Carinthia. In adjacent East Tyrol, the uppermost continuation of the Gail river course is called Tilliach Valley. The lower eastern third of the Lesach Valley around the village of Sankt Jakob is part of the neighbouring Kötschach-Mauthen municipality. The narrow valley borders the Lienz Dolomites range of the Gailtal Alps to the north and the Carnic Alps up to high Mt. Hohe Warte to the south, forming the border with Italy. Most settlements and paths are on the northern slopes over above the Gail River gorge. The municipality of Lesachtal comprises the cadastral communities of Kornat, Liesing, Maria Luggau, and Sankt Lorenzen im Lesachtal.
Neighbouring municipalities
Language
The language spoken in the Lesachtal valley is linguistically remarkable, because the Southern Bavarian dialect is not Carinthian, but rather East-Tyrolean with slight variations. Slovenian elements have also survived in local common speech.
History
The Lesach Valley was inhabited by Slavs about 600 AD. In the 8th century it was one of the first valleys in the Principality of Carantania to be Germanised after Prince Boruth had acknowledged the overlordship of Duke Odilo of Bavaria about 740. In 1380, the Lesach circuit was transferred to the lordship of Pittersberg, named after a nearby rock castle, then an administrative seat held by the East Tyrolean Meinhardiner Counts of Gorizia. After their branch died out in the male line, the last countess Margaret bequeathed the lordship to the reigning princes of the House of Habsburg in 1363. Later it fell to the Carinthian Counts of Ortenburg. With the creation of the Austrian municipalities in 1850, the three municipalities Luggau, Sankt Lorenzen, and Liesing were constituted. The cadastral communities Kornach and Strajach merged with the municipality of Mauthen, but in 1182 obtained independent status as the municipality of Unterlesach. Ten years later the two localities Birnbaum and Sankt Jakob became independent municipalities as well. Through Carinthian local government reform in 1973, the eastern Lesach municipality of Sankt Jakob merged with Kötschach-Mauthen, while the four western municipalities were merged into the present municipality of Lesachtal. During World War I the Italian front between the Austro-Hungarian Army and the Royal Italian Army was located on the ridge of the Carnic Alps. Many old positions and fortifications bear witness to the attritional mountain war from 1915 to 1918.
Population
According to the 2001 census, the municipality of Lesachtal has 1,560 inhabitants, of which 98.4% are Austrian citizens and 1.3% are German citizens. The size of the population has been declining sharply in recent decades. ImageSize = width:550 height:200 PlotArea = width:450 height:150 left:50 bottom:30 AlignBars = late DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:0 till:3000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1000 start:0 PlotData= color:blue width:15 bar:1869 from:start till:2165 bar:1880 from:start till:2015 bar:1890 from:start till:2188 bar:1900 from:start till:2149 bar:1910 from:start till:1980 bar:1923 from:start till:1947 bar:1934 from:start till:1984 bar:1939 from:start till:1997 bar:1951 from:start till:2014 bar:1961 from:start till:1915 bar:1971 from:start till:1950 bar:1981 from:start till:1823 bar:1991 from:start till:1665 bar:2001 from:start till:1560 bar:2009 from:start till:1490 TextData= pos: text:"Statistik Austria"
According to the 2001 census, 98.4% of the population are Roman Catholic and 1.2% are Protestant.
Politics
Seats in the municipal assembly as of 2009 local elections:
