History of the Liechtenstein Gorge

During the last Ice Age, glaciers towered up to 3,000 metres high over valleys and mountains. As the climate changed, the elemental force of these glaciers, in their ceaseless downward momentum, carved out the main valleys. This resulted in steep cliffs, many metres high, separating the main valley from the side valleys. The raging Großarl mountain stream tackled this difference in height by battling against the hard rock over thousands of years, cutting through it, crushing it, hollowing it out and carrying it away. The water proved stronger than the rock. This is how the gorge, almost 300 metres high, was formed.

In 1875, a group of people from Pongau began work on developing the gorge. However, as the work progressed, they ran out of money. In their distress, they turned to Prince Johann II von und zu Liechtenstein. Thanks to his donation of 600 gulden, the work was completed in 1876. And a name was found for the most significant gorge in the Alps: the Liechtensteinklamm.

How the Devil sought to divert the Gastein springs:
The blacksmith from Oberarl in Plankenau near St. Johann had pledged his crippled daughter to the Devil if the latter would bring the Gastein springs to his doorstep. The condition, however, was that this task had to be completed before the cock crowed for the first time early in the morning. The Devil agreed to this pact and began his mischief in the dead of night. The blacksmith’s wife – known as a cunning witch – learnt of this deal, however. Quick to make up her mind, she wanted to put an end to her husband’s boundless greed and promptly dipped the cockerel into the well trough, so that it began to crow before daybreak. As the Devil flew over the gorge with the warm springs just before daybreak, he heard the cock crowing near Oberarl and realised, with bitter disappointment, that he had arrived too late. Furious, he hurled the springs into the depths of the gorge, so that they would never again be accessible to humans. To this day, it has indeed not been possible to properly harness the healing water and channel it for practical purposes.