Chronicle
Find out about the fascinating history of the region surrounding Tyrol’s romantic holiday resort of Kappl. The village can look back on a long and eventful history.
Like the whole of the Paznaun Valley, Kappl was settled from the Lower Engadine. The area around Kappl was first used as summer pasture land for the livestock of Engadine farmers. In the 13th century, the region came under the jurisdiction of the court of Landeck, although it still belonged to the Counts of Ulten at that time. It was only when this noble family died out in 1248 that the region around Kappl came into the hands of the Counts of Tyrol.
The Niederhof in Kappl was the first property to be mentioned in official documents in 1252. Historians assume that Kappl was constantly inhabited from the 13th century onwards. During the war of independence against the Engadine, Kappl was occupied by Swiss troops from 1406 to 1408.
Kappl was known as “Zehent Paznaun” right into the 16th century. It was only later that the name “Kappl”, which was derived from the St. Antonius Kapelle (St. Antonius chapel), became commonly used. The liege lords in – for those times – far-off Landeck paid little attention to the region. They simply sent someone to report back to Landeck once a year. The inheritance and feudal systems of the time left their mark on today’s Kappl: Partible inheritance meant that each farm always had to be split between all the heirs. Fine farms thus became ever smaller and could barely support the families who tended them. This frequent fragmentation led to great poverty at times.
In the 19th century, the whole of Tyrol was shaped by local struggles for independence and also became caught up in European wars and battles. It has been historically proven that riflemen from Kappl took part in the Gigglertobler battle on 24 November 1809, which was won despite the Austrians being hugely outnumbered by the French and Bavarians. The Tyroleans were respected for their resistance by the emperors of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy – the empire tried to influence the daily life of the people of Paznaun as little as possible. After the fall of the dual monarchy and the First World War, poverty was rife among the peasant population of Kappl. The rapid inflation made the former wealthy poor and the poor even poorer. The situation deteriorated still further with the annexation of Austria by Germany’s Nazi regime in 1938 and the Second World War that followed. After the war, an upturn began in the cities and later spread to the rural regions of Austria. Although many inhabitants of Kappl had to commute to work, at least they could slowly begin building up a humble existence. Since tourism made its way into the Paznaun Valley, Kappl has enjoyed a high quality of life. The flourishing tourism industry secures important jobs throughout the valley. In August 2005, however, the first flood disaster of its kind occurred in Paznaun. More than 30 percent of the roads were washed away or buried. For several weeks, the valley could only be reached by an airlift, which was organised by the Austrian armed forces. The traces of the disaster can no longer be seen in the village – but what remains is a great deal of respect and deep humility with regard to the forces of nature. So it’s no surprise that Kappl feels it is on the right track with its environmentally friendly and sustainable tourism and makes a responsible contribution to a pristine ecosystem in the Alps.
