The resort of St. Wolfgang takes its name from its founder – Wolfgang, bishop of Regensburg. In the year 976 Wolfgang left the turnmoil of his homeland and sought peace in the abbey of Mondsee and the inaccessible shores of the Abersee (former name of the Wolfgangsee). He spent years as a hermit in the area of the Falkenstein and following legends about his piety and miraculous deeds was eventually canonised and became St. Wolfgang. Soon afterwards the pilgrimages started, reaching a peak of between 20 000 and 70 000 pilgrims per year visiting the resort and church. The original Romanesque church was badly damaged and the village burned down during the great fire of 1429.
IN 1430 Emperor Sigismund granted St. Wolfgang market rights and shortly aferwards construction of the present Gothic “naved” church was begun and the famous Michael Pacher altar was installed. The religious Reformation was to bring a decline in the number of pilgrims – but then in the middle of the last century the number of visitors was again to rise when Emperor Franz Josef and the imperial court took up summer residence in Bad Ischl. Since that time, St. Wolfgang has blossomed into an international holiday resort.
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