Editing Alpbach (section)

==History==
The earliest written record of the name Alpbach comes from 1150,<ref>Chizzali. Tyrol: Impressions of Tyrol. (Innsbruck: Alpina Printers and Publishers), p. 39</ref> although human settlement is known to have begun there before and around the year 1000, and a bronze axe found at Steinberger Joch (the pass leading to the Ziller Valley) in 1860 suggests that the route was already in use in the [[Hallstatt period]].

[[Christianity]] was first brought to the region in the 7th and 8th centuries by Irish and Scottish monks, and the [[patron saint]] of the parish church is in fact [[Oswald of Northumbria|St. Oswald]], a former King of [[Northumbria]].

At the beginning of the 15th century, deposits of [[copper]] and [[silver]] were discovered on the [[Gratlspitz]] and [[Schatzberg (mountain)|Schatzberg]] and in the Luegergraben. At the time, the [[Fugger]] merchant family from Augsburg had control over mining operations in [[Schwaz]] and [[Kitzbühel]], and they extended their activities to include the Alpbach valley. The Böglerhof housed the Fugger offices and was also seat of the Mining Court. In those days, Alpbach already had two inns, the Böglerhof and the Jakober Inn, where the men of the village would go to drink spirits, such as schnapps. By the middle of the 19th century, productivity at the mines had declined to the stage where they had to be closed.

Vorder-Unterberg Farm, which was built in 1636–1638 by local carpenters and was used as a farmhouse in until 1952, stands at the edge of the forest above the little church in Inneralpbach. Today the building is a mountain farming museum, and the exhibits include the old parlour, chapel, a combined kitchen and smokehouse, and over 800 artefacts of daily life and work.

[[Image:Alpbach 2.jpg|thumb|center|Typical barn in Alpbach]]

The road leading up the valley to Alpbach was not built until 1926, and the isolated location of the village led to the development of a distinctive style of architecture and furnishings, and also enabled the local folk traditions to be preserved for much longer than in most of the valleys of the [[State of Tyrol|Tyrol]].