Altaussee (German: [ˈalt.aʊ̯sˌseː]; Central Bavarian: Oid Aussee) is a municipality and spa town in the district of Liezen in Styria, Austria.

The limestones which make up the mountains are white to pale grey in colour, and formed relatively deep in the ancient Tethys Ocean.

On a hot, clear day in August 1998, a small earthquake on the fault (M=3) caught summer bathers by surprise with a low, rumbling sound and, a few minutes later, unusually high waves.

Panning and surface-level drift mining of the deposits dates back to Roman times, thanks to evidence from archaeological excavations in the 1990s, followed by similar local works from 200-400 AD.

Followed by further periods on investment, by 1334, the mines were operated under license by the private Hallinger Union who employed 120 people, producing about 10,000 tonnes of product per annum.

In 1906, a new brine pipeline through the Rettenbach Valley to Bad Ischl to supply the Solvay Works located in the market town of Ebensee.

The oldest settlement on the ground of the modern village of Altaussee dates back to the Roman rule (200-400 AD).

For the coverage of his claim to power he built the small Pflindsberg castle on a hill east of the Altaussee village.

Especially writers and intellectuals, for example Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Jakob Wassermann, Theodor Herzl and Friedrich Torberg, spent their summer holidays in the small alpine village.

For example, three Nazi Gauleiter regularly spent their holidays in Altaussee: August Eigruber, Konrad Henlein and Hugo Jury.

[12] The Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels spent his holidays in an "aryanized" country residence at the neighbouring Grundlsee.

[13] As of spring 1944, there was a permanent shelter for Wehrmacht deserters, draft dodgers and resisters hidden in the rough terrain of the Totes Gebirge north of the village.

[18] Ernst Kaltenbrunner, head of the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt, moved his headquarters from Berlin to the Villa Kerry in Altaussee in late April 1945.

[19] At the end of the war several high Nazi and SS officials, like August Eigruber,[17] Hugo Jury,[17] Adolf Eichmann,[20][21][22] Franz Stangl[23] (commandant of the Sobibor and Treblinka extermination camps) and Anton Burger[24] (Commandant of Theresienstadt concentration camp), tried to go into hiding in the village.

Previously to the arrival of the U.S. Army, a self-employed civilian government was formed in Bad Aussee which preserved the order and ensured the supply of the population.

During World War II (1943–1945) the extensive complex of salt mines in Altaussee served as a huge repository for art stolen by the Nazis.

At the end of the war the entire depot included around 6,500 paintings, as well as many statues, furniture, weapons, coins, and libraries.

The 9 km-long Loser Panorama Road leads to a perfect base (1.600 m) for hikes into the heart of the Tote Gebirge Mountain Range.