Theme trail Hallstatt: The lake and other thoroughfares

Those who wish to experience more, have to take different. routes.Through the historic centre of Hallstatt with exciting stories and history. Exercise and the new insights make the theme trail an ideal leisure activity for the whole family.

Many women salt carriers even carried these burdens in advanced pregnancy. The salt broken directly from the rock is still used today as licks for wild and domestic animals

Hallstatt gives the impression of being vigorously shaken by a giant hand and thrown and stuck on to the perpendicular cliffs rising from the black lake.

Friedrich Morton founded a botanical and meteorological station in Hallstatt in 1923; between 1925 and 1967 he was engaged as the custodian of the Hallstatt Museum.

Local life is depicted by old musical instruments, local costumes, and Christmas cribs, and an original smokehouse.

The brine (water and salt mixture) flowed in wooden pipes directly down from the Salt Mountain to the pan house. The immense amount of wood used decimated the forests in the inner Salzkammergut.

In 1490, The Court Chamber gave an order that the farmers in the fertile foothills of the Alps, and the Enns Valley in Styria, were to deliver only to the Salzkammergut the excess of goods beyond their own needs.

The new-Gothic Evangelical Church of Christ is from 1861, after which the Protestant Patent? From Emperor Franz Joseph I placed the Protestant faith on equal footing with the Catholic.

In 1842, Friedrich Simony reached the 2995-meter summit of the Dachstein for the first time. In 1843 he had the first primitive refuge built on the Dachstein - the Hotel Simony? - near the Simony Hut of today.

The first association for the education of workers in Upper Austria was constituted in Hallstatt after 1868, giving bread and work that fortifies us, our children learning in school, and our aged released from begging.?

The fire that left most of the market in ruins and ashes on September 20th, 1750. Four people died on that occasion; thirty-five houses in the town centre and all documentation at the Court Administration Office went up in flames.

By means of display boards and interactive elements, visitors learn a lot of interesting and useful information about this unique natural and cultural landscape within the UNESCO World Heritage region. Most themed trails can be enjoyed whatever the weather.

The Market Square dates back to the 14th century; most of the dwellings are from the 16th century.

Eloquent poets - from Johann Nestroy to Nikolaus Lenau, and Carl Zuckmayer - or such popular figures as Alexander Girardi and Marlene Dietrich - have written their names in Hallstatt`s guest books.

Around 1900, Hallstatt served the ever increasing number of visitors with three hotels, ten guest houses, and a brewery. Wealthy visitors could be carried around by sweating chair carriers.

The social situation among the salt workers was generally better than in other economic areas. A hospital for the sick and needy was here in the 16th century, and around 1565 the workers had the benefit of gratis medical aid.

The oldest finds date back to the Stone Age. Hallstatt was then the focal point of an ?early form of European unity? Which stretched from France to Slovenia. Historians named this epoch after 1874, the Hallstatt Culture.

The miners repeatedly came upon traces of their prehistoric predecessors. In 1734 they discovered the fully preserved ?man in salt, who, considered a heathen, was quickly buried.

The salt mines forge stood here from the middle ages until it was removed in 1896. The smith repaired tools, shoed horses and banded wagon wheels. Massive iron sheets for the salt pans that could not be brought in from outside were made at the forge.

The historical Rudolf`s tower was once a watchtower to protect the salt against enemies and served as the personal accommodation of the Salt mine manager.

Alexander von Humboldt, a widely travelled explorer in the 18th and 19th centuries, called Hallstatt „the loveliest lake village in the world".

Salt lured people to Hallstatt as early as the Neolithic Stone Age and mining has been continuous since 1300 BC

The best way to discover more about the history of Hallstatt is from above. Here you can see the unbelievable technical achievements that were made.