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Location: Upper Austria
Hallstatt is a market town in the Inner
Salzkammergut on the west bank of Lake Hallstatt. Since around 1 200
BC Salt is mined here. The area (Hallstatt-Dachstein /
Salzkammergut) was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997.
The oldest traces that so far indicate human activity in
Hallstatt are several stone axes and a deer antler ax, which date
back to around 5,000 BC. were dated. These tools indicate that salt
was already being extracted back then. Around 1 400 BC. (Bronze Age)
there was then already an industrial-looking mining. An absolute
climax of this degradation can be seen between 800 and 400 BC.
classify. This Iron Age epoch is internationally known as the
Hallstatt Period. Responsible for this, among other things, is the
burial ground on the Salzberg, discovered by Johann Georg Ramsauer.
The roughly 1,500 graves uncovered so far show rich grave goods. The
place was later shaped by the Celts, only to come under Roman rule
at the turn of the century.
Later this place formed an
important economic pillar for the Habsburg empire through the salt
production (together with the neighboring communities such as Gosau
am Dachstein, Obertraun or Bad Goisern am Hallstättersee).
Today Hallstatt draws numerous tourists with its beautiful views and picturesque mountains. But in the ancient times it was salt that was most praised by the ancient. Salt extraction began in the area as early as 8th century BC. Archeological digs in the area of the Hallstatt Lake yielded thousands of ancient burials along with precious artifacts from the Iron Age. Below is the map of the archeological sites identified by historians and archeologists around the area of Hallstatt.
Tel. 06134 828 015
Open: Apr- Oct: daily
Nov- March: Wed- Sun
Pre- Historic Museum of Hallstatt houses a small collection of
artifacts found during archeological digs in the area of Hallstatt.
Many of the items that started the museum were brought here by
Johann Georg Ramsauer (1795- 1874). He discovered a massive
prehistoric cemetery of ancient people who lived in the vicinity of
Hallstatt. In total there were at least 1300 burials. Interestingly
enough the actual settlement where people lived eluded the
scientists. It might be possible that the ancient people were
nomadic people who didn't live in one location permanently. Instead
they came to the area of Hallstatt to bury their dead a the shores
of Hallstatt Lake.
Rudolfsturm is a medieval tower that date back to 1284. It was erected to take a look over Salzburg mountains and keep salt extraction safe for the local workers.
Pfarrkirche is the main church in Hallstatt that stands on the shores of the Hallstatt Lake. It was completed in late- Gothic architectural style and it became a sort of a symbol of local pride and an iconic image of a quiet Austrian town.
Beinhaus or Charnel House is situated behind Pfarrkirche. It was used by citizens of Hallstatt to store their dead relatives since the 17th century.
The region and the romantic place were declared a World Heritage
Site by UNESCO in 1997. They are one of only 20 world heritage sites
in the world that have been given the titles of natural and cultural
heritage at the same time.
Attractions for tourism are the
landscape, Lake Hallstatt, the mountains with the Dachstein, caves
(the giant ice and mammoth caves) in the neighboring town of
Obertraun and, last but not least, the town with its art monuments,
the museum and the mine.
Rudolf Tower
Dachstein Chapel
Catholic Parish Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary or Maria
am Berg: The late Gothic parish church of the Assumption of the
Virgin Mary, completed in 1505, is enthroned on a rock above the
town's roofs. The mighty tower is the only surviving part of a
previous church from the year 1320. The two-nave hall church houses
– in the right nave – the Hallstatt Marienaltar, a late-Gothic
convertible altar from Upper Austria, which is the most important
cultural and historical sight. This miner's altar with two pairs of
wings was made around 1515 in the workshop of the Gmunden carver
Leonhard Astl. – The somewhat older left altar from the 15th century
was robbed of its 4 painted wing panels in 1987. The wings were then
fitted with black and white replicas. The stolen pictures were found
in Italy 30 years later, returned to Austria in 2017 and restored in
2018. Karner: On the north side of the church in the cemetery is the
charnel house with the small ossuary, which dates back to the 16th
century. A total of 610 skulls are stacked on top of each other on
the bones of the deceased. After about 20 to 30 years, the bones are
exhumed, bleached and then decorated: On the forehead above the date
of birth and death is usually the name of the person, painted with
dark wreaths of oak leaves, ivy or flowers. The ossuary is unique in
the world as the bones of whole generations are kept there in their
entirety.
Evangelical parish church in Hallstatt
Hallstatt
Museum: In addition to the Natural History Museum in Vienna, the
museum has the second extensive collection of finds from the
Hallstatt period in Austria.
Hallstatt period burial ground and
salt tunnel: A footpath and the Salzbergbahn lead up to the
Hallstatt period burial ground and the salt tunnel – the oldest in
the world. From 1282 to 1284, Duke Albrecht I of Austria had the
Rudolfsturm built here, which was named after his father, Rudolf I.
It served as a defensive structure in the Salt War against
Archbishop Konrad IV of Salzburg and was the home of the miner from
1313 until the middle of the 20th century. Today the tower houses a
restaurant that is popular because of its view. The salt mine can be
visited in the course of a 70-minute guided tour. In 1734 the man
was found in the salt, preserved by the salt's dehydrating
properties, after being killed in a mining accident in the 4th
century BC. had died. From March 2016, rehabilitation measures will
be carried out in the salt tunnels, which have not been used for a
long time, in order to be able to dig archaeologically again.
Regular events
Lake procession on Lake Hallstatt: On Corpus
Christi Day, a well-known lake procession has taken place on Lake
Hallstatt every year since 1623. The traditional plates, called
"Fuhr" or the "Mutzen" are used as altar nave.
Hallstättersee
Rundlauf: the Hallstättersee Rundlauf, a half marathon, has been
taking place on the first weekend in May since 1987
Hallstatt
Kulturell: is a series of events in summer; every Tuesday there is a
concert with free admission
Salzkammergut Mozart Festival: annual
festival in July and August
Momentum: Hallstatt is the venue for
the Momentum conference series, which has been attracting around 200
scientists, politicians and those interested in politics from the
German-speaking social democratic environment every autumn since
2008
Hallstatt swimming marathon: for the first time in 2011,
athletes swim along the west bank from Bad Goisern via Hallstatt to
Obertraun.
By plane
The nearest airport is the W.A. Mozart Airport in
Salzburg. This is located about 75 km from Hallstatt. Vienna Airport
can be reached within 3.5 hours.
By train
With the
Salzkammergutbahn from the Attnang-Puchheim junction station on the
western line or Stainach-Irdning from the southern line. 1 Hallstatt
train station is on the opposite bank of the lake, the connection to
the 2 place is made by ships.
By bus
Bus connection - from
Salzburg - change in Bad Ischl - towards Hallstatt / Obertraun.
Regional bus connections with the following locations: Bad Goisern
am Hallstättersee, Bad Ischl, Gosau am Dachstein, Obertraun.
By street
Coming from Salzburg on the B 158 to Bad Ischl and
continue on the B 145 to Bad Goisern. From there on the road along
the west bank of Lake Hallstatt. Coming from Vienna on the A1 to the
Regau junction, then continue on the B 145 via Gmunden, Ebensee, Bad
Ischl. From Graz via the A 9 to Selzthal, B 320 via Liezen and B 145
via Bad Aussee.
By bicycle
The Salzkammergut cycle path R2
leads from Bad Goisern on Lake Hallstatt along the eastern shores of
Lake Hallstatt via Obertraun to Hallstatt. The route on the western
shore of the lake is partly on a busy road.
Around the city
The center of Hallstatt is traffic-calmed and can therefore only be visited on foot. Parking spaces are available outside the center on P1, P2 and P4. All parking spaces are chargeable (2019: € 13 / per day) Parking lot P3 is the bus parking lot, which is located just outside Hallstatt in the direction of Obertraun. The bus fee per day per bus is € 40.00. (As of 2019)
The inhospitable mountain area, hostile to settlement, was possibly
already visited in the Neolithic. The reason for this is the rich
natural salt deposits that have been mined for thousands of years. The
oldest finds (e.g. an old Neolithic shoe last wedge) date from around
5000 BC. However, such stone implements were also widely discussed as
thunderbolts in the Middle Ages and modern times. In 1846, Johann Georg
Ramsauer discovered a burial ground high up on the Salzberg. One of the
first iron forges was also excavated here. Brisk trade and the
associated prosperity enabled the development of a high culture, which
was named Hallstatt culture after the finds in the Salzberg high valley,
from around 800 to 400 BC. and made the name of the place known all over
the world.
There is no documentary evidence from the early Middle
Ages, and there is no archaeological evidence of settlement continuity.
In 1311 Hallstatt was granted market rights, a sign that the town was of
economic importance. The place name is a typical Hall name of salt
production.
Since 1607, the brine line has been in operation
northwards to the brewhouse in Ebensee am Traunsee, where there was more
firewood. This industrial pipeline, the oldest still active in the
world, was originally constructed from drilled conifer trunks but is now
made of iron and plastic. It bridges the mouth of the Gosaubach and is
accompanied by the 40 km long brine hiking trail. In addition to salt
production, tourism has been of central importance since the 20th
century.
On June 18, 2013, the flood-carrying Mühlbach made its
way through the center of the village after Verklausungen. In addition
to the water masses of the Mühlbach, the lake level rose in some houses,
since there is no bypass for the 500-year-old listed outlet weir at the
end of the lake, the Seeklause in Steeg.
On August 21, 2018, a
discarded cigarette started a forest fire in the Echernwand. As a
precautionary measure, the via ferrata, the operation of the funicular
to the Rudolfsturm and the salt mine had to be closed. The fire was
extinguished with the help of several helicopters, including a Blackhawk
from the Austrian army.
On Saturday, November 30, 2019, a
relatively large fire broke out on the western edge of the town center,
which started in a wooden hut on the bank, grew in the dark of the
morning and was also fought. Three huts standing next to each other,
including a car, burned out. Three houses, partly made of wood, on the
other side of the street were badly damaged on the facade and roof
structure. The mayor called for people not to visit the market town this
weekend because of ongoing clean-up work. As of August 2020, the houses
have been renovated, only one of the huts is in ruins. According to the
mayor, a development plan required after the fire can only be drawn up
once the property owners have agreed on the basic boundary. Then again
similar huts are to be erected.
According to the 2001
census, 63% of the population are Catholic and 26% Protestant. This is
reflected in the townscape by the two churches that are close together,
with the significantly younger, lower-lying Protestant church being
“just as close” to heaven due to its high spire as the Catholic parish
church, which is in an elevated, flood-proof position.
As in many
mining communities in Austria, the Lutheran teachings had fallen on
fertile ground in Hallstatt. Only the troops of the Salzburg Prince
Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau helped the Counter-Reformation to
victory at the beginning of the 17th century. In the middle of the 18th
century, hundreds of Protestants were expelled from Hallstatt and
deported to Transylvania.
It was only through Joseph II's patent
of tolerance in 1781 that the Protestants around the Dachstein were
partially able to practice their religion again. Franz Joseph's
Protestant patent put them largely on an equal footing with the
Catholics, and the neo-Gothic church was built near the lake in 1863.
Hallstatt is located in the inner Salzkammergut on the western shore of Lake Hallstatt. On the narrow strip of shore between the lake and the steep mountain slope, the houses are crowded together, some are even built with piles into the lake. Essentially, the old main town consists of a street parallel to the lake shore and a few alleys around the market square. The extent of the municipal area is 13 km from north to south and 9.1 km from west to east. The total area is 59.8 km², 34.8% of the area is forested.
The cramped geographic location on the lake is reflected in the
special features of the transport connection:
Until the end of
the 19th century, Hallstatt could only be reached by boat (from
Obertraun or Untersee) or on foot along narrow mule tracks. In the
village itself, the small space between the mountain and the lake had
been used to the full. The only connections between the houses by the
lake were by boat or via the "upper path", a narrow corridor through
attics.
It was not until 1875 that Gosaumühle (Gosauzwang, in the
northwest) opened up Hallstatt with a road that was partially blasted
into the rock. Citizens' protests against the further construction of
the road along the lake shore to the south led to Austria's first
referendum in 1958, in which the population rejected a lake shore road
through the village. In 1966, the double tunnel running west of the town
in the mountain was opened for the only road accompanying the lake,
since then the west bank has been passable throughout. A parking lot
terrace in the Mühlbach Gorge between the tunnel sections offers a view
and a footpath into town.
In 1877 the Hallstatt train station of
the Salzkammergut Railway was opened. It is located on the opposite east
bank of the lake, about 1 km away. A route on the extremely steep west
bank was rejected for geological and orographic reasons. A ship line,
which was listed on the Austrian postal traffic map around 1990 as the
only Austrian postal line by ship, provides the connection from the
train station to the market. In particularly cold winters, a snowmobile
drove over the ice as a backup. Since around 1995, the Post has mainly
been using trucks and thus by road to Hallstatt. Since December 2020,
the station has been served by an InterCity connection from Vienna on
weekends and public holidays.
After tourism with around 140,000 overnight stays per year (as of
2017/18) and the focus on day tourism, salt mining is still the most
important economic factor in the village.
Overtourism
The
annual visit of 600,000 to 700,000 (according to other estimates from
2018 up to 900,000) mainly from Asia, especially China, arriving day
visitors in the few streets of the small town is a typical case of
overtourism, meanwhile causing controversy about the tolerable level of
tourism and a limitation of access for tour groups arriving by excursion
buses. This problem has already been discussed in the ORF documentaries
"Hallstatt sweet and sour" (2015) and "Am Schauplatz: Die
Chineseenkommen" (2018) as well as in an article in Der Spiegel. From
autumn 2020, coaches will only be allowed to drive in and let their
groups get off in time slots that have been previously allocated by the
local tourist office and are only available to a limited extent. The
regulation includes, among other things, that each bus must remain in
Hallstatt for at least 2.5 hours and that a fee of €80 must be paid. The
number of bus arrivals distributed evenly over the period from 8 a.m. to
5 p.m. by the slot rule is to be limited to 54 per day, which
corresponds to about half the number of buses on peak days in 2018.
Power plant
Since August 2013, the Austrian Federal Forests have
been operating a small power station in the Echerntal. The system takes
1.6 m³/s, which is about a third of the normal discharge, from the
forest stream and uses a head of 330 m. With an output of 4.7 MW, it
feeds an annual generation of 22,000 MWh into the public grid. The power
house with a shop window was designed in consultation with the
municipality, the historic painter's path was preserved, and a
straightened tributary was renatured. In the course of the construction
work for the power plant, the drinking water line for Hallstatt was
renewed. In 2018, a drinking water power plant with an output of 68 kW
was also installed in the power house.
Training
HTBLA
Hallstatt: The school with a dormitory includes two branches of training
with Matura, various technical schools and master schools and the
professional maturity examination.