A Celebration of Musical Brilliance amidst mountains and lakes.

There were many different sides to Mozart's character and musical talent. It is almost regrettable that nowadays we can no longer see one single face of this great musician.... that which he would have us portray if he knew about the festival held each year in the Inner Salzkammergut in his honour. We hope, for many different reasons, that the festival would bring a smile to his face, and that he would be a little flattered by the way that we portray him.

Apart from the fact that Mozart has family roots here in the Salzkammergut, he would be positively surprised by how much we continue to celebrate his life and works in our region. The Mozart Festival is one of the cultural highlights of summer in the Inner Salzkammergut. What started out as a relatively small event has now become a major event which attracts audiences from much further afield. The event in 2008, with its many brilliant musicians, is certain to make the event even more popular in the future.

A concert production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" will be the highlight of this year's festival.
Organised around this special occasion is a handful of further special events, which together form a musical "pot pourri" of the very highest standard.
There will be musical masterpieces by Mozart, Haydn and Prokofiev at the grand opening concert performed by the Sinfonietta da Camera Salzburg Orchestra. The Vienna Clarinet Connection will also be performing a church concert and a concert matinee - "3 eras - 3 composers - 3 jubileums".

The programme for this year's Mozart Festival is very special, and as such, the event is now listed alongside the many other popular "Summer Festivals" and "Festspiele". Expect the unexpected. This is no ordinary musical extravaganza, but a wealth of cultural variety and multiplicity. We hope you enjoy the Mozart Festival!

Hallstatt Museum

A voyage through 7000 years in the history of Hallstatt.

This contemporary museum provides a wonderful insight into the unique history of Hallstatt and the surrounding area. It was completely refurbished in 2002, and its modern facilities make it an ideal venue for children's educational visits, historic crafts' workshops etc.

There is much to discover, including:
Geology, Early Stone Age discoveries, Prehistoric salt mining, Hallstatt Culture, "The Catastrophe", The Celts, Romans in Hallstatt, Middle and Modern Ages, Smoked Goods, "Hallstatt on Fire", Health and Well-being, Johann Georg Ramsauer (1795 to 1874), the Hallstatt Burial Grounds, Valuable discoveries in the Burial Grounds, Pioneers of Hallstatt, Religion (Cathololics and Protestants), Salt -works, Coins, Modern salt mining tecniques, Arts and crafts, Tourism, Nature, Handicrafts and World cultural Heritage

"Bull's bowl"

Significant examples of "Hallstatt Culture" have been returned to where they were first discovered.

Following the re-opening of Hallstatt's World Heritage Museum, many valuable discoveries such as the famous "Kaisergrab" have been returned from the Natural History Museum in Vienna.

"Hallstatt on fire ....."

Hands-on activities in the Museum

Thanks to modern technology and special effects, we have many hands-on activities for our visitors to enjoy!

Ideal for school groups: Historic crafts workshops and study tours.

For further details, please visit www.museum-hallstatt.at
Or contact:
r.gamsjaeger@tele2.at
Tel: 06134-8280-15
Fax: 06134-8280-12

INFORMATION ON OPENING TIMES AND ADMISSION CHARGES ARE IN OUR PLACES OF INTEREST/HALLSTATT MUSEUM SECTION

An artificially hollowed cave bear bone,

dating back to 12000 BC, was discovered in the Dachstein Mammoth Caves.

There is evidence that there was human activity here in the Salzkammergut as early as the Neolithic Period ( stone axes from around 5000 BC).

It is difficult to say exactly when salt was discovered in the region, but people were living in the Hallstatt high valley around 5000 BC. The only explanation is that salt was being mined.

Salt mining was being carried out on a truly industrial scale from around 1500 BC. Salt was being extracted from shafts up to 200 metres deep.

During the Bronze Age, salt was being mined and also used to preserve pork on an industrial scale, using huge wooden containers. The end product was bacon.

Mining techniques were modified in the 9th century, and the salt stone could now be reached by means of enormous horizontal chambers, 200 metres long, 20 metres high and 20 metres wide. The quantities of salt now being produced made the Hallstatt miners wealthy for life. A burial ground, final resting place of these ancient miners, was discovered more than 150 years ago in the higher valley.

A whole new cultural era in European history - the Hallstatt Era (Approx 800 to 400 BC)

As a result of their hard work and their increasing wealth, Hallstatt salt miners could afford to buy exotic, items such as ivory, fine Italian wines and amber. Many luxury items found their way to Hallstatt.

About 350 BC there was a massive land slide which brought the flourishing mining industry to a complete stand still. It was some time before operations could recommence at the Dammwiese at the foot of the Plassen mountain.

Around the time of the birth of Christ, the area was inhabited by the Romans who came to Hallstatt and built their settlements, roads etc. It seems they continued to operate the mines alongside the subjugated Celts until their empire fell apart at the end of the 5th century.

300 AD witnessed the spread of Christianity in the Salzkammergut, and in 600 AD, the region was under the control of the Bavarians.

Lauffen (blockade on the river Traun) dates back to the year 807, and this was evidence that salt was now being transported along the region's water ways to where it was needed.

Around 1000, the salt mines were as significant as they had been in prehistoric and Roman times. There are records of the "Michaelikirche", a romantic little church , dating back to the 12th century AD.

In 1846, gravel diggers

discovered ancient relics. Johann Georg Ramsauer, leading figure in the salt mines, recognised the value of these discoveries.

He led the excavation campaign which resulted in the unearthing of the ancient, world famous Hallstatt Burial Grounds.

The first road was built in 1875 from the Gosaumuehle to Hallstatt. This was the first step in the efficient transportation of salt for business purposes. Up until now, a narrow mule track had been the only link to the outside world.

The first goods railway was built between 1876 and 1878. With it came the first tourists. Over time the tourist industry began to develop, and many thousands of visitors came to Hallstatt to enjoy the natural beauty of the region. Just before the turn of the next century, it was necessary to build a road along the lake. Lahn was now connected to the road leading to the Gosaumuehle, but seven homes were destroyed in the process.

In 1964, work began on the "double tunnel with car parking facilities", designed so that traffic would by-pass the town, thus preserving its beauty. This was completed in 1966.

In December 1997, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee made the decision to add the Hallstatt/Dachstein/Salzkammergut region to its list of Heritage sites. Hallstatt is one of the few UNESCO World Heritage Sites, of which there are more than 580 in 112 different countries, which is both a World Cultural AND World Natural Heritage Site.

Discoveries in cellar: Janu's shop in Hallstatt

Many years ago, archeological remains were discovered by chance! Now there is a 300 square metre excavation site open to the public!

Objects dating back to Celtic and Roman times, as well as discoveries from the Middle Ages, are on display in a tiny little room beneath Janu's shop in Hallstatt.

Visitors can visit this excavation site in the winter months during normal business hours. No admission charge!

For further information please telephone 06134-8298
Fax: 06134-8298-18
E-mail: dachsteinsport.janu@sport2000.at

1344 BC - fantastic discovery by archeologists.

Scientists from the Univerity of Vienna dated the oldest wooden staircase in Europe using dendrochronology.

The year 1344 BC is of huge scientific significance. Research has revealed that this unique wooden staircase is 3349 years older than had been previously thought. The perfectly intact staircase was unearthed by archeologists(in a cavern dating back to the Bronze Age) from the Vienna's Natural History Museum working in Hallstatt's salt mine, It was immediately apparent that this was an ancient discovery. The staircase was dated back to 1344 BC, and is a good 200 years or more older than previously considered. This is the oldest example of an indoor staircase anywhere in Europe. Hans Reschreiter, leading the team of excavators in the Hallstatt salt mines, was amazed at how perfectly intact the staircase was when first unearthed and told us: "The staircase could have been used by miners just yesterday. We have unearthed 6 metres so far, but we still cannot say for certain exactly how long it is".

THE STAIRCASE

built in Christian von Tusch style.

This discovery was made at the bottom of a collapsed mine shaft which dates back to 1400 BC. Bronze Age miners extracted the salt via horizontal shafts, of which this was a typical example. The staircase was built in a large cavern (dimensions of this can not be estimated just yet). It seems that there were plans for the staircase to be built before salt mining itself could begin. The rails consist of 2 wooden branches 20 to 35 cm in diameter. The parallel bannisters are set 1.20 metres apart. The steps were then inserted into grooves 6 cm wide and 8 cm deep. The stairs themselves were made from branches about 16 to 25 cm wide, and are secured by rectangular tenons. Posts have been hammered in so that the bannisters can not come apart. The sections of the flight of stairs discovered so far have all been built from the wood of spruce, fir and some European beech trees.

The staircase is more than a metre wider than usual. This is due to the fact that the stairs were often used by many people passing each other at once. Also a number of people were often needed to carry heavy loads of wood, rock salt etc, and they needed to be able to climb the stairs, side by side.
We do not yet know the precise length of this flight of steps. The top and the bottom of the staircase remains "buried" within the mountain. If the theory that it leads to the mine shaft is true, then we can estimate that the staircase extends upwards more than 10 metres into the rock. There has been no recent salt mining 80 metres beneath the bottom of the staircase, and therefore no excavations which could indicate how much it extends into the rock beneath. What we do know is that the building of the flight of stairs was labour intensive and required a lot of building materials, and therefore it seems unlikely that the staircase would be extended to connect with a mine shaft just 15 metres long.

DISCOVER MORE ABOUT THE OLDEST WOODEN STAIRCASE IN EUROPE IN SECTION II.

To date, only a relatively small section of the staircase has been unearthed, yet from what we have been able to see, we have been able to establish how it was actually designed and constructed.

It is apparent that the staircase was used over a long period of time as each step has a black "coating" several centimetres thick. This coating consists of resinous wood shavings and compacted charcoals - the product of burnt resinous wood. The construction of this staircase is, however, not unique. The design is typical of the Bronze Age. This has become apparent by looking at other examples of the work of Christian Tuch (Barth 2003/2), and also by examining steps in 2 other parts of the mine.
It would seem that sections of the staircase were built in stages and the framework then put together. The steps were then slotted into position and firmly attached to the rest of the staircase. As levels of humidity remain constant in the mines, the wood could never dry out, expand or contract, and therefore the steps have never worked loose.

The gradient of the staircase, or at least the part of it which has been unearthed, varies between 30 and 15 degrees. It is not certain whether it was constructed like this or whether this has to do with the movement of the mountain over time.

The gradient of the staircase varies between 30 and 15 degrees.

We cannot say for absolute certain whether the staircase was built with some sections steeper than others, or whether this has more to do with movement of the mountain over time. However, the slope of the steps indicates that the staircase was quite probably built originally at an angle of 30 degrees. The distance between each step and also the height of each step varies between 20 and 30 centimetres.

In any case, the staircase is further evidence that there was a well-organised salt mining industry here in Hallstatt during the Bronze Age. Moreover, it was of no less significance economically than it was during the Hallstatt Era (Barth 2003/1; Barth &. Lobisser 2002).

So why is this staircase still of such major interest? Although conditions within the mine are perfect for preserving wood, tools etc, we very rarely discover an object which is still perfectly intact. Usually we just find old mining implements which are often broken and of no practical use.

The perfect condition of the staircase is a reminder that technology and construction were already quite advanced in the Bronze Age. Because we have found nothing else so far with which we can make a direct comparison, it remains unclear whether "our" staircase is a construction specially designed for the salt mining industry, or whether it is a design "typical" of its Age.

Dendrochronology

The science of determining the age of wood.

The best-known, most accurate method of determining the age of a wooden object is the Radio Carbon/C14 method. The results are completely accurate (to the exact year). Scientists can determine, by examining the rings in the wood (one ring for each year of life), how environmental factors affected the growth of the tree. In bad weather (ie a "bad year"), the rings are very narrow, and in "good years" (ie when the weather was better), the rings are much wider. To date one single wooden object from the Bronze Age scientists need to examine rings which have been formed over more than three thousand years and form an unbroken chain of rings - a "reference chain". Other objects can then be compared to this chain of rings. The exact position on the chain determines the age of the object.
In attempting to date the stair case, a chain of rings from spruce and fir trees more than 3500 years old was needed, as up to now, there was no "reference chain" long enough to date wood from Hallstatt.

Dating the staircase

The first stage was during a dive into the "Black Lake" on the north eastern slope of the Dachstein in 1999.

With support from the Austrian Federal Armed Forces, more than 200 fossils - tree trunks which had been preserved within the lake - could be closely examined. The result was a chronology of larch and spruce trees over the last 3475 years. In 2004, additional tree trunks, submerged in the Karmoos (moorland) in Hallstatt, were excavated and scientifically examined (More than 300 wood samples). This allowed researchers to develop a chronology curve stemming back to 1498 BC.

To date, 550 wood samples have been examined, the type of wood verified and the rings carefuly measured. There have been 18 chronological experiments on the ancient wooden staircase alone. The wood samples follow a curve which covers 282 years. All the wood used in the building of the staircase came from trees felled in the same year. Using this "Christain Tuch" method of dating wood samples, researchers have been able to say with certainty that the trees used in the building of the staircase were all felled in 1344 BC.

Historical Research

Objects discovered in the Hallstatt mountain side have long been of great historical interest.

It very quickly became apparent that salt mining began in the Hallstatt high valley was established long before the world famous burial ground. The latter has been dated back to approx 800 to 350 BC (Iron Age). Towards the end of the Bronze Age, rock salt was extracted by means of immense mine shafts more that 100 metres deep. During the "Hallstatt Era", mining techniques were radically changed. Massive horizontal chambers were hollowed out. One of these huge caverns has been explored further over the last few decades. The size of the cavern is incredible: it is more than 170 metres long, has an average height of 20 metres and is 10 to 20 metres wide. Research carried out in the last few years has firmly concluded that salt mining here in Hallstatt has been carried out on a vast, well-organised scale since 1400 BC, and that there has been some mining, on a smaller scale, for more than 7000 years.

For further information please contact:

Universität für Bodenkultur Wien,
Institut für Holzforschung (Institute for research into wood)
Dr. Michael Grabner
Peter Jordan Strasse 82
1190 Wien
0676 / 380 72 26
michael.grabner@boku.ac.at


NATURHISTORISCHES MUSEUM WIEN (Natural History Museum in Vienna)
Prähistorische Abteilung
Hans Reschreiter
Burgring 7
A-1014 Wien
0664 / 65 70 859
hans.reschreiter@nhm-wien.ac.at

The Salzkammergut is one of the oldest industrialized areas in the world.

Archeological and geological research have allowed us new insights into what is said to be the oldest industrialized region in the world. More than 3500 years ago, Bronze Age settlers mined salt here in Hallstatt on a large-scale basis. In vast chambers, miners toiled away and cut vast blocks of salt which were then secured by ropes and transported through shafts to the surface where further work would be done. More recent research has proved that salt mining in Hallstatt has been a huge, well-organized industry since 1400 BC, and it is thought that salt production was carried out here on a smaller scale more than 7000 years ago. This tradition of salt mining is being continued today by a company called Salinen Austria AG.

Ancient archeological finds such as stone, ceramics, bone and antlers are usually well-preserved, whereas organic material such as grass, wool, fur, leather and wood usually rot over the course of time. However, conditions in the Hallstatt "salt mountain" are such that tufts of grass, food remains, tools used by Bronze Age miners and even human excrement have been perfectly preserved for more than 3500 years! Many thousands of wooden torches once used to illuminate the mines have been unearthed, as have broken axes, items of clothing (fur and leather hats, leather shoes). We have discovered that ancient miners broke up the blocks of salt using bronze pickaxes, and then hoisted them up using thick ropes. With every new discovery, another piece of the jigsaw is put in place and we learn more about life and work in the Bronze Age.