Image: Wolfgang Spitzbart
The Salzkammergut is incredible. At the beginning it only consisted of the manors of Wildenstein in Upper Austria and Pflindsberg in Styria, but today it extends from the Ennstal to Vöcklabruck and almost to Salzburg. The historian Michael Kurz aptly compared the growth of the differently defined region to tree rings. Today, the responsible tourism marketing department counts eight regions, which it surrounds strictly and yet flexibly in a limited liability company.
The center was always white gold, “the praiseworthy gift of God,” as it says in a text from the 16th century. The “Hall” in Hallstadt goes back to the Germanic word for salt. It was deposited quite mundanely in the warm lagoons of the primeval Tethys Sea more than 200 million years ago, was unfolded in the soft Hasel Mountains 50 million years ago by the forces of plate tectonics and attracted people who wanted to win it 5000 years ago. First it was scraped out of the ground with deer sticks, soon brine from saline sources was boiled, and as early as 1,300 years before our era, Hallstatt became an industrial area that exported the salt obtained – primarily for food preservation.
Ausserland and Ischlland
Excursus Kammergut: “Ausseerland and Ischlland were ‘nationalized’ mining regions as early as the 14th century,” writes historian Kurz. The “Camergút des Salltz” was first mentioned in a document in 1524, namely in the 1st Reformation libel (basically an instruction manual for salt mining). Accordingly, we should actually be celebrating the 500th anniversary this year, which would fit well with the Capital of Culture. The first mention of the term “Salzkammergut” only occurs in the 3rd Reformation libel from 1656. The little book (libel = Latin for small book) had nothing to do with the Counter-Reformation, which caused massive suffering in the region (see report on the rural people, page 7), but with the need for reform in salt production. Kammergut meant that the proceeds from the salt flowed directly into the ruler’s chamber (cash). At times, the proceeds from the white gold amounted to a quarter of the income of the Habsburg Vienna Court Chamber. Excursus end.
The region’s financial flows
The servants in the mining and salt mines were kept short. Historians speak of “secured poverty”. At least it was crisis-proof (see pages 2 and 3).
Today’s money flows into the region come from tourism, from the “Frömbden” (foreigners), as an old, slightly satirical treatise from Ausseerland says. At the beginning of the tourist infestation (see Hallstatt), they were received in a reserved manner, later “politely and submissively”, and even later with open arms, provided that they could “rent out fully equipped rooms”. Even today, the inner Salzkammergut only gets really warm slowly with the roasting. Those in the know believe that it will take a few generations before people come together at the regulars’ table.
Where does the reservation come from? Probably due, among other things, to the isolation of the region as defined in the 3rd Reformation Libell. It stipulated that “no one should be accommodated by strangers or strangers without the knowledge of the court clerk or market judge.” This access restriction was due to the saltworks, which competed internationally and whose trade secrets had to be protected.
The Salzkammergut as a state within a state was a thorn in the side of the local authorities. From the 18th century onwards, jurisdiction over the “Vienna enclave” was slowly regained until the enlightened ruler Joseph II finally handed over the chamber property from Habsburg private ownership to the state.
But the true mighty one, the Dachstein glacier, still towers over the poor and the rich, over the locals and tourists. He dug out the lakes all around long before Celts, Slavs and Germanic peoples mingled at his feet to form what is now called real Salzkammergütler. Today his strength is weakening, which in his heyday reached the point of breaking the house. The glacier is melting because the many small people collectively emit far too much of the nasty gases. In a few years the last glacier ice will flow down the thin Traun and no spa doctor can prescribe a cold bath for it. The Salzkammergut will not break because of this. Especially on the occasion of the Capital of Culture year, it proves what opportunities the region offers. Tourists are still welcome there and no one gets bitten. The stone lion that stands guard at the entrance to the Salzkammergut has no claws.
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Source: Nachrichten
