Bregenzerwald
| Bregenzerwald region | |
|---|---|
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| location | |
| State : | Austria |
| State : | Vorarlberg |
| Political District : | Bregenz |
| Location: | 47 ° 22 ' N , 9 ° 55' E |
| Details | |
| Residents : | 30,041 (as of June 30, 2010) |
| Postal code : | 6767, 6861-6888, 6933-6952 |
| Telephone code : | 0551x, 05579, 05583 |
| License plate : | B. |
| Addresses | |
| Website : | www.bregenzerwald.at |
Bregenzerwald is the name of a region in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg . This essentially comprises the catchment area of the Bregenzer Ach southeast of Bregenz , near Lake Constance , up to the Hochtannbergpass .
The Bregenzerwald is known above all for its architecture , the maintenance of the landscape through 3-stage agriculture (Maiensäss), the associated dairy products and winter sports .
Spelling and the term
“Bregenzerwald” is the spelling used in Vorarlberg and mostly in the rest of Austria . In Germany , the spelling “Bregenz Forest” is sometimes used. Dieter Seibert , the author of the Alpine Club Guide of the region, points out that the area is no longer a pure forest area, but a cultural landscape with alpine pastures, so one can no longer speak of a Bregenz "forest", but has a regional term , the separate spelling would be out of date.
The name Bregenzerwaldgebirge , on the other hand, is used in connection with the division of the Alps into subgroups. Both terms are not congruent. The Bregenzerwald also includes parts of the Allgäu Alps and the Lechquellen Mountains . Conversely, the Bregenzerwald Mountains also reach into the landscapes of the Rhine Valley , the Walgau and the Great Walser Valley .
Location and landscape
The Bregenzerwald is bordered to the west by the Rhine Valley situated Lake Constance region , to the north by Germany and Bavaria (counties Lindau and Oberallgäu ), in the northeast on the Kleinwalsertal , in the east at Tannberg to the Arlberg region and the south by the Great Walser Valley .
Parishes and structure
For historical reasons, the market town of Bezau is considered to be the capital of the Bregenzerwald , although the market town of Egg and the communities of Alberschwende and Andelsbuch are larger in terms of population.
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The municipalities of Langen and Buch are located in the Lake Constance - Alpine Rhine region ( Rhine Valley ), but are also places on the Bregenzerwald Cheese Route, for example .
Geographically and historically, the German municipality of Balderschwang ( Bavaria ) also belongs to the front Bregenzerwald . In 1805, in the Peace of Pressburg with all of Vorarlberg , the place came from Upper Austria to what was then the Kingdom of Bavaria . While Vorarlberg and the forest communities returned to Austria in 1814 , Balderschwang stayed with Bavaria for unexplained reasons when drawing the border. Today the place belongs to the Swabian district of Oberallgäu .
The communities Egg , Andelsbuch and Schwarzenberg are also often referred to as the Middle Bregenzerwald.
The Bezau judicial district does not completely coincide with the Bregenzerwald region: Alberschwende, Doren, Riefensberg and Sulzberg are subordinate to the Bregenz judicial district , but the small Walsertal belongs to the Bezau court.
history
Around the year 1000 the then still completely forested Bregenzerwald was settled and cultivated from Bregenz . The highest areas, on the other hand, were settled by Walsers in the late Middle Ages , who came from Graubünden or originally from Valais .
While the northern parts of the Bregenz Forest (the Alberschwende , Lingenau and Sulzberg courts ) belonged to the Bregenz dominion , the Damüls and Innerbregenzerwald courts were part of the Feldkirch dominion . This division, carried out in 1338, is the basis for the distinction between the front and rear Bregenzerwald, which is still common today.
In 1390, with the sale of the County of Feldkirch, the Inner Bregenzerwald and Damüls fell to Austria, the courts of Lingenau and Alberschwende followed in 1451. The Tannberg with the Bregenzerwald communities Schröcken and Warth became Austrian in 1453, and in 1523 the Habsburgs finally acquired the Sulzberg court.
Peasant Republic
After 1380, in the Inner Bregenzerwald in particular, self-government of the forest peasantry developed (the so-called peasant republic ), with its own free rural community, its own constitution (country custom) and high and blood jurisdiction. A Landammann was elected as headmaster , mostly from the most respected families in the Bregenzerwald. Many of the well-known names that originally come from the Bregenzerwald can be found on the Landammännertafel that have been preserved. B. Feurstein, Meusburger, Metzler, depicted with their coats of arms.
The Landammann was appointed freely, his town hall was on the Bezegg between Bezau and Andelsbuch. Today the Bezegg-Sul , a stone column, reminds of the former town hall.
The existence of the peasant republic is confirmed in the tradition of the Capuchin Father Stanislaus Saurbeck (1595–1647): At the beginning of the 17th century the Bregenz Forest was “a long undeveloped wilderness”, which “in the chronicles of the 16th century was a bad one Reputation "possessed:
Missioning
The chroniclers explain the “(deep) level of the moral and religious life” of the residents, “although they were descended from Catholic parents” with the customs and manners of “pagan forefathers”, which they had retained like “blatant superstitions ” . As raw, wild and immoral as they were in their behavior, the women are said to have been excellently dressed as shameless and angry. "
“A thorough renewal and moral transformation in the whole of Bregenzerwalde” only took place on the initiative of Father Stanislaus: The Capuchins “hurried from hut to hut, from village to village in their insatiable thirst for souls, instructed the people through conversations, Christian teachings and sermons, and rested and didn’t rest before the ice sheet collapsed and the rough and cold tempers became warm. "
As a result of the missionary work, “a small Capuchin monastery was founded in the valley. On July 12, 1655, the abbot of Mehrerau , Heinrich Amberg, laid the foundation stone for the monastery building [in Bezau ], on October 22, 1656 the monastery church was consecrated by Prince-Bishop Johann von Praßberg . "
The last subservience to the Mehrerau monastery was dissolved as early as 1658 - 190 years before the peasant liberation of 1848.
So it was possible for the Bregenzerwalders, in contrast to most farmers of the time, to settle as free anywhere. There are numerous names that go back to the Bregenzerwald, especially in Swabian.
The peasant constitution was abolished during the French Wars and was not introduced afterwards.
At the beginning of the 20th century there were still countless alps and farms on which agriculture , livestock and cheese production were carried out. Numerous Alps are still cultivated today, but this is increasingly being done by fewer farmers.
Up until around 1900, many Bregenzerwald children had to go to Swabia in Baden-Württemberg ( Germany ) from May to October to work on farms there. So there was one child less to feed for their parents in the summer. These children came to be known as Schwabenkinder .
A Bregenzerwald house can be seen on the back of the 100 schilling banknote from 1970.
dialect
Until 1814, parts of the Allgäu belonged to Vorarlberg in the north and north-west ; this and the fact that in the entire region due to the settlement by the Alemanni the Lake Constance Alemannic since the 5th / 6th. Century prevailed, led over the centuries not only to a lively exchange of goods, but also - through a correspondingly expanded marriage circle - to linguistic mixtures. The influence of the Allgäu is particularly noticeable in the northwestern part of the Bregenzerwald (= Vorderwald) , with the dialect being very similar to the Western Allgäu dialect . On the other hand, linguistic forms dominate in the central and rear forests, which show a stronger connection with the Hofsteig and Dornbirn region . From the outside, however, the forest dialect is perceived as an idiom (“forest dialect”) that clearly stands out from the other Vorarlberg dialects ( there is no uniform Vorarlberg dialect), despite this multi-layered nature and considerable local to small-regional peculiarities .
While all dialects previously mentioned High Alemannic German are in the high-altitude villages is Damüls , Schröcken and Warth a höchstalemannischer dialect spoken. This is due to the fact that these places were settled in the High Middle Ages by Walsers who immigrated from the canton of Graubünden to the area of today's Vorarlberg.
The dialects of the Bregenzerwald are documented in the five-volume Vorarlberg language atlas including the Principality of Liechtenstein, West Tyrol and the Allgäu (VALTS) .
economy
The population of the Bregenzerwald lives from tourism, agriculture and a trade that is closely linked to wood processing. Many Bregenzerwald residents also find work as commuters in the Rhine Valley, Vorarlberg's economic center. The Werkraum Bregenzerwald is an amalgamation of craft and trade in the region . The "handwerk + form" competition takes place every three years.
Agriculture
In spring 2011, three-tier agriculture in the Bregenzerwald was included in the Austrian list of the intangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO . For intangible cultural heritage includes practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills that communities and groups as part of their cultural heritage and understand deem erhaltens- and worthy of protection. Intangible cultural heritage is passed on from one generation to the next, is constantly being redesigned and gives communities a sense of identity and continuity. The Austrian directory now has 45 entries, four of which are from Vorarlberg.
The milk produced in this way is then produced and sold in the valley dairies according to the old tradition of mountain cheese and a variety of dairy products . The raw material milk is produced regionally and silo-free through traditional agriculture .
Culinary
The Bregenzerwald is known to gourmets above all for the Bregenzerwald Cheese Route . This is based on an association of landlords, craftsmen and trading companies who are dedicated to traditional cheese production. The Bregenzerwald mountain cheese is a specialty known far beyond the country's borders.
The rural tradition is firmly anchored in Vorarlberg. The restaurants and inns are increasingly relying on the processing of "Vorarlberg products" or are dedicating individual dishes to a particular region. For example, the Krumbacher moor landlords not only offer visitors moor tours, they also have at least one dish related to moorland on the menu all year round.
The various regional products and creations can also be tasted on culinary hikes . These hikes through the Bregenzerwald are organized by the tourism associations and take visitors through a selection of different restaurants for breakfast and lunch, all of which focus on Vorarlberg products and specialties.
tourism
The Bregenzerwaldbahn ("'s Wälderbähnle") is another attraction of the Bregenzerwald. It is a museum railway that runs on a remaining piece of the narrow-gauge railway . From 1902 to 1983 the “Wälderbähnle” traveled the 35.5 km route from Bregenz to Bezau . Up to October 2004, a 6.1 km route could be traveled, but a section had to give way to the road expansion, so that only a distance of 5 km is available.
Since 2000 the only women's museum in Austria has been located in Hittisau in the Bregenz Forest . It is dedicated to cultural work and the living environment of women.
Another museum in the Bregenz Forest is the Angelika Kauffmann Museum in Schwarzenberg . It is dedicated to the painter Angelika Kauffmann and has been awarded the Austrian Museum Seal of Approval.
The Bregenzerwald is also a popular destination for its hiking and cycling trails and the numerous ski areas.
The affiliated municipal offices issue a Bregenzerwaldcard free of charge for guests from May to October in order to strengthen public transport and at the same time reduce individual and leisure traffic.
literature
- Joseph Buck: Handbook for travelers in the Allgäu, Lechthal and Bregenzerwald. Dannheimer, Kempten 1856. ( books.google.de digitized version).
Web links
- Entry on Bregenzerwald in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
- Local history videos and interviews in the online archive of the Austrian Media Library
Individual evidence
- ^ Office of the Vorarlberg State Government, State Office for Statistics: Population statistics administrative census (PDF; 332 kB). Survey of main residences for the second quarter of 2010.
- ↑ Dieter Seibert : Bregenzerwald and Lechquellen Mountains. Alpine Club Guide alpine. 1st edition. Bergverlag Rother, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-7633-1095-1 , explanation of names, p. 17 .
- ↑ P. Burghard Schönweiler :: The Capuchins in the Bregenz Forest in: Archive for History and Regional Studies of Vorarlberg, 1st year, 1905/5, p. 18. In: Pater Edilbert Geiger: Pater Stanislaus Saurbeck. A capuchin from Wutöschingen. Kapuzinerkloster Gauenstein 140, A-Schruns / Vorarlberg (undated, around 1980), p. 7.
- ↑ Chronicler of the Capuchin monastery Bezau in: Klosterchronik von Bezau / Bregenzerwald: 1st part. In: Geiger, p. 8.
- ↑ History of the Tyrolean Capuchin Order Province (1593 - 1893) , by Agapit Hohenegger and P. Peter Baptist Ziegler, Volume 2, Innsbruck 1915, p. 78. In: Geiger, p. 8.
- ↑ Culinary. Retrieved August 5, 2020 .
- ↑ Moor landlords in Krumbach. Retrieved August 5, 2020 .
- ↑ Culinary hiking in the Bregenzerwald. Retrieved August 5, 2020 .
- ^ Women's Museum , accessed on September 6, 2011.
- ↑ Angelika Kauffmann Museum , accessed on September 6, 2011.