Emma Hellenstainer

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Emma Hellenstainer, portrait by Ferdinand Behrens , 1895

Emerentiana "Emma" Hellenstainer geb. Hausbacher (born April 23, 1817 in St. Johann in Tirol ; † March 9, 1904 in Meran ) was a pioneer of Tyrolean gastronomy.

biography

The "legendary Mrs. Emma" was born in 1817 as Emerentiana Hausbacher, daughter of the tanner Johann Hausbacher and Maria (née Panzl) in St. Johann in Tirol. Her father was the owner of a grocery store, and when Emma was 15, her mother took over the management of the Gasthof zum Bären on St. Johanner Hauptplatz. Emma received a thorough training in domestic skills from the Ursulines in Innsbruck and acquired her first knowledge of Italian. The subsequent apprenticeship in the kitchen of the “Three Allies” inn in Salzburg was geared towards the hospitality sector. This comprehensive training for the time was supposed to enable her, according to her mother's first plan, to take over the bear host in St. Johann in Tirol. But when her mother inherited the brewery on the Rienz near Toblach , Emma was commissioned to manage this business and moved to the Pustertal .

There she married the "Adlerwirt" Josef Hellenstainer from Niederdorf in Hochpustertal. The spouses soon used the favorable traffic situation to improve the quality of their inn. They not only entertained the typical clientele of carters and travelers passing through at the time, but also relied on tourism, which flourished around the middle of the century. Ms. Emma refined the down-to-earth Pustertal cuisine by introducing the high standards of the Biedermeier kitchen, and she also improved the furnishings in the rooms. She acquired her reputation, which later became legendary, through her qualities as a charming and lovable hostess. She was the first tourism expert to advertise in international newspapers, and the story that she received a postcard from overseas that was addressed only with the simple words "To Mrs. Emma in Europe" contributed most to her fame.

The Puster Railway , opened in 1871, drew new groups of guests to the Pustertal, which soon gained the reputation of an “Austrian Engadin” among numerous tourists. Alpinism also gained an important base in Niederdorf at an early stage: the Hochpustertal Alpine Club section, founded in 1869 at the suggestion of Emma Hellenstainer and other local innkeepers, was one of the oldest of the Habsburg monarchy; Mrs. Hellenstainer was the very first female member of the Alpine Club.

Her five daughters and two sons also found their way into the tourism industry. In 1897, his son Eduard built a hotel on Lake Braies, and his son Hermann opened the “Hotel Emma” in Merano in 1907, which soon became one of the flagships of the Merano hotel industry. This Art Nouveau building is interesting from an architectural point of view, as it was one of the first European structures to have cast iron-reinforced concrete elements that are part of its load-bearing structure. The “Stadt München” hotel in Merano and the “Post” in Neuspondinig were also part of the extensive family property. The family had thus managed the transition from the village hospitality industry to modern tourism on their own, which in other Tyrolean tourist centers mostly only came about through corporations or external financiers.

Stephan Balkenhol: Emma , painted bronze sculpture, 2015

Emperor Franz Josef I paid tribute to Ms. Emma by awarding her the Golden Cross of Merit and, during a visit to Monguelfo in 1899, was extremely pleased that the "world-famous Mrs. Emma" was introduced to him. Emma Hellenstainer spent her twilight years in Merano, where she died at the age of 87. Today the state vocational school for the hospitality and food industry Emma Hellenstainer in Brixen and the Museum Touriseum in Merano commemorate the tourism pioneer.

In spring 2015, the sculptor Stephan Balkenhol created a painted bronze sculpture by Emma Hellenstainer as a contribution to the art project MenschenBilder , which was set up on the Passer promenade in Merano.

literature

Movie

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ kunstmeranoarte.org: MenschenBilder (2015) (accessed on November 3, 2016)
  2. ↑ donne-lavoro.bz.it: "Mrs. Emma Europe - a famous innkeeper in Tyrol" ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on November 3, 2016) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.donne-lavoro.bz.it

Web links

Commons : Emma Hellenstainer  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Hellenstainer, Emma
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hellenstainer, Emerentiana (full name); Hausbacher, Emerentia (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pioneer of Tyrolean gastronomy
DATE OF BIRTH April 23, 1817
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Johann in Tirol
DATE OF DEATH March 9, 1904
Place of death Meran