Rudolfsturm
The core of the Rudolfsturm at the entrance to the Hallstatt high salt mountain valley in Austria goes back to a medieval defense tower from the end of the 13th century. From this time until 1954, the tower was permanently used as the home of the respective mining operations manager.
Its significant positioning just under a kilometer to the west and above the Hallstatt town center and in the landscape of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut allows a unique view of Hallstatt, Lake Hallstatt and the surrounding mountains. Over the centuries, the property has undergone numerous structural changes and is now - at the beginning of the 21st century - used for gastronomic purposes. The building is under monument protection ( list entry ).
Building description
Location
The striking building site, the so-called Turmkogel , could have been important as early as prehistoric times. It not only limits the world-famous Hallstatt burial ground to the east, but is also the only place in the high valley on which the sun shines at the winter solstice .
For the topological importance of the Rudolfsturm, a consideration of the spatial situation of the two decades between the construction of the Rudolfsturm and the elevation of the market and thus the salt production from the “green Wasen” on the shores of Lake Hallstatt appears very informative.
It can be assumed that the entire salt production before the establishment of the market on the shores of Lake Hallstatt, including the boiling of the brine , took place exclusively in the Salzberg high valley. This assumption explains the position of the Rudolfsturm as a defensive tower at the then only access to the high valley in a satisfactory way. But the location of the tower also appears to be an inevitable architectural and spatial gesture: the Turmkogel, on the top of which the medieval core building is erected, can be read as the final spatial accord of the high valley falling to the east towards the lake. With the erection of the tower, the effect of the natural space was exaggerated, and thus the blocking function - in the middle of the valley entrance, vertically - clearly illustrated.
The clearly vertical alignment of the tower and its crowning finish with a building that protrudes on all sides can also be read as a reflection of the feudal social order at the time it was built. In terms of architectural gesture, the tower had two “faces”, one facing the lake and one dominating the production facility.
This situation changed fundamentally only a few decades after the construction of the Rudolfsturm: with the start of evaporated salt production in the Markt district, the tower moved from the edge of the production facility to its center. The locking function became the joint function. How this function shaped the building over time can be illustrated well with the sources. As a second perspective, however, the modification of the originally solitary tower to an ensemble of different structures can be interpreted as a reflection of the social change processes.
Structure
The three-storey core structure is made of lime - rubble stone masonry . The floor plan of the tower has the shape of a square , the diagonals of which are exactly aligned with the cardinal points . It ends with an 8.80 m high shingle roof, which starts at an eaves height of 11.70 m. The recent remnants of the medieval core substance can be safely located through the walls , which are 1.80 m thick on average and with an external dimension of 9.10 m square. The oriented floor plan of the tower structure is modularly proportioned according to the factory shoe dimensions in use at the time of construction . This local, non-metric dimension can be converted into the metric system with sufficient accuracy using the factor 0.30 m . The result is 6 for the wall thickness and 30 for the length of the outer side. It also shows that, after conversion, the examined measuring sections result in clear dimensions that correspond to an integral multiple or part of old counting dimensions. The “Schilling” - here meaning “30” - and half the “dozen” stand out, a further indication that the construction of the tower was preceded by abstract geometric planning.
The two-storey extension to the south made of mixed masonry is 15.6 m long, 10–13.7 m wide and 7.1 m high up to the roof seam. The wooden roofs (plank roof or shingle roof) have an area of 450 m².
Building history
middle Ages
The building history of the Rudolfsturm, which was referred to as "Ruedolfstain" in the 16th century, has been thoroughly processed in the literature; in particular, reference is made here to an article by Georg Heilingsetzer. Most often the year of construction is given as 1284 , and if so, then Dicklberger (1817) is the source. But there are also dates with 1294 .
Modern times
A key source of interpretation - above all the older vedute - is the "plan of the former position of the Rudolphthurm" (hayloft 1903). Both the view and the sections show that the southwestern extension continued into the 19th century inside was not directly connected to the core structure, but was separated by an approximately 6 m wide vestibule. As a vertically boarded frame construction, this intermediate wing separated the masonry structure functionally, structurally and visually.
This finding suggests that, according to Merian's depiction, the building immediately adjoining the Rudolfsturm to the south-west should be interpreted as a wooden structure that sets itself apart from the massive tower in terms of construction, choice of materials and formal gesture. Due to this contrast, the formal dominance of the tower, on the three-story base of which sits a cantilevered, closed structure with a hipped roof, is retained in this depiction, while the extension on the southwest side tends to appear horizontal.
Idam (2003) has two depictions of the building from the first quarter of the 18th century. These marginal drawings of mine maps, in which wooden and stone structures are differentiated in color, confirm the previous conclusions. The vertical tendency of the tower is contrasted by the horizontal tendency of the additions. The top, cantilevered storey of the tower can now be clearly identified as a timber structure.
In the illustration of Rietzinger (1725) a vertically aligned boarding can be seen, an assumption that is confirmed by Heuschober (1903). In addition, under lit. E “The very damaged wooden floor” the floor plan of a boarded-up block construction, which evidently did not serve as a battlement - as is often assumed in the literature - but as an apartment with a heated room, an adjoining room and a vestibule with an open hearth and toilet .
Another annex on the northeast side of the Rudolfsturm is clearly recognizable on the two sheets of Rietzinger. In the hayloft plan (1903) this extension is referred to as the guard room . What is noticeable here is that this is not placed orthogonally on the body of the tower, but deviates at an angle of 6 ° to the north. This inclination to the tower is explained by the fact that at this point the fall lines of the terrain deviate by the same amount to the north. The floor plan of the guard room was therefore optimally adapted to the topological conditions.
This guard room is mentioned in the plan copy of Heuschober (1903) under lit. H is described as "a damaged wooden outbuilding in which a small room for the guard is located" and was probably demolished as early as the middle of the 18th century.
Two, also newly found, representations from the second half of the 18th century document the loss of the guard room. Another extension on the southwest flank of the Turmkogel, which Engleithner represented in 1765, is no longer detectable by the end of the century. The depiction of the proto-industrial world of salt production also appears interesting on this sheet: the Rudolfsturm is already almost encircled by “Sulzstrennen”, the brine pipelines, the harbingers of the industrial age. The medieval tower seems to stand isolated, separated from the overwhelming technological development.
According to Haystack (1903), the south-western stone structure connected to the tower only by a wooden vestibule at the beginning of the 19th century housed the “Schünzimmer” on the ground floor, i.e. the work room of the Markscheider , in which the mine plans were made. Just like the kitchen above, this room, in its original conception, corresponded to the joint function of the entire building complex: Just like the rooms in the tower, the rooms in the south-western structure had windows facing both Salzberg and Hallstatt. On the mountain side, a laundry room and a well room were added to this building , which were covered with a pent roof and demolished in the course of the renovation work in 1833. In this context it seems important that the wooden vestibule attached directly to the tower in the joint axis between Salzberg and Hallstatt, as well as the Schünzimmer and the kitchen above, were spatially open, and that no transverse partition walls broke this relationship and its horizontal dynamics.
Biedermeier
The condition of the Rudolfsturm at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries does not only have to be explored on the basis of romantic vedute, but can also be documented by the original Franciscan map , so that the final widening of the extension to the north-west will not take place until after 1815 can.
For the beginning of the 19th century, the original folder again shows two structures on the northeast side of the tower in place of the guard's house, which was demolished around the middle of the 18th century. This finding is also confirmed by the newly discovered site plan from the financial archive in the Vienna State Archives . In 1833 the wooden, cantilevered top floor of the Rudolfsturm was removed and replaced with a haunched tent roof. According to the wishes of the court chamber, the building should have a more pleasing appearance. In the course of this construction work, an extension for the guard room was added.
With this measure, the structural character of the tower was changed most significantly in its entire building history. From this point on, the medieval stone building had a Biedermeier roof; analogous to the Catholic parish church in the market, whose Romanesque tower is closed off by a baroque mansard roof.
Nevertheless, the extension of the south-western extension on the mountain side was not yet completed with this conversion. On an anonymous drawing from 1849, the extension still exists as a narrow structure, to which a light, lower pent roof construction is attached on the salt mountain side. The recent expansion of the south-west extension can be seen for the first time in the site plan of a cable car project Markt Hallstatt – Salzberg from 1870 in its perimeter , and an undated construction plan of this development stage is recorded in detail. With these construction measures, a transverse wall was also created in the extension, through which the horizontal permeability of the building was sealed off.
20th century
In 1903 an arbor was added in the southwest corner of the extension, but this has not been preserved. In terms of design, the rustic bourgeois summer freshness style that was current at the time , with board cuts in the parapet area and generous glazing of the transom construction, was adopted with this building . The structural interventions that were carried out on the Rudolfsturm between 1910 and 1955 can be found in the property description created in 1908 by the Hallstatt salt works .
“In 1910 a beech board floor was laid in the company office.
1911 The tiled stove in the chancellery mentioned in the description was replaced by an enamel stove. A bath heater is built into the chamber next to the laundry room.
1912 In the room on the ground floor (antique room [Ramsauer Collection]) an enamel oven was installed instead of the white glazed oven.
1st half of 1914 The spruce staircase to the 1st floor replaced by an oak.
1920/21 The operations manager of the office relocated to the south-eastern room (antique room), a clerk's office was built in the wood layer and this was closed off by a glass door from the ground floor front building. Furthermore, the staircase chamber was set up as a layer of wood, and the existing door from the laundry room to the vestibule on the south wall was bricked up and one was built into the east wall. The connection to the state telephone was also established in this year.
1936 Ostl. and southern roof area of the old building approx. 52 m² covered with Eternit .
1937 south side east side 72 m² damaged shingle roof covering newly covered with Eternit.
1940 Hot water storage tank installed and the water pipe laid in the wall.
1955 Repair of the western shingle roof. "
The Rudolfsturm lost the seat of the miner - and with it its function as an administrative building - in 1954 when the saltworks administration was concentrated in the former hospital building at the mouth of the Erbstollen as part of a change in operations .
The subsequent conversion of the Rudolfsturm into a catering business preserved the utility value of the property and secures its existence. The tourism boom of the 1960s required an increase in the available space, which was realized with the addition of a "hall" directly on the northeast side of the tower. Typically for this period, this extension was equipped with large windows on three sides, the two axially positioned doors take up the motif of permeability, the connection between Salzberg and Markt - albeit cautiously. This annex was destroyed by snow pressure in 2006 and its remains razed . For the Upper Austrian Provincial Exhibition in 2008, the Rudolfsturm was completely renovated and an extension was added on the mountain side.
Property data
Upper Austria. Land board 1023 Z 217 - plot no. 381/6
literature
- Georg Heilingsetzer : The Rudolfsturm in Hallstatt as a monument to the Austrian saltworks history. Special print from Oberösterreich Kulturzeitschrift, Volume 34, No. 2, Linz 1984, pp. 11–16.
- Friedrich Idam: Directed development, industrial archeology in Hallstatt, industrial patterns under the alpine idyll. Dissertation, Hallstatt / Vienna 2003.
- Matthæum Merian: Topographia Provinciarum Austriaca. Frankfurt 1649.
- Friedrich Morton: Hallstatt Economic Area. In: Wirtschaftsgeographie, 5th issue, 1934.
- Rudolf Palme: Legal, economic and social history of the inner-alpine salt works up to their monopoly. Frankfurt / Bern 1983.
- Carl Schraml: The Upper Austrian saltworks from the beginning of the 16th to the middle of the 18th century. Vienna 1932.
- Carl Schraml: The Upper Austrian saltworks from 1750 to the time after the French Wars.
- Carl Schraml: The Upper Austrian saltworks from 1818 to the end of the salt office in 1850. Vienna 1936.
- Carl Schraml: The development of the Upper Austrian salt mining in the 16th and 17th centuries. In: Yearbook of the Upper Austrian Museum Association. 83rd year, Linz 1930, pp. 153–242 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
- Gerhard Stadler: Everything Aussee. In: Fools and visionaries move the world. A reading book through the Salzkammergut, Salzburg 2005, pp. 180–186.
- Hans Jörgen Urstöger: Three thousand years of salt mining. In: Blickpunkte, Volume 46, Issue 4, 1996, pp. 22-29.
- Hans Jörgen Urstöger: Hallstatt Chronicle. Hallstatt 1994.
swell
Individual evidence
- ^ Upper Austria - immovable and archaeological monuments under monument protection. (PDF), ( CSV ). Federal Monuments Office , status: 23 January 2019.
- ^ Salt pans at Hallstatt. Obderennsisches Salzkammergut, Fund 6, Faszikel rot 47, manuscripts from the years 1494–1710. Court Chamber and Financial Archives, Vienna.
- ↑ a b c d e Salzberg Hallstatt, plan collection, plan of the former position of the Rudolph Tower and the mountain master's apartment (around 1800), copied from an original by f. Haystack in 1903.
- ^ Friedrich Idam: Directed development, industrial archeology in Hallstatt, industrial patterns under the alpine idyll. Dissertation, Hallstatt-Vienna 2003.
- ↑ description of the property; Determination of the same, book rights and burdens, etc. Handwriting in forms, 1908–1940, Salinen Verwaltung Hallstatt.
Other sources used
- Anton Dicklberger: Systematic history of the salt pans. Upper Austria in connection with the general history of the neighboring Steyermark, Salzburg, Tyrol and Bavarian salt pans belonging to the same salt formation. Ministerial Library in the Ministry of Finance, Vienna. Sig. XVII. 439/1 and Sig. XVII. 439/2. - 2 vols., Manuscripts, bound 23 × 35 cm, paginated, Ischl 1817. - I. vol. Contains the first and second volumes. second part or the old and middle history of the salt pans. [538 pages + table of contents unpaginated]. Dated March 31, 1817 in the preface. At the end of the volume, 12 fold-out panels are bound. Plates I to VIII signed by Joseph Laimer, mountain student. Contents of the plan: Habsburg family tree and prehistoric or Roman finds. Plate IX to XII pit cracks with opencast buildings signed by Friedrich Zierler, mountain viewer. Plate IX to XI are copies after Rietzinger 1713, the routes and day buildings are copied exactly, the legend, in contrast to Rietzinger, has been moved to the edge of the sheet. II. Vol. Contains the documents collected for the constitution of the old and middle saltworks history. [Copies, 493 pages + table of contents unpaginated].
- Graf Caraffische Salzkammergut Visitations Commisions Relation 1697. Manuscript collection No. 329, Hofkammer and Financial Archives, Vienna.
- Maps and plans collection. Court Chamber and Financial Archives, Vienna.
- Maps and plans collection. Upper Austrian Provincial Archives, Linz.
- JB Riezinger: Description of the Hallstädter salt mine ("The out of the dark nut to the Tagliecht brought Saltzberg, that is a full description of all the Schinzig sambt of the Beyligenten mountain folders etc.") Hallstatt 1713, Ministerialbibliothek im Finanzministerium, Vienna.
- Salzberg Hallstatt, collection of plans. Sig. B III C 8, undated
Web links
Coordinates: 47 ° 33 '40 " N , 13 ° 38' 35" E