At present, in 2002, there are 26 cultural landscapes, spread all over the world which are registered on the UNESCO competition list. The core zone „Hallstatt-Dachstein/Salzkammergut“ was listed as historical cultural landscape in 1997. The area of Salzkammergut, which is located in the north of the Kalkalpen, spreads over 3 Austrian states. ¾ of the Salkammergut lie in Upper Austria, the rest covers parts of Styria and Salzburg.
The main part of cultural landscape around Hallstatt is lined by the Hoher Dachstein in the south, the Gosaukamm and the Gosausee lakes in the west, by the Gosauzwang in the north and the eastern shore of the Hallstätter See.
The Salzkammergut – A region of industry and trade with health and relaxation resorts as well as the historical tradition of salt mining
Salt became the most important source for a living for the population of the Salzkammergut over the millenia. This is why it now represents an economic as well as a historic value. The beginnings of salt mining in Hallstatt took place in the Bronze Age.
The first real steps continued during the Middle Age. Furthermore the extraction of the salt influenced lifestyle, trade and the settlements.
Therefore the compartmentalization in terms of environment, traffic, justice and society caused a far-ranging isolation of the area which dissolved in the 19th century.
Tourism focussing on health and relaxation with the salt from the mountains shape the Salzkammergut at last.
The Dachstein
The Dachstein lies far east and represents the glaciated massive of the Alps. The mountain provides a great variety of plants and animals due to his vertical spread (500m – 3000 m sea level). Furthermore it belongs to the regions with the biggest amount of caves in the Alps. (Hirlatzhöhle 81 km, longest cave of Austria, Dachsteinmammuthöhle 50 km, second runner-up in terms of space). The whole mountains of the Dachstein make up one of the most puissant massives of the Eastern Alps. The karst formation of the area serves as a high-quality reservoir for the whole area and further regions.
The Open-air museum Gosau (Das Gosauer Freilichtmuseum)
The Salzkammergut offers a great amount of different historic homesteads. Around the area of the UNESCO Heritage of the world in the valley of Gosau you can find a landscape of special homesteads which were able to survive to the present. Our open-air museum documents this evolvement in an interesting way.
Information on the open-air museum Gosau
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