AUSTRIA - rehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps *

Postcard sent by ChristinaB in a Private Swap.

Sent 12 of  May of 2018.

INSCRIPTION/INSCRITO: 2011

This serial property of 111 small individual sites encompasses the remains of prehistoric pile-dwelling (or stilt house) settlements in and around the Alps built from around 5000 to 500 B.C. on the edges of lakes, rivers or wetlands. Excavations, only conducted in some of the sites, have yielded evidence that provides insight into life in prehistoric times during the Neolithic and Bronze Age in Alpine Europe and the way communities interacted with their environment. Fifty-six of the sites are located in Switzerland. The settlements are a unique group of exceptionally well-preserved and culturally rich archaeological sites, which constitute one of the most important sources for the study of early agrarian societies in the region.

The series of 111 out of the 937 known archaeological pile-dwelling sites in six countries around the Alpine and sub-alpine regions of Europe is composed of the remains of prehistoric settlements dating from 5,000 to 500 BC which are situated under water, on lake shores, along rivers or in wetlands. The exceptional conservation conditions for organic materials provided by the waterlogged sites, combined with extensive under-water archaeological investigations and research in many fields of natural science, such as archaeobotany and archaeozoology, over the past decades, has combined to present an outstanding detailed perception of the world of early agrarian societies in Europe. The precise information on their agriculture, animal husbandry, development of metallurgy, over a period of more than four millennia, coincides with one of the most important phases of recent human history: the dawn of modern societies.

In view of the possibilities for the exact dating of wooden architectural elements by dendrochronology, the sites have provided exceptional archaeological sources that allow an understanding of entire prehistoric villages and their detailed construction techniques and spatial development over very long time periods. They also reveal details of trade routes for flint, shells, gold, amber, and pottery across the Alps and within the plains, transport evidence from dugout canoes and wooden wheels, some complete with axles for two wheeled carts dating from around 3,400BC, some of the earliest preserved in the world, and the oldest textiles in Europe dating to 3,000 BC. This cumulative evidence has provided a unique insight into the domestic lives and settlements of some thirty different cultural groups in the Alpine lacustrine landscape that allowed the pile dwellings to flourish.

 Thank you Christina!

AUSTRIA - Fertö / Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape

Postcard sent by ChristinaB in a Private Swap.

Sent 12 of May of 2018.

INSCRIPTION/INSCRITO: 2001

The Fertö/Neusiedler Lake area has been the meeting place of different cultures for eight millennia. This is graphically demonstrated by its varied landscape, the result of an evolutionary symbiosis between human activity and the physical environment. The remarkable rural architecture of the villages surrounding the lake and several 18th- and 19th-century palaces adds to the area’s considerable cultural interest.

Fertő/Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape incorporates the westernmost steppe lake in Eurasia. This is an area of outstanding natural values and landscape diversity created and sustained by the encounter of different landscape types. It is situated in the cross-section of different geographical flora and fauna zones as well as wetlands, and is characterised by sub-Alpine mountains, sub-Mediterranean hills, alkaline lakes that dry out from time to time, saline soils, reeds, and shoreline plains. This area, a valuable biosphere reserve and gene bank, is home to a rich diversity of flora and fauna and has been shaped harmoniously for eight millennia by different human groups and ethnically diverse populations. The present character of the landscape is the result of millennia-old land-use forms based on stock raising and viticulture to an extent not found in other European lake areas. This interaction is also manifested in the several-century-long continuity of its urban and architectural traditions and the diverse traditional uses of the land and the lake. The Fertö/Neusiedlersee Lake is surrounded by an inner ring of sixteen settlements and an outer ring of twenty other settlements.

Two broad periods may be discerned: from around 6000 BC until the establishment of the Hungarian state in the 11th century AD, and from the 11th century until the present. From the 7th century BC the lake shore was densely populated, initially by people of the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture and by late prehistoric and Roman times’ cultures. In the fields of almost every village around the lake there are remains of Roman villas. The basis of the current network of towns and villages was formed in the 12th and 13th centuries, their markets flourishing from 1277 onwards. The mid-13th century Tatar invasion left this area unharmed, and it enjoyed uninterrupted development throughout medieval times until the Turkish conquest in the late 16th century. The economic basis throughout was the export of animals and wine. The historic centre of the medieval free town of Rust in particular prospered from the wine trade. Rust constitutes an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement representative of the area. The town exhibits the special building mode of a society and culture within which the lifestyles of townspeople and farmers form an entity. Its refortification in the early 16th century marked the beginning of a phase of construction in the area, first with fortifications and then, during the 17th-19th centuries, with the erection and adaptation of domestic buildings. The remarkable rural architecture of the villages surrounding the lake and several 18th-and 19th-century palaces add to the area's considerable cultural interest. The palace of the township of Nagycenk, the Fertöd Palace, the Széchenyi Palace and the Fertöd Esterházy Palace are also exceptional cultural testimonies.

Despite the fact that it is a transboundary property, located on the territory of two states, Austria and Hungary, it has formed a socio-economic and cultural unit for centuries, which is outstanding in terms of its rich archaeological heritage created by consecutive civilisations, its rich stock of historical monuments reflecting ethnic diversity, and the elements of its rich ethnographic, geological and mining heritage.

 Thank you Christina!

AUSTRIA - City of Graz – Historic Centre and Schloss Eggenberg

Postcard sent by ChristinaB in a Private Swap.

Sent 12 of May of 2018.

INSCRIPTION/INSCRITO: 1999

The City of Graz – Historic Centre and Schloss Eggenberg bear witness to an exemplary model of the living heritage of a central European urban complex influenced by the secular presence of the Habsburgs and the cultural and artistic role played by the main aristocratic families. They are a harmonious blend of the architectural styles and artistic movements that have succeeded each other from the Middle Ages until the 18th century, from the many neighbouring regions of Central and Mediterranean Europe. They embody a diversified and highly comprehensive ensemble of architectural, decorative and landscape examples of these interchanges of influence.

 Thank you Christina!

AUSTRIA - Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape

Postcard sent by ChristinaB in a Private Swap.

Sent 12 of May of 2018.

INSCRIPTION/INSCRITO: 1997

Human activity in the magnificent natural landscape of the Salzkammergut began in prehistoric times, with the salt deposits being exploited as early as the 2nd millennium BC. This resource formed the basis of the area’s prosperity up to the middle of the 20th century, a prosperity that is reflected in the fine architecture of the town of Hallstatt.

The Hallstatt-Dachstein alpine landscape, part of the Salzkammergut, and thus of the Eastern Alps, is one of visual drama with huge mountains rising abruptly form narrow valleys. Its prosperity since mediaeval times has been based on salt mining, focused on the town of Hallstatt, a name meaning salt settlement that testifies to its primary function.

Systematic salt production was being carried out in the region as early as the Middle Bronze Age, (the late 2nd millennium BC), when natural brine was captured in vessels and evaporated. Underground mining for salt began at the end of the late Bronze Age and resumed in the 8th century BC when archaeological evidence shows a flourishing, stratified and highly organised Iron Age society with wide trade links across Europe and now known as the Hallstatt Culture. Salt mining continued in Roman times and was then revived in the 14th century. The large amounts of timber needed for the mines and for evaporating the salt where extracted from the extensive upland forests, which since the 16th century were controlled and managed directly by the Austrian Crown. The Town of Hallstatt was re-built in late Baroque style after a fire in 1750 destroyed the timber buildings.

The beauty of the alpine landscape, with its higher pastures used for the summer grazing of sheep and cattle since prehistoric times as part of the process of transhumance, which still today gives the valley communities rights of access to specific grazing areas, was 'discovered' in the early 19th century by writers, such as Adalbert Stifler, novelist, and the dramatic poet Franz Grillparzer, and most of the leading paintings of the Biedermeier school. They were in turn followed by tourists and this led to the development of hotels and brine baths for visitors.

The landscape is exceptional as a complex of great scientific interest and immense natural power that has played a vital role in human history reflected in the impact of farmer-miners over millennia, in the way mining has transformed the interior of the mountain and through the artists and writers that conveyed its harmony and beauty.

 Thank you Christina!

AUSTRIA - Historic Centre of Vienna

Postal enviada por Edelwers  en un tag de Austria x World

Envío - 21 de Setiembre del 2015.

INSCRIPTION/INSCRITO: 2001

Vienna developed from early Celtic and Roman settlements into a Medieval and Baroque city, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, as well as the late-19th-century Ringstrasse lined with grand buildings, monuments and parks.

Viena se fue desarrollando desde los primeros asentamientos celtas y romanos en su territorio y a través de la construcción sucesiva de la ciudad medieval y la barroca, hasta convertirse en la capital del Imperio Austrohúngaro. La ciudad ha desempeñado un papel fundamental como centro importante de la música europea y su nombre va asociado a grandes compositores, desde el clasicismo vienés hasta la música de principios del siglo XX. Su centro histórico alberga una gran variedad de jardines y monumentos arquitectónicos, principalmente palacios barrocos, así como el conjunto de la Ringstrasse, que data de fines del siglo XIX.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1033

Thanks for this beautiful card Edelwers!

AUSTRIA - Semmering Railway

Postal enviada por Marco a cambio de una UNESCO española.

Envío - 06 de Octubre del 2016.

INSCRIPTION/INSCRITO: 1998

The Semmering Railway, built over 41 km of high mountains between 1848 and 1854, is one of the greatest feats of civil engineering from this pioneering phase of railway building. The high standard of the tunnels, viaducts and other works has ensured the continuous use of the line up to the present day. It runs through a spectacular mountain landscape and there are many fine buildings designed for leisure activities along the way, built when the area was opened up due to the advent of the railway.

Construida entre 1848 y 1854 a lo largo de 41 kilómetros de terreno montañoso, la lí­nea ferroviaria de Semmering representa una de las mayores proezas de la ingenierí­a civil en los primeros tiempos de la construcción de ví­as férreas. Debido a la solidez de sus túneles, viaductos y otras obras de ingenierí­a, la lí­nea se ha seguido utilizando sin interrupción hasta nuestros dí­as. El ferrocarril atraviesa un espectacular paisaje montañoso, donde se han podido construir numerosos edificios de gran calidad arquitectónica destinados a actividades recreativas, desde que la región quedó comunicada gracias a este medio de transporte.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/785

Gracias por esta estupenda postal y por tomarte el tiempo en escribirme sobre los mitos y leyendas de Austria.

AUSTRIA - Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg

Postal enviada por Josef (Montycontsin) a cambio de una UNESCO española.

Envío - 15 de Noviembre del 2016.

INSCRIPTION/INSCRITO: 1996

Salzburg has managed to preserve an extraordinarily rich urban fabric, developed over the period from the Middle Ages to the 19th century when it was a city-state ruled by a prince-archbishop. Its Flamboyant Gothic art attracted many craftsmen and artists before the city became even better known through the work of the Italian architects Vincenzo Scamozzi and Santini Solari, to whom the centre of Salzburg owes much of its Baroque appearance. This meeting-point of northern and southern Europe perhaps sparked the genius of Salzburg’s most famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose name has been associated with the city ever since.

Salzburgo ha logrado preservar un tejido urbano de excepcional riqueza, que se fue estructurando desde la Edad Media hasta el siglo XIX, cuando era una ciudad-Estado gobernada por un príncipe-arzobispo. El arte gótico flamígero de sus edificios atrajo a numerosos artistas, incluso antes de que la notoriedad arquitectónica de Salzburgo se afirmase tras la llegada de los arquitectos italianos Vincenzo Scamozzi y Santini Solari, que imprimieron al centro de la ciudad su sello barroco. El hecho de que la ciudad fuese un punto de encuentro entre el norte y el sur de Europa pudo influir en la genial inspiración del más ilustre de sus hijos, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, cuya fama universal aureola desde entonces a Salzburgo.

Thanks for sending me this awesome card Josef! 

AUSTRIA - Wachau Cultural Landscape

Postal enviada por Christina (ChristinaB) en un UNESCO tag.

Envío - 20 de Mayo del 2016.

INSCRIPTION/INSCRITO: 2000

The Wachau is a stretch of the Danube Valley between Melk and Krems, a landscape of high visual quality. It preserves in an intact and visible form many traces - in terms of architecture, (monasteries, castles, ruins), urban design, (towns and villages), and agricultural use, principally for the cultivation of vines - of its evolution since prehistoric times.

La Wachau es la comarca situada en el tramo del valle del Danubio comprendido entre las ciudades de Melk y Krems. Su bello paisaje ha conservado intactas muchas de las huellas de su evolución desde los tiempos prehistóricos, que se pueden percibir en los monumentos arquitectónicos (monasterios, castillos, ruinas), el urbanismo (ciudades y aldeas) y los cultivos, en particular los viñedos.

Thank you very much for the card Christina!

AUSTRIA - Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn

Postal enviada por Christina (Christinab) en un RoundRobin de UNESCO.

Envío - 02 de Setiembre del 2016.

INSCRIPTION/INSCRITO: 1996

From the 18th century to 1918, Schönbrunn was the residence of the Habsburg emperors. It was designed by the architects Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Nicolaus Pacassi and is full of outstanding examples of decorative art. Together with its gardens, the site of the world’s first zoo in 1752, it is a remarkable Baroque ensemble and a perfect example of Gesamtkunstwerk

Residencia imperial de la dinastía de los Habsburgo desde el siglo XVIII hasta 1918, el palacio de Schönbrunn, construido por los arquitectos Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach y Nicola Pacassi, alberga un gran cúmulo de obras maestras de las artes decorativas. Con sus jardines –donde se instaló el primer parque zoológico del mundo en 1752– forma un conjunto barroco de excepcional calidad y constituye un acabado ejemplo de “Gesamtkunstwerk” (obra de arte total).

Me ha llegado mi primera postal de Austria! Y vaya pegote le han puesto en el anverso, tapando parte del espectáculo. ¿Será así en todas las postales?

Thankyou very much Christina for the card and for the info about the place!