16. April 2021
The Halltsatt culture defines an entire epoch of European archeology from the older Iron Age, the community, which today has around 750 inhabitants, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997 and the 7,000-year-old salt production is still active today.
April 18th is also this year as the “International Day of Monuments and Sites” under the sign of UNESCO World Heritage. This year the ten Austrian World Heritage sites are celebrating the joint “Austrian World Heritage Day” for the first time.
The Vienna Natural History Museum (NHM) is also closely connected to Hallstatt and is in charge of excavation work there – supported by Salinen Austria AG and the Salt Worlds.
The branch office of the NHM examines the prehistoric mines, the history of salt production as well as the emergence and change of this unique salt landscape from the Stone Age to the present day. This is how you can understand the way of life, the world of work, the tools, the fashion and even the funeral system of people thousands of years ago.
“The Hallstatt World Heritage Site in the Salzkammergut is a very special World Heritage Site, because we can find almost 7,000 years of uninterrupted ‘industrial’ production of salt here,” says NHM Vienna General Director Katrin Vohland.
Numerous impressions of the work “underground” today also provide digital reconstructions of the mine tunnels, virtual reality offers, 3D journeys through the prehistoric tunnels or videos with the researchers that bring the story back to life.
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