Hallstatt-Dachstein Salzkammergut cultural landscape
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How it came to be
Salt in the Salzkammergut was already being exploited in the 2nd millennium BC. By the Middle Bronze Age it was produced systematically, by catching natural brine in vessels and evaporating it. Underground mining began at the end of the Late Bronze Age and resumed in the 8th century BC. The name Hallstatt means salt settlement.
In 1846 Johann Georg Ramsauer found a large prehistoric cemetery by the salt mines and over the second half of the 19th century excavated 1,045 burials. About 1,300 burials holding some 2,000 individuals have now been found. The early Iron Age culture of about 800 to 450 BC is named the Hallstatt culture after the town.
Mining continued in Roman times and revived in the 14th century. The town was rebuilt in late Baroque style after a fire in 1750, yet until the late 19th century it could be reached only by boat or narrow trails; the first road came in 1890. The ossuary of St Michael's Chapel holds more than 1,200 skulls, about 600 of them painted with symbols, names and dates. The landscape was inscribed in 1997.
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