13 June 2021

Austria insight into culture, shipping, music, culinary, art: Fashion.at visited the 'city at the lake' Gmunden in the Salzkammergut, European Capital of Culture 2024

Yesterday, Fashion.at visited Gmunden in Upper Austria in the Salzkammergut. The region is famous for its mountain-lake landscapes and a cultural history which can be traced back over thousands of years. The 'Salz'kammergut references 'salt' in its name. The village Hallstatt with its ancient salt mine is the worldwide reference for living worlds of prehistoric times known as Hallstatt Culture. Hallstatt as well as Gmunden (the city is strongly associated with ceramic production) are two of more than twenty municipalities around the city Bad Ischl which will form the European Capital of Culture in 2024. Fashion.at was in short words in one of Austria's most interesting regions where nature and culture play together since thousands of years. Alongside salt, the region has selected water as a focus point for discussing topics like tradition & counter-culture, (hyper)tourism & retreat. Currently, the call for projects is ongoing. Proposals for projects for the European Capital of Culture Bad Ischl - Salzkammergut 2024 can be submitted until the end of September 2021 (fast checked today at dieoriginale2024.at/auf-kurs-fuer-2024-call-fuer-projektvorschlaege/).

But back to this year's summer season and Gmunden which is also called 'The City at the Lake'. The Fashion.at tour started at the Traunbrücke, the bridge over the Traun river, a tributary of the Danube. The Traun is the vital line of the Salzkammergut. Salt and wood were transported already in Roman times and later from cities like Hallstatt, Gmunden to the river's end in Linz where the Traun flows into the Danube. Shipping is until today important at the Traunsee. Ship Gisela's (picture below in the middle) 150th anniversary was celebrated yesterday! Gisela, the 'Pearl of the Traunsee' how the ship is also named, originates from the 19th century and transports until nowadays passengers across the lake. The ship-travels start at the place of the town hall.

On the day of the visit, a market happened with several booths selling ceramics, fashion, jewelry,... along the shore. Near the town hall under the linden tree 'Schillerlinde' (planted in 1905 as homage to German poet Friedrich Schiller), the international folk band Maschanzka played an interpretation of Bukovina (the Eastern European region once belonged to Austria) folk music with the name 'Kolorabi' from the album 'Tanzcafe Unterholz'. The performance was part of the 'Hausmusik Roas' (translated as much as 'House Music Journey') of the ongoing 'Salzkammergut Festwochen Gmunden'. The programme until September with introduction into the idea behind the concert series 'Hausmusik Roas' is published at festwochen-gmunden.at/de/hausmusikroas.

Fashion.at's exploration tour led along a fountain with a gnome (image at the second row, left) which might make viewers think of a fairy tale about mountains. And yes, it's a fairy tale developed from a true story from the 1880ies. Austrian sculptor Heinrich Natter bought on a mountain tour a crystal which inspired him for a fantastic story about mythical gnomes working in the mines. The result of his true adventure X fantastic dream is the sculpture 'The Gnome with the Crystal' which is since the 1950s located as part of the fountain at Franz-Joseph-Platz. On the other side (visible at the image of the fountain - the house in pink), the enchanting, 19th century style furnished Café-Konditorei Grellinger which produces confectionery specialties like the cookies 'Traunstein Stoana' named after the largest mountain, the 'Traunstein' at lake Traunsee and its rocks (stoana). Fashion.at tasted also the delicious Traunstein (almond) ice cream - one of the reasons to come back soon.

Unfortunately, there was not enough time for Fashion.at to visit the museums and galleries in Gmunden. According to the calendar at eventsgmunden.at, 'La Galeria' for example presents works by fashion illustrator René Gruau (created drawings for Givenchy, Dior,...) and art by Chagall, Picasso, or Christo.