Moving Houses
Austrian Open-Air Museum Stübing
As a nest-builder myself, I’ve never ceased to be amazed at the lengths you humans go to when it comes to your own version of nest-building. Your houses can be incredibly beautiful and elaborate, and you invest a huge amount of time and effort in them. I still have fond memories of the gorgeous wooden houses we visited in Podbiel and Cicmany in Slovakia.
But the other day, I saw something I’d never seen before – a museum of houses. The fascinating Österreichisches Freilichtmuseum, the Austrian Open-Air Museum, which comprises a collection of around 100 houses and other buildings dating from 13th to the 20th centuries from all over Austria. What an amazing idea!
Each building is an important example of its type, age and style. And, would you believe, almost all of them were taken from their original locations then painstakingly rebuilt here in Stübing. Several might otherwise have had to be demolished to make room for new roads; many others had been in a very poor state of repair. All got a new lease of life in this beautiful little valley not far from Graz.
The collection starts in the east, in the province of Burgenland, and ends in the most western Austrian province, Vorarlberg. I suppose that is not a huge distance as the crow or even the seagull flies, but they are worlds apart topographically, historically and, of course, architecturally. So there is a huge variety of building materials, methods and styles on display.
In the Burgenland section, I was fascinated by this Rindenduck, made of sheets of tree bark on a simple wooden framework. It was basically a quick-fix shelter knocked up by forestry workers. I suppose it was the ancient equivalent of a pop-up tent, but much more environmentally friendly. Once the workers moved on, the Duck quickly deteriorated and broke down naturally, eventually returning to the soil.
I couldn’t believe how few people were in the museum the day we visited. We had the place practically to ourselves. There wasn’t a soul around when we were poking around this example of a Styrian flourmill. I’d say it’s not too often you get the run of the mill! Ah, would you look, I ended up with a millstone around my neck after all! I wonder if this one came from the quarry on the Gleichberg volcano…
This quaint little shop was fascinating. I loved the old advertisements, particularly the one for Manner Neapolitaner. It’s a little more genteel than some of their modern advertising methods. Arnold Schwarzenegger grabbing a stack of Manner wafers in a gas-station in the film ‘Terminator 2’ springs to mind…
I was also amused by these old appliances I spotted in a room at the back of the shop: a not-so-mobile telephone and a massive wooden fridge. Miniaturisation was obviously still a long way off back then…
Throughout the museum, there were signs of work in progress. I can imagine that, like any other building, these exhibits also need regular maintenance. I came across a pile of brand new handmade wooden guttering and a few pallets of wooden shingles which were left over from a roofing job. There was even thatching in progress, which reminded me of Ireland, of course. It’s great to see that not only are the old buildings being preserved, but old building skills are also being kept alive in the process.
The interiors of the houses were fascinating. Who doesn’t love to have the chance to have a poke around someone else’s home? They were all fitted out with the furnishings, bedding and household implements of the time so you can really imagine what life must have been like in the past. There were some lovely touches, such as fresh flowers in the living quarters or tables set for a meal. You could almost imagine that the residents had just popped outside briefly to feed the cattle or pick a few herbs in the garden and would be back in any minute for their dinner.
Strangely enough, the chimney in this house is not in the kitchen but on the outside of the kitchen door. So the smoke and, I imagine, some of the heat was vented upstairs. An early version of central heating, I suppose. It obviously hasn’t been in use for yonks, but ew! believe me, even hundred-year-old smoke still stinks!
This ingenious fold-up table reminds me of our camping days. Good old days indeed!
I’m used to being in the doghouse with the Oldies at times, but this time they stuck me in the outhouse, the rotters! This particular outhouse was in a Lower Austrian farmhouse dating from 1827, so hopefully it hasn’t been used in a while…
By the time we’d reached the last exhibit, we had certainly come a long way from Burgenland on the Hungarian border. This building is a huge cattle barn, originally from the Mittelargenalpe, at an altitude of almost 1,700m in Vorarlberg, close to the Swiss border. There was room for 80 cattle in the two long sections on either side, with several other rooms in the centre, including an alpine dairy where cheese was made. No wonder the wood was so well worn – the building dates from 1641. I was amazed to hear that it was still in use up to 1977.
Whatever about being used as cannon fodder, I didn’t particularly like the idea of being used as cattle fodder either. Thank goodness they left the cows back in Vorarlberg!
I remember the Oldies’ youngest, poor thing, used to have a jacket – some cheap yoke which was probably made somewhere in the Far East – which bore the proud declaration, stitched on the pocket, ‘Builded to Last’. This soon became a catchphrase in the Oldie household. I have to say it is a phrase that springs to mind here. These buildings were definitely ‘builded to last’. Twice over. Once in their original locations, the second time here in Stübing.
Long may they last!
