Hohe Tauern Museum Worlds

Pablo Picasso once boasted: “Give me a museum and I will fill it.” – what one of the world’s most famous painters could do, one of all Austria’s most beautiful regions can do better – yes, our museums are full of impressive facts. Here, nature and the people who live with it are artists in equal measure. The Hohe Tauern Museum Worlds consist of three museums, each highlighting the history of the immediate surroundings. Thus in the Felberturm Museum visitors can see both the glittering and darker sides of the trading by pack animals, in Stoanabichl Celts Village you can walk through a replica of a 2000-year-old village and in the Noriker Horse Museum everything revolves around the untiring and good-natured Noriker horse breed.

• Mittersill: Felberturm Museum
• Uttendorf: Stoanabichl Celts Village
• Niedernsill: Noriker Horse Museum

Felberturm Tower was built in the first half of the 12th century and owes its name to the ministerial house of the Felbers and served as a residence and fortified tower for the Lord of Velm. In the year 1415, the tower came under ownership of the Salzburg archbishops and in the course of this it was converted into a granary. In 1812, the unique building with fishbone stonework was auctioned off by the Bavarian state government and as a result of this became private property and ultimately communal property. In the 19th century the tower slowly decayed and it was not until 1963 that it was renovated and restored, making it a local museum. In the year 2021, Felberturm Museum was renovated from the ground up and is now fully dedicated to the topic of trading by pack animals and the life of the freight haulers in times past. The exterior features things typical to the region, such as a schoolhouse from the year 1609. In addition there are many other interesting buildings outside of the tower, such as a farmers' mill or the granary.

Thanks to the water pipe in Uttendorf being relaid, a burial ground from the Hallstatt Age was discovered in the year 1962. It wasn’t until the mid-20th century that it became known that Celts were at home here, from around 1800 BC until the 4th century AD. Regular excavations took place between 1975 and 1990, with 467 graves found. Thanks to numerous grave goods, such as a necklace from amber and glass pearls, ceramic and bronze vessels as well as iron knives, researchers were able to get an insight into the life of the Celts and could even prove there were trade relations all the way to Germany, Italy and Slovenia. Today you can visit a replica of this village and take in the mysticism of times past. The entrance alone already has something special about it: Having arrived at the Stoanabichl, a giant wooden gate awaits you and then a narrow path wind its way up to the village where you’ll find yourself in the heart of the late antiquity. From the fireplace, where the Celts likely met up to eat, all the way to the "weaving machine" and the bread oven, everything up there feels as if time had stood still. In the year 2001, work began on building a replica of the Celtic village at the Stoanabichl. To date, the weaving mill, the pottery and the storage building have been replicated.

In the Noriker Museum, as you can tell from its name, everything revolves around the Noriker horse breed. Visitors will find a world of horses, apart from natural history the museum also showcases cultural history. The name of the horse breed is based on the Roman province of Noricum and the development into today’s type had to go through many changes. These days breeding takes place in five different bloodlines. Noriker horses are ideally suited as draft, riding and pack horses.