Austrian Pile Dwelling Museum

Some time ago i said i've lost an austrian UNESCO card, from the only austrian site i was still missing. I didn't find it, i should call a CSI team, but i really wanted that card so i've traded again and Sarah and picked the same card again. Now, i finally have all the austrian UNESCO sites.

In 2011 the prehistoric pile dwellings around the alps were included in the UNESCO world heritage list. This is the story around the pile dwellings at/in the Mondsee lake.

An old legend tells from a sunk village whose rests can be seen in the depth of the Mondsee lake from time to time. Once again a proof that every legend has a true background because you really can see wooden piles from the water surface.

Fotos: W. Weinhäupl

In the year 1854 the first prehistoric pile dwellings were discovered in the Zurich lake and interpreted as the rests of settlements from prehistoric times. The findspot in Switzerland caused a boom in searching for rest in other lakes around the alps and in 1864 the first remains were discovered in the Attersee lake.

But it has been a scientist called Matthäus Much who became the master of the research of the pile dwellings. Much purchased a villa in 1872 at the waterside of the Mondsee lake after discovering the pile dwellings in the Mondsee which allowed him doing his research in front of his home. By using a self constructed excavator shovel venturesome fixed on a plain boat he lifted an extraordinary amount of findings from the lake ground. The image of a self-contained culture appeared to be true and was named after the lake - Mondsee Culture.

The voluminous collection of Matthäus Much was purchased by the University of Vienna where it is still kept today. Another big collection can be found as well in the Austrian Pile Dwelling Museum situated next to the basilica in the town centre of Mondsee. - in: unesco-world-heritage-pile-dwellings-1.html