The Culture of the Border Triangle

To reside in the border triangle means promenating on old trade routes such as the Golden Trail. Visiting the old "Säumer" villages alongside the once important channels of trade is a romantic experience today.

Information boards, installed next to the routes leading in fan-shape from Danube and Inn, illustrate all the essentials and let the visitors immerse into the history of a most notable landscape. Not only salt, but also glass is closely linked to the region's fate. The glassworks trail near Haidmühle shows to the visitors by what the region's population was affected long ago and how important the production of glass and the trade was for the people.

The affiliation of this part of the Bavarian Forest to the mighty bishopric Passau created a breed of men gaining vigour out of its faith. Wayside shrines, "Materl" (small memorials) and chapels are witnesses of the popular devotion and likewise often cultural treasures. If you follow the "Kapellenweg" it will lead you to several of these old and special buildings.

Adalbert Stifter memorialized the countryside around the Dreisessel mountain and the Plöckenstein in a different kind of way: Born in Horni Plana ("Stifter" memorial high above the town, Stifter's birthplace with museum), he spent much time at his friend's estate in Lackenhäuser. There, several of his narratives were developed and his imperishable memorial is still on many people's lips: "Waldwoge steht hinter Waldwoge, bis eine die letzte ist und den Himmel schneidet."

Andreas Hartauer, born in "Stachauer Hütte" (today called Stachy) in 1839, became a glassmaker, too, and has been working in the famous glassworks in Eleonorenhain for two years before he ended up in Northern Bohemia. We owe a tune, which already is an important part of our cultural possessions, to his home sickness: "Tief drin im Böhmerwald ..." In Lenora (Eleonorenhain) a memorial stone made of green granite from the Bavarian Forest reminds of him. In Rehberg (Srni), not far off Lenora, Karel Klostermann versed...
 
In the Austrian border area, glassmaking was one of the most important branches of industry and sources of income as well. In the glassworks of Oberschwarzenberg, true pieces of art were formed, which were in exceeding demand, actually reaching down to Venice. And there's another tradition: the weaving of  rag rugs. The cosy atmosphere created by the colorful, folksy carpets has always appealed to summer visitors tired of the big city.

A most notable "monument" of the border triangle embodies a technical master stroke of its day: The flume in Schwarzenberg. It connects the river system of the Danube to the ones of the Moldova and the Elbe and correspondingly also to the North Sea. It starts directly at the defile situated in the Bavarian-Bohemian border area west of the Dreisessel. It runs through the Bohemian Forest, crosses the Austrian border near Göckelberg and eventually reaches a tributary of the Mühl river, after which the Austrian neighborhood was named and which empties into the Danube.

Once situated in the restricted area of the CSFR, nowadays signpostet hiking trails are leading around and alongside the Plöckenstein again. The flume's primary purposes were the development of the forests of the Dreisessel massif and to enable the natural transport of wood to Prague and upwards into the North by the streaming of the Moldova and to Vienna by the streaming of the Danube. In 1961, this transport technology was used for the last time.

The refugees brought along all the traditions that were important to the population of the Bohemian Forest when they were forced to cross the border because of the expulsion after World War II. When they found their new home at the edge of the forest, the memory of their life in the Bohemian Forest survived. Certainly today, after the political change, they are visiting Krummau in June for example to participate in the famous "Festival of the Five-Petalled Rose", which reminds of the Rosenberger, who were powerful and influential people back in the days.

What was once important to the people can still be found everywhere today. Tradition and customs, arisen from a peasant life, can be found all over the place. There are a forest museum, relating of wood, the main source of income of past generations and a museum for the culture of brewery because beer is a part of this region's lifestyle. Or look at Hinterschminding: There, the officials of the townhall work in a listed blacksmith's shop where the horses of the "Säumer" (carriers) were shoed in former times and which is more than 600 years old ...