Apiary, Fischbach

Reconstructed: 1968 (original from the 19th century)

This simple timber-framed building has an asymmetrical saddleback roof. There are two rows of straw hives placed on top of wooden boxes. Straw was the preferred material for hives in grain-growing regions. The wooden boxes have narrow ledges or alighting boards attached to them which allowed heavily loaded bees to land more easily before crawling into the hive.

The bees supplied farmers with honey and wax, both of which were once scarce commodities in rural Austria.