wald.heimat

Styria today is Austria’s most heavily wooded province. Around the time that Rosegger was alive, the landscape looked entirely different, primarily in the Mürz Valley. The now-wooded slopes that reach into the valley were deforested at the turn of the century, the woods far receded.

The voracious hammer mills demanded nourishment in the form of charcoal. Peter Rosegger coined the term ‘Waldheimat’ (Forest Home), thereby giving a whole region a name that is still used today, and that is indispensable for tourism marketing purposes above all. The forest was and is home to animals and plants, and – in Rosegger’s day as well – offered protection and food to people, especially those from the agricultural labouring class.

What Rosegger was able to tell about these people and the forest, and what forests mean for us today – these are the themes addressed in the special exhibition wald.heimat.