Kumitzberg watershed
The Kumitzberg forms the watershed between the catchment area of the Traun in the western part and the catchment area of the Enns with the Salza and the Grimmingbach in the eastern part of the Hinter-bergertal. There was a special feature in the formation of the medieval ecclesiastical missionary and administrative territories. The borders of the former major dioceses of Salzburg and Passau seem to have been based on the watershed running through the valley near the Kumitzberg, for which there are no direct sources, but there are indications. When the Carantanian Mark was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria and upgraded to the Duchy of Carinthia in 976, the catchment area of the Traun with Aussee and Kainisch remained with the ecclesiastical province of Passau. Mitterndorf belonged to the mission and church administration area of Salzburg.
Maria Kumitz
Devotion to the Virgin Mary and Baroque art shaped ecclesiastical and cultural life in the 18th century. It was during this time that Maria Kumitz developed as a place of pilgrimage. According to a popular legend, the place owes its origin to the Mitterndorf priest Balthasar Marinz, who remained unharmed after a fall from his horse on the Kumitzberg and for this reason made a vow to build a chapel. When he had a Way of the Cross and a chapel built in 1717, the foundation stone was laid for the future pilgrimage site of Maria Kumitz. Between 1766 and 1779, the church with the name "Zu den Sieben Schmerzen Mariens" (To the Seven Sorrows of Mary) was built by the Mitterndorf priest Matthäus Strenberger. In 1788 Maria Kumitz received the status of a parish. The parish included the villages of Kainisch, Pichl, Mühlreith, Knoppen and Obersdorf. Already in the first years of its existence, there were numerous hostels in the vicinity of the church and a strong influx of pilgrims.
The writer Herbert Zand
Herbert Zand, born in 1923 in Knoppen into a small farming family, is probably one of the most important, though little known, writers of Austrian post-war literature. He had gained access to the literary and artistic scene of the Aussee summer resort by attending the secondary school in Bad Aussee and discovered his love of literature. At a young age he was drafted to the Eastern Front in the Second World War and was severely wounded. After his return, he sought a connection to the Austrian literary scene. He was to have a close friendship with Elias Canetti in particular, despite having few direct contacts. Zand worked as a publishing editor in Vienna from 1954. From 1961 onwards he worked for the Austrian Literary Society, which looked after Austrian authors and established contacts with writers from the former monarchy and with expelled authors. In addition to his writing activities, Zand also translated texts by authors such as Anaïs Nin, Henry Miller and André Malraux into German. Between 1954 and 1970 Herbert Zand, active as a writer, lived in Vienna, interrupted time and again by stays of several weeks at his home in Knoppen. Zand's core themes included the traumatic experience of war, death and hopelessness of a generation born after the First World War and who had "gone through the Second World War". For him, the experience of this epoch led to an existential crisis of the human being. One of his best-known novels was "Letzte Ausfahrt" (1953). Herbert Zand is regarded as an essential representative of existentialist literature, awarded numerous prizes. He died at the age of 47 in 1970 in Vienna as a result of his war injury.
Historical Salt Works Economy - Carriage Trade
Along with the salt works economy, a distinctive haulage business developed, in which Hinterberg hauliers were also involved. House names such as "Samer" (e.g. Obersdorf 47, Zauchen 20, Pichl 3) still bear witness to this tradition. From Aussee the salt road led through the Stein or over the Klachau into the Enns valley. The salt from Aussee supplied Styria, eastern Carinthia and the outlying districts of Upper and Lower Austria. Salt was transported by porters, pack animals, carts and horse-drawn wagons. Due to the traffic conditions and transport techniques of the time, winter was more suitable for transport than the rest of the year. Carters, innkeepers and the barrel trade had better earnings in the cold season. When the transport routes in the main Alpine valleys were extended, the formerly so important crossings in the side valleys, such as in the Sölktal, lost their importance and so did the mule trade as a sideline for many farmers. The transport of salt was constantly improved until the railway era brought the haulage industry to a standstill.
Hans Fraungruber
If one reads the representations of the generation of homeland poets at the beginning of the 20th century, one is struck by their view of the small world of the "homeland", which is set against an uncertain and conflict-ridden political and industrial world. One representative of this literature was the poet Hans Fraungruber, born in Obersdorf in 1863. He was a teacher as well as a writer and died in 1933 in his "official home" Vienna. His love of the Alps, of people close to nature, of customs and of folk songs shaped his literature. He collected old songs and was co-editor of the journal "Das deutsche Volkslied". He was also the editor of the first Austrian school song book in 1910 and became best known for his "Ausseer G'schichten". Among his friends were the actor Alexander Girardi, Wilhelm Kienzl (composer of the anthem of the First Republic), Max Mell and Peter Rosegger. In 1931 he became an honorary citizen of Mitterndorf. Sebastian Kasperer set up the "Fraungruber-Stüberl" in his honour. Fraungruber is buried in a grave of honour at the Vienna Central Cemetery.
Daffodil meadows
Colourful, species-rich daffodil meadows are probably one of the most striking and landscape-defining types of meadow in Ausseerland. Year after year, locals celebrate the blossoming of the star narcissus (Narcissus radiiflorus) with thousands of tourists at the Ausseer Narcissus Festival. Picking off the blossoms does not harm the plants, it even encourages them to multiply vegetatively by means of brood bulbs. In Ausseerland and Hinterbergertal, the star narcissus invades various plant communities, provided that these have sufficient moisture and are extensively cultivated. In the area, the daffodil meadows are usually mown once or twice and grazed in autumn. Some areas are also only grazed. Typical for the Ausseerland is the regular occurrence of daffodil stands in small sedge meadows (fen meadows), where it can reach high cover values in early summer. It often occurs together with the troll flower (Trollius europaeus) in cool, humid local climates. Daffodil meadows are among the most species-rich plant communities (on average, 70 vascular plant species occur per 50 m² of recorded area) and are of great importance for maintaining the biodiversity of an area. The extremely species-rich, colourful flowering, relatively near-natural daffodil meadows also harbour numerous rare and/or endangered vascular plant species. They are therefore a valuable habitat for Red List species. Therefore, the protection and conservation of this landscape-shaping habitat should be in everyone's interest.