Culture and Customs
Have you found the ,,
Arl Berg" (Berg = mountain) on the map of the lech River source
area? No? That's not surprising - you can't, because the name doesn't
designate a specific mountain, it is the name given to the entire
Arlberg region and it comes from the word ..Arlen", the local name for
the dwarf pine.
As massive as the rock is in this impressive mountain region, as
imposing as the Omeshorn regins over Lech, the story of the
settlement of the region is just as interesting. No less than 1,359
yeas ago, in the year 642 A.D., the name Lech appears for the first
time in a document as ,,Licca" to name the river. The first people to
settle permanently in the area around the Lech were the Walser people,
who came from the canton of Wallis or Valais in western Switzerland
shortly before 1300(so now you also know how the alphorn came to Lech).
They cleared the treees from the hogh valley and made it arable. The
village was originally named ,,Tannenberg am lech"after the fir
forest(Tanne=fir/spruce) and this was shortened to Lech in the course
of the centuries. the stories surrounding the Tannberg Walser
court in the ,, White House" in Lech right up to the construction of
the Flexen road in 1895-1900 are described and illustrated in detail
in the history books
If you are also interested in finding out how the red-and-white coad
of arms of the Habsburgs found its way into the sun dial in the old
church in Lech, we've got a hiking tour tip for you: a historic tour
of Lech ,,Witnesses of Time in Lech - In the Footsteps of the Walser
People"
TOURISM AND CUSTOMS - BETWEEN YESTERDAY AND TODAY
Hard to believe that a tourist community of 98 km2 with a population
of approx. 1,400 and roughly 1 million overnight stays per year still
finds time to maintain its customs. The realization, however, that
Lech in a place where people live as well as do business has committed
the locals to maintaining their home and its customs so that the
generations to come will also have a village worth living in. In this
way, our guests also experience the natural quality of life.
TRADITION VS. TRENDS
An important component when maintaining traditions is the preservation
and wearing of the Walser
national costume. The Lech Traditional Costume Group and other musical
groups proudly wear the Tannberg costume at festivals, such as the
International Walser Meeting, music festivals, on church
holidays and on Sundays. The Lech Traditional Costume Band and Lech
alphorn Blowers wear the Walser Burschentracht costume. We are Walsers
and proud of our tradition. That is why we don't follow every
short-lived trend, because we believe that the modern should grow out
of the traditional.
THE MAGIC LIES IN THE HARMONY
Lively traditions and well presented information on the history of the
region are conveyed between Lech and Warth by the Walser local history
museum in the Fire Brigade house in Lech, the Alpine farm in Burstegg.
which in open in summer, old Walser houses, the Walser court, bridges
and chapels, as well as the Wang Hus(oldest Walser house maintained in
its original condition). Lively traditions doesn'tjust mean the
maintenance of hisoria buildings, form the church to the cultrally
important heustadel, it also means the preservation of the Walser
dialect.
REGIONAL CULTURE
Beyond the boundaries of the Lech Zurs community, excursions can be
made to the following cultural highlights: the bregenz Festival on the
lake stage, the Schubertiade in Feldkirch, the musical ,, Ludwig II".
in Fusse, the Culture House in Bregenz, the Vorarlberg
State Museum in Bregenz, the Vorarlberg Nature Nature Show in Dornbirn,
the Rolls-Royce Museum in Dornbirn, the Ski Museum in St.Anton am
Arlberg, the open-air theatre in Elbigenalp in the Tyrolean Lech
Valley.
LECH PHILOSOPHICUM
The Philosophicum in Lech in distinguished by the special quality of
its intellectual encounters and the opportunities it provides for
discussions, suggestions and passionate debate away from the lecture
Hall too. For four days, the philosophers of Lech make up a thinking
community in a fantastic high-alpine ambience. Every year in
September, Lech am arlberg provides the platform for sone first-rate
constructive discussion on a controversial topical subject.
Information and organization : Lech Community,
Philosophicum Office, Tel.++43 5583 2213-45
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