Topotheques in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Salzkammergut – “Preserving our heritage together”
A remarkable initiative has emerged in the Hallstatt-Dachstein/Salzkammergut UNESCO World Heritage region: under the banner ‘Preserving Our Heritage Together’, the Salzkammergut World Heritage Management and the municipalities of Bad Goisern, Hallstatt, Gosau and Obertraun are working together to document and make regional history accessible – with ‘topotheques’ as their key tool.
The catalyst was the handover of the Foto Fettinger photo archive to the Bad Goisern Local History Society. This gave rise to the idea of permanently preserving historical photos, documents and media from private households via topotheques and making them available to the public free of charge. An important component of the project is public participation: ‘citizen science’ teams are being formed in the municipalities. Collection cafés, World Heritage Days, school workshops and research walks are designed to involve as many people as possible – from schoolchildren to senior citizens – and bring history to life across generations.
The project is being implemented as part of the LEADER funding scheme (CAP Strategic Plan 2023–2027) and is explicitly intended to serve as a model: The methods developed are also to be applied to other parts of the Salzkammergut and other World Heritage sites.
inneres-salzkammergut.topothek.at
Information about the project:welterbe-salzkammergut.at/gemeinsam-erbe-bewahren