Hallstatt is a village where salt has been worked for seven millennia on the shore of the Halstatter-See that gives its name to an early European Iron Age culture of 1000 – 500 b.c. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.
The museum, in a former Roman Catholic presbytery in the Baroque style, has displays relating to the working of salt in the community over the past 7000 years. Developments in more recent times include the building in 1595 of a 17 km pipeline to Bad Ischl, which was extended 29 km to Ebensee in 1607, and is now a protected monument.
A funicular from the adjoining hamlet of Lahn gives access to the Rudolfsturm, built in 1903 as the home of the manager of the salt mines, and to the castle of 1284 that protected the workings.
Nearby mines are open to visitors in the summer months.
World Heritage Museum
Seestrasse 56
4830 Hallstatt
Austria
+43 (0) 6134 - 828015
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