culture & history

The quaint buildings in the centre of the old town are subject to preservation orders, there are lots of cultural events, the tourist infrastructure is well developed, and there’s excellent hospitality in the town. This all helps to make Austria’s ‘small historical towns’ veritable gems – and to boost their popularity with the guests. In 1993, 13 small towns between Lake Neusiedl and Lake Constance joined forces to ensure their marketing and advertising activities were better-focused and more effective. In small towns, and Radstadt is such a place, the charming atmosphere and personal hospitality are a winning factor – far from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Our tip: Get to know Radstadt even better on the small historical towns treasure hunt and win one week's stay!

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Tradition & customs have always played a big role in Radstadt. At the beginning of the 16^th century Paul Hofhaimer, Emperor Maximilian’s court organist, was famous for his concerts. Now, in Radstadt culture and traditions are preserved and upheld by a number of associations:

• The uniformed privileged civil militia was established to defend the town almost 700 years ago. Now the decorative uniforms are real eye-catchers at all kinds of secular and ecclesiastical events. On the first weekend in August the militia celebrates its popular militia day, one of the year’s highlights in the region.
• The town’s marching band Stadtkapelle Radstadt also accompanies lots of events and celebrations – like militia day – with an ensemble of over 70 musicians.
• The D'Goasstoana heimat association and Ennspongau Landjugend youth group are devoted to the preservation and cultivation of particular customs traditional clothing. These customs come to life at events like the raising of the maypole on the 1^st May and the harvest festival in October. After the church service, the harvest festival crown is carried on a procession around the town.
• Every two years, the Almabtrieb (when the cows are brought down from their mountain pastures for the winter) in the first half of September marks the end of the Radstadt Bauernherbst festival.
• During the winter months there are also plenty of traditional events: The pagan Krampus runs at the end of November and the beginning of December are organised by the local ‘passes’; groups of men dressed in ghoulish costumes and masks.

The local organisation ‘Das Zentrum’ hosts several sophisticated cultural events that underline Radstadt’s reputation as a centre of culture in the Salzburg region – from readings to cabaret, from music to films. The historic atmosphere in the tower armoury by the old moat is the perfect venue. The organisation also stages the Radstadt film festival, and the annual Paul Hofhaimer Days, an event known well beyond the borders of Salzburg.

Flora

• Spruce forests benefit from the altitude, ground conditions & climate
• Healthy stocks of beech, pine, larch & alpine sycamore
• Arolla pine scattered around the town; more found up on the Labeneck
• Oak trees only found below Schladming
• Lack of water, river engineering & tree feeling have led to a lack of the once common occurrence of moors & alder thickets
• Larger moor at Mandling where peat is still dug out
• Today there is little crop farming. Only two names of fields point to the previous cultivation of barley and flax

Fauna

• Previously: Various migratory birds in the large area of swampland, such as cranes, storks and purple heron – before the redirection of the River Enns (heron in a fountain by the Heimat Museum serves as a reminder)
• Buzzards, rooks & Eurasian magpies: Increased populations due to the pushing back of the old marsh forests & expansion of cultivated land
• Muskrats first arrive in Salzburg in 1925 via the Oichtental valley
• Deer & roe deer in the forests, chamois at higher altitudes
• Wood grouse & black grouse on the edges of the forests
• House names indicate the previous presence of bears & wolves in the region