Language Owing to their location isolated from the rest of Austria, most Vorarlbergers speak a very distinct German dialect, the
High Alemannic German, that other Austrians might have difficulty understanding, since the dialects in the rest of Austria form part of the
Bavarian-Austrian language group, whereas the Vorarlberg dialect is part of the
Alemannic dialect continuum. Alemannic dialects are also spoken in Liechtenstein, Switzerland (as
Swiss German),
Baden-Württemberg, the south west of Bavaria and the
Alsace region of France. The Vorarlberg dialect is further divided into a number of regional sub-dialects (e.g. that of the Montafon, the Bregenzerwald and Lustenau are some of the most distinct) which tend to differ considerably from each other. In fact even within these regions the dialects may vary from one town or village to the next.
Traditional clothing Traditional costumes ("
tracht") have a long history in Vorarlberg. Many valleys and villages have their own kind of garb, each with special characteristics from certain style periods. The Bregenzerwälder garb is the oldest, it originated in the 15/16th century and is also called "d'Juppô" (
Bavarian: "Juppe"). The Montafon garb is inspired by the baroque era. A whole set of Tracht consists of several elements: the "Juppe" (the apron), a headgear (caps, hats), a blouse, a "Tschopa" (jacket), and stockings. The hairstyle (for example braided hair) can also be part of the Tracht. In the 1970s, very few Vorarlbergers wore tracht. The reason for this was strict regulations with regard to the people wearing Tracht. For example, Bregenzerwälder ladies with short hair ought not to wear tracht, because their hair was too short for the suitable hair style ("Wälderzöpfe"). It was only when the regulations were loosened and the clothes were individualised in the 1990s that wearing tracht became more popular. Today, traditional garb is mainly worn on festive occasions. In the
Juppenwerkstatt Riefensberg, tracht is still traditionally manufactured. There is a "national association for people wearing traditional costume" (
Landestrachtenverband) that supports Vorarlberg's Tracht wearing inhabitants and music chapels. File:Weiße Juppe 7.JPG|Bregenz Forest tracht: girl in a white "juppe" File:JuppeManufaktur.JPG|Woman fabricating a traditional juppe costume in
Bezau (2007) File:Schäohüte.JPG|Women wearing Bregenz Forest costumes and "Schäohüte" (summer straw hats)
Cuisine The influence of the
Alemannic cuisine of neighbouring countries works more on Vorarlberg cuisine than Austrian cuisine. Cheese and other dairy products play a major role in traditional Vorarlberg meals. Typical dishes from the Vorarlberg region are:
Käsespätzle or
Käsknöpfle (noodles of flour and eggs with cheese and onion),
Riebel (dish of corn and wheat semolina, served spicy or sweet),
Flädlesuppe (broth with savoury pancake strips),
Grumpara mit Käs (peel pastry with cheese),
Öpfelküachle (apples baked in pancake dough, topped with sugar and cinnamon).
Mostbröckle (pickled and smoked sausage), originally from
Switzerland, is also a very popular product.
Regional dairy products •
Bergkäse ("mountain cheese"). The texture of the Bergkäse is rather hard, sometimes with small holes or cracks, with a strong taste, which is sometimes nutty. In the strict sense, Bergkäse is a cheese produced in the low mountain range (between 600 and 1500 m). Examples of Vorarlberg's Bergkäse are the
Vorarlberger Bergkäse or
Großwalsertaler Bergkäse named "Walserstolz". •
Alpkäse ("mountain pasture cheese" or "alp cheese"). Alpkäse is a hard cheese that resembles Bergkäse in taste and texture. The difference between these cheeses lies in the period and place of production. Bergkäse is produced year-round, so even in winter, when the animals are in the stables and fed with hay. Alpkäse is a seasonal product, only produced in the summer between May and September on high mountain meadows above 1500 m (Alpine pastures or alps), where the animals graze Alpine herbs. An example is the
Vorarlberger Alpkäse. •
Sura Kees ("sour cheese"). Originally from the
Montafon valley, Sura Kees has been known there since the 12th century and resembles the
Tyrolean grey cheese. It is a low-fat cheese with a mild aroma reminiscent of cream cheese, its taste varies from mildly spicy to sour, always with a salty undertone. The Sura Kees is usually served with vinegar, oil and onions, or alone on black bread or eaten with potatoes.
Festivals and annual events )|alt= Vorarlberg provides cultural attractions of all kinds. The
Bregenzer Festspiele is the best known festival of the region and poses one of Austria's cultural highlights since 1946. It annually takes place in the months of July and August. With operas and musicals such as
Die Zauberflöte (
The Magic Flute),
West Side Story and
Carmen, the Bregenzer Festspiele draws hundreds of thousands of spectators every year. Noteworthy is the
Seebühne, an impressive stage in Lake Constance where scenes are played. The
Bregenzer Frühling is a dance festival in
Bregenz that has been held since 1987 during spring time. Dance ensembles from all over the world perform their new productions, along with Austrian premieres. Each year, five different dance ensembles perform at the Bregenzer Frühling. 2023 The
Poolbar Festival is a modern music and culture festival in
Feldkirch. Being held annually between July and August, it attracts around 20,000 visitors featuring music, exhibitions,
poetry slams, fashion and an architectural prize. The annual
Schubertiade in
Schwarzenberg is the most important
Franz Schubert festival worldwide. A Schubertiade is usually dominated by Franz Schubert or his compositions. It is an informal meeting where casual music is played or recited by friends clubs or musicians, both on a professional and amateur level. The first Schubertiade took place in
Hohenems in Vorarlberg in 1976. Every year in August, about 30 international
short films are screened at the
Alpinale Short Film Festival in
Bludenz. The
Literaturfest Kleinwalsertal is a
literary festival consisting of lectures, workshops, poetry slams and exhibitions and takes place in autumn. The
Walserherbst is a 3-week-festival in the
Biosphere Park Großwalsertal. The festival is held every other year in August and September and offers a wide cultural programme from music to theater and cinema. The
light art festival
Lichtstadt Feldkirch lets international artists fill the city of Feldkirch with light objects, projections and sculptures. Its first edition was held in 2018 and attracted 30.000 visitors. The festival takes place every other year. The
FAQ Bregenzerwald is a social forum in the form of a festival. Hosting lectures, panel discussions, concerts, guided walks as well as culinary tastings, it aims at highlighting social issues in the society in a very broad context. The
Montforter Zwischentöne is an interdisciplinary festival in
Feldkirch that takes place three times a year. Each series is based on a specific topic which is artistically and dramaturgically interpreted without genre-orientated boundaries. There are contributions from the fields of music, poetry, architecture, science, dance etc. The festival addresses issues of social and personal development on site and provides impetus for urban and regional development. Tanzcafé Arlberg is a series of concerts taking place at ski huts in
Lech/
Zürs for two weeks in the springtime. It is intended to entertain skiers aside the ski piste by providing live music to dance to. The concerts range from pop to swing to rock'n'roll and to ska. The series of events includes a workshop on
Lindy Hop.
Bezau Beatz is a music festival that has been taking place in
Bezau in August since 2008. The
Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik is a festival of contemporary music in
Bludenz that was founded in 1988. The aim of the festival is to make contemporary music audible in Bludenz. Furthermore, Vorarlberg is host to a variety of fairs, conventions and expositions including the public health event
Medicinicum Lech, the literary festival
Literaricum Lech, the annual interdisciplinary symposium
Philosophicum Lech as well as the design fair and festival
POTENTIALe in Feldkirch.
Museums The most visited museums in Vorarlberg are the
Kunsthaus Bregenz, the
vorarlberg museum,
inatura (interactive nature adventure show and natural history museum) in Dornbirn and the
Jewish Museum of Hohenems. Smaller museums include the
Angelika Kauffmann Museum in
Schwarzenberg, the
Hittisau Women's Museum, the
Rolls-Royce Museum and
Mohren Biererlebniswelt in Dornbirn, the
Egg Museum in
Egg and the
Juppenwerkstatt Riefensberg (manufacturer of traditional women's garb), the
Franz Michael Felder museum in
Schoppernau, the
Schattenburg museum and the Heimatmuseum Bezau. The
Wälderbähnle or Bregenzerwald Museumsbahn (
Bregenzerwald Railway) is a
narrow-gauge heritage railway that today links Schwarzenberg to
Bezau amidst picturesque alpine scenery. The
International Rhine Regulation Railway, once an industrial railway used for the straightening of the Alpine Rhine, is also a
heritage railway today. For an overview, see
List of museums in Vorarlberg. File:Inaturateich.jpg|The
inatura museum File:Vorarlberg Museum innen 2013 06.jpg|Inside the
vorarlberg museum File:JüdischesMuseumHohenems.JPG|
Jewish museum of Hohenems Architecture in Stübing
The baroque masters of the Guild of Au in the 17th/18th century In 1651, Michael Beer founded the
Auer Zunft (Guild of Au) which is an important community of Vorarlberg builders, sculptors and carpenters who specialized in
baroque building. In
Au-
Schoppernau from 1670 to 1700, more than 90 percent of all male workers were builders. Master builders and craftsmen from the
Bregenz Forest in particular, but also from other parts of today's Vorarlberg, played a leading role in the 600 churches and monasteries that were built in the Baroque style in the 17th and 18th centuries. The master craftsmen of Au trained over 1,800 apprentices during a long construction boom which followed the
Thirty Years' War. Many important members of the Auer Zunft came from the architect families Beer, Moosbrugger and Thumb. Their designs trace back to the 15th century. The traditional materials used for building these houses are stone and wood. They are important features of the mountainous Alpine landscape.
Neue Vorarlberger Bauschule and contemporary architecture The
Neue Vorarlberger Bauschule evolved organically the second half of the 20th century, always involving craftsmen and locals in the building process. Today, it is regarded as one of the most important pioneers of the New Alpine architecture. With the typical architecture of Vorarlberg still recognizable, it combines
tradition and
modernity: clean lines, glass and local wood. Its harmonious mix creates interesting contrasts as in half-timbered houses. Comfort and quality of life are important criteria. Currently, many private houses and public buildings are renovated by architects, favoring local timber and limiting energy expenditure. Well-known award-winning architectural projects include the
Kunsthaus Bregenz,
vorarlberg museum in Bregenz, Michelehof Hard and Hotel Krone Hittisau. in Bregenz Contemporary architecture in Vorarlberg has made a label for a demanding architecture of a fruitful confrontation between traditional construction and modern interpretation. Some examples of more recent architecture are: |260x260px •
vorarlberg museum in
Bregenz: The museum by Cukrowicz Nachbaur Architekten was awarded the International Architecture Award 2014, Best Architect's Award 2014 in gold, Vorarlberg Client Award 2015, Austrian Museum Award 2016, among others. •
Kunsthaus Bregenz: The Kunsthaus was built by the Swiss architect and
Pritzker Prize winner
Peter Zumthor, received the Mies van der Rohe Award in 1998. • LifeCycle-Tower ONE (LCT ONE) in Dornbirn: From 2010 onwards, Vorarlberg had been investing in research on renewable energy sources and energy-efficient houses in order to achieve self-set climate targets. In 2012, the first modular wooden hybrid complex of eight floors was built: the
LifeCycle-Tower I. It is 27 m high and made of wood and concrete. In this architectural design, load-bearing elements are not covered. The benefits of this innovative project are environmental and energy efficiency, 90% less CO2 emissions, a much shorter construction and industrial production time of the components. • in
Feldkirch is a public venue for cultural events.
BUS:STOP project in
Krumbach: In 2014, the municipality of Krumbach in the
Bregenz Forest constructed seven bus stops that were designed by international architect offices in partnership with local partner architects and craftsmen. The project goes under the name of
BUS:STOP Krumbach. These extraordinary bus stops received special recognition as part of the
Austrian National Architecture Awards as well as the National Award for PR. • : designed by Peter Zumthor, opened in 2013
Skyspace Lech in Oberlech: A
skyspace is an enclosed space which is open to the sky through a large hole in the ceiling. The architectural design puts the colour-changing light at the walls and in the sky during sunrise and sunset into focus. The Skyspace Lech is a walk-in art installation by
James Turrell in
Oberlech. •
Montforthaus Feldkirch: The convention centre was re-opened in 2015. The Montforthaus is a public venue for balls, conventions, concerts and theatre performances.
Architectural initiatives The
Werkraum Bregenzerwald is an association of craftsmen in the
Bregenzerwald founded in 1999. It aims at networking and supporting craft, design and technology businesses in the area. The publicly accessible place is used to present the craftsmanship, to promote building culture in cooperation with architects and to increase design competence and quality of craftsmanship with the preferred involvement of young people. Occupying the Werkraum Bregenzerwald since 2014, the travelling exhibition
Getting Things Done demonstrates the quality of Vorarlberg's architecture by means of 230 selected projects. It offers a distinct view of how building culture has evolved from the late 1950s until the present. Organized by the
Austrian Cultural Forum network, the exhibition will be shown in over 20 locations around the world.
Architecture trails The
Vorarlberg Institute for Architecture (VAI) and the
Vorarlberg Tourist Board collaborated for the development of the so-called architecture trails. Each trail has a different theme: "New impressions", "Art and culture", "Timber and loam", "Old and new", "Revitalised villages" and "Architecture and landscape". These tours take visitors to both urban and rural regions in order to illustrate architectural variety in Vorarlberg by select examples. These examples are characterized by a functional mix, spatial versatility, formal radicalism, ecological far-sightedness and social integration. == Sporting events ==