„Bucklige Welt“ – in the land of a thousand hills
Health, culture, culinary and sports – there four pillars aptly describe the charm of todays‘ „Bucklige Welt“ region. The Bucklige Welt represents the foothills oft he Eastern Alps which run towards the Vienna Basin and Hungary to form several small hills-the humps. Because of these geographical characteristics it is possible to enjoy a very idillic, natural landscape in this area. Also the regions‘ history is very interesting:
In 1000 after Christ, the area of the Bucklige Welt was first mentioned in official records. At that time, this region was mainly a closed, almost uninhabited wood land. In 1042, after victory of earl Wels-Lambach over the Magyars, the first inhabitants settled in Pitten. After a few changes of leadership, the margraves of Styria came into possession of the region and from this time on the area was part of the duchy of Styria for around 400 years. It was not until the 16. Century that the region became part of the duchy of Austria and always was heavily contested. Until 1921, the area around Kirchschlag was considered as the border to Hungary. Always very important for the period of the 2nd world war was the command centre in Hochwolkersdorf established as a venue for peace negotiations of the Red Army and the future Federal President Dr. Karl Renner. Today a memorial room in the village still serves as a reminder.
Bad Schönau – in the heart of the „Bucklige Welt“ – exists in its current form only since 1954 as it was renamed in the course of a local council meeting. The main reason for the renaming was the discovery of the carbonated mineral spring in the former Schönau in 1950.