Description of the attraction
The Regional Museum, or Museum of the Motherland, in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee is located in one of the oldest buildings in Austria. The current "Hoamathaus" was built in 1408 and for a long time served as an inn where miners found refuge. Later the building was used as a nursing home and was called "Bruderhaus". In 1970, the nursing home moved to a new modern building and the Altenmarkt authorities decided to establish a museum in the former Bruderhaus, telling about the history of the region. The institution immediately became quite popular and in 1998 it was decided to expand it.
The museum is a two-storey building, traditional for these places. The first floor is made of stone and whitewashed with lime, and the second is wooden, and the attic is decorated with a miniature bell tower.
Museum visitors are presented with exhibits that tell about what happened in Altenmarkt and its surroundings in former times. The most significant exhibit is considered to be a nativity scene created by Altenmarkt craftsmen more than 250 years ago. The heroes of the biblical plot are surrounded by village houses and recognizable buildings in Jerusalem. The composition consists of 120 figures, 80 of which are movable.
Each room in the museum is decorated in a special style. Here you can find a peasant room, a black kitchen, a sacred room, a school classroom, a costume hall, as well as a room dedicated to Perkhta - a magical character - the prototype of the Slavic Baba Yaga. In the Bavarian-Austrian folklore, Perchta (Berta) goes from house to house during the Christmas time and checks how diligent and hardworking the children were in the past year.
The shed attached to the museum allows you to see old carts, tools and other devices used in the everyday life of the peasants.
