Attraction Historische Zäune

Description

FENCES SHAPE THE CHARACTER OF OUR CULTURAL LANDSCAPE

Fences are an important element of our cultural landscape, it is part of our identity. They are among the oldest evidence of farmers culture and express legal- and ownership relations as well as economic practices. Fences shape the face of our country. They form a kind of structure in a cultural landscape and offer support to the observer. They are the work of our hands - craftmanship. Fences enclose and exclude, they preserve and protect. Fences have always built up to enclose property, protect the herd, the farmland or neighboring pasture.

Since the early middle ages, fenc rights have regulated height and construction, use and maintenance obligations, fence passages and rights of the ways. Some of these rights and obligations are still recorded in the land register. Why were the old fences forms abandoned? Why did they dissapear from the picture of our landscape? There are several reasons. One of the reasons is the expenditure of material and time. Above all, time is saved today by buying the material such as nails and boards, a fact that would have been unimaginable more then 100 years ago because there was practically no cash. Finally the decline of labor on a farm is also the cause.

The erection of historical fence forms should revive the old tradition of fence building, preserve the knowledge of craftmanship, emphasize the rural character of our village and regain importance as a formative element in the landscape. However, fences can also be a reminder of boundaries. How do deal with that fact? Do we look over the fence sometimes? How do we deal with personal borders? What meaning can physical, mental or moral boundaries have for us? Do we use them to create a sense of home, security and community or do we abuse them to exclude and hinder?

The historic fence forms which you can find in the village Mösern are not only showpieces. They are actually still used by the landlords and were erected in a joint effort by the landowners, the tourism association of the Region Seefeld and the association for the protection and preservation of local history in North and East Tyrol.