Bregenzerwald, Region in Vorarlberg, Austria
The Bregenz Forest is a mountain region in Vorarlberg that extends from the Rhine Valley flatlands up to higher peaks and is shaped by forests, meadows, and farming communities. The landscape shows green slopes with traditional houses and opens to new views as you explore.
Around the year 1000 the still-forested Bregenz Forest was settled and cleared from Bregenz via the Schneiderkopf and the Lorena mountains; the highest areas were settled in the late Middle Ages by Walsers from the Grisons. A 1338 division placed the northern courts under the lordship of Bregenz and Damüls and Innerbregenzerwald under Feldkirch, the basis of today's Vorderwald and Hinterwald split. After 1380 the Innerbregenzerwald peasants formed a self-governing "peasant republic" with its own constitution and high jurisdiction, headed by an elected Landammann whose town hall stood on the Bezegg between Bezau and Andelsbuch; the Bezegg-Sul pillar marks the site today.
The region is deeply tied to cheesemaking, and you see small dairies and farms throughout where milk becomes local cheese. This craft tradition shapes how the landscape looks and remains part of daily life for many who live here.
The area has marked trails connecting different parts, letting you walk from valley to valley in a day without needing to stay overnight. The trails are generally accessible, but conditions change with elevation, so prepare for varied terrain and weather.
The Bezegg-Sul, a stone pillar between Bezau and Andelsbuch, marks where the peasant republic's Landammann town hall once stood. After 1380 the Inner Bregenz Forest elected its own Landammann; the names Feurstein, Meusburger and Metzler appear with coats of arms on the surviving Landammann board.
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