Cultural exchange has been actively practiced in Hüttenberg and Knappenberg for decades. Heinrich Harrer from Hüttenberg, a world-renowned mountaineer and Dalai Lama confidant, started a dialog between cultures with his museum in the upper Görtschitztal valley, which was continued with the Tibetan prayer path (“Lingkor”) in Hüttenberg and the Tibet Center in Knappenberg.
Alps & Himalayas
On the “Path of Dialogue”, which connects the two former Görtschitztal mining villages, you can immerse yourself in the differences and similarities between the two cultures of the Alps and the Himalayas. It is one of those mysterious paths in the region that are well worth discovering. The 2.7-kilometre route, which starts at the Jufa Hotel Knappenberg and leads hikers across idyllic meadows and wildly romantic forest passages down to the entrance of the Heinrich Harrer Museum, takes around one and a half hours. But first things first.
Beautiful views
First, it’s downhill. Via the stairway to heaven, which has several hundred steps and leads through the Barbarasiedlung – a charming miners’ settlement from the interwar period – to a path below along an alpine meadow. From here you have a wonderful, unobstructed view of the Maria Waitschach pilgrimage church on the Kogel opposite. At this point, large information boards point out for the first time the astonishingly similar customs of Austria and Tibet, for example in the expression of their spirituality. Other information boards along the way deal with topics such as folk medicine and lifestyle.
Stations along the way
Before the hike leads into a gentle country lane between meadows and young forest, we recommend a detour to Carinthia’s only pewter foundry, run by Rupert Leikam, or to Gerhild Polzer’s creative ceramics workshop. The trail leads right past the two artisans from Knappenberg and invites you to engage in a real person-to-person dialog.
Thinking in motion
After that, it becomes meditative. Between young conifers, cow pastures and flower meadows, soon all you can hear are bees buzzing and streams babbling. Somewhere from afar, a rooster crows. Otherwise: silence. Instead, there is always food for thought in the form of quotes from wise people along the way: Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Hermann Hesse, Gandhi and others. It turns out that everything is ultimately a dialog. With society, with time, with oneself. And the great thing is that it is much easier to think about it when you are on the move.
Harrer Museum and Lingkor
Lost in thought, you almost overlook the moment when the forest clears to reveal a view of Hüttenberg and the Lingkor. The last few meters down to the village are automatic, so to speak. The Harrer Museum is already waiting with further exciting insights into foreign cultures, different perspectives and living examples of the fact that dialog is still the most meaningful of all encounters.
Extra tip
If you walk back along the path of the dialog afterwards, you can deepen its effect. On the one hand, you already know the route and no longer have to follow the signs. On the other hand, walking uphill is more challenging – and the engagement with your own thoughts is more intense as a result.
