In Austria, the Celtic people were extracting “white gold” (otherwise known as ‘salt’) as early as 600 years before Christ. The city Salzburg derives its name from combining “Salz” (salt) and “Burg” (castle). About 20 kilometers south of Salzburg is Hallein, with the prefix “hal” meaning ‘salt’ in the ancient Celtic language.
Hallein is a charming village located near the famous Dürrnberg salt mines.
In Hallein, not too far from the Salzach (Salt River) is the KeltenMuseums (Celtic Heritage Museum). Now, I have been inside enough small town museums in my life to be able to say that most show what kind of budget they are working with and they can often be cheesy. I thought this even when I was a kid. However, The Celtic Heritage Museum is not one of those. Although I was only able to spend about forty-five minutes inside before they closed, the love and thoughtfulness and care, as well as educational value was quite apparent.
I never cease to be amazed at the perseverance of the first person(s) who figured out how to do so many of our complicated processes: from bronze casting and patination to various chemistry mixes (including making paint and even cooking food) to knitting sweaters from the hair of sheep and extracting salt from rocks. I mean, really, who would have thought that salt in rocks COULD have even be used to keep meat in a safe condition for eating for a long time? Where do people get their ideas and know how many ways to try something before finding a solution? My mind boggles . . . gratefully.
When one first enters the Celtic Heritage Museum, one sees the many varieties of shapes and even color of salt stones (called Salgemma in Italian!). I include several here. There is a reproduction of what a salt mine looks like in the mountains, as well as the reproduction of a skull of some unfortunate miner that was found in a rather tight space underground. The actual archeological site of a Celtic settlement is not too far from Hallein.
The top floor, which I only had five minutes to breeze through, exhibited paintings in a folk art style depicting the process of mining the salt rocks, extracting the salt, and pushing the salt into tall tapering pillars. These pillars were then stacked onto boats. Other boats were loaded up with horses. Together these went down river to their various destinations, the horses being needed for transport once they landed ashore. They also had an actual oven for extracting the salt and I was surprised at how ornate the decoration and paint job was (the one I saw was green with white patterns).
An aside: Michael Jackson died while I was still in Florence, Italy, but his funeral occurred while I was in Austria. My friend Sylvia wanted to watch it. During the ceremony someone referred to the entertainer as being “salt of the earth.” I had forgotten this expression, most often hearing it among the religious people in the south USA. But I happily told Sylvia that in the US, at least, this is considered a high compliment to a person’s character. White gold.
I did not realize how funny that last tie was until I reread my blog entry! Oh well, my brain does think that everything is connected.
Another aside: Hallein is also the birthplace and the grave site of Franz Gruber, the composer of the Christmas carol “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” (“Silent Night, Holy Night”).
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