History of the Village

The history of the town of Gaschurn (including the district of Partenen) is just like the other villages in the Montafon:  Agriculture and the hauling trade, Alpine farming, seasonal work in foreign countries, tourism and the Ill Power Plants have been the defining factors of the past 500 years, the time in which settlement in the area has been documented.  The first settlers have been allocated to the Rheatia-Romanian group.  During the late middle ages, the people from Wallis – the Walsers – started to emigrate here.  The Walsers started the so-called three-step agriculture with them that functioned over the centuries with the home farm in the valles, the May fields halfway up the mountain and the Alps in the high alpine regions.  In this way, vegetation from the entire valley could be used for farming.  Famous people from Gaschurn and Partenen were the construction engineer Franz Joseph Saler who emigrated to St. Louis in the USA and the Bishop of Linz, Franz Joseph Rudigier, the initiator of the Linz Cathedral.  Both lived in the 19th century and influenced numerous superlatives in the area of the village that has the greatest expanse of land in Vorarlberg – a total of 176 m².  The highest mountain in Vorarlberg can also be found in the district of Gaschurn, namely the Piz Buin at a height of 3,312 meters.  Tourism is currently booming thanks to the ski region, Silvretta-Nova as well as the endless expanse of land in the mountains.  The filming of Robert Schneider’s novel, “Brother of Sleep” by Joseph Vilsmaier also helped put Gaschurn on the international map.


In comparison with similar examples in other tourist towns in the Alps, it’s surprising that Gaschurn has such a large number of objects to present that are of cultural history importance in such a relatively small area. Practically every town has a parish church that can give an overview of the artistic views in a specific era, but beyond that, Gaschurn has other buildings and facilities that have national relevance - like the only dance arbour left in Vorarlberg,  the Lukas Tschofen Parlour which is an important folkloristic relic of the country elite during feudal times in the 17th century, the Tourism museum in the old Early Mass house or the Maria Schnee Chapel, the landmark in Gaschurns and at the same time, a treasure of popular late baroque artwork.