Festival writing to 75 annual celebrations from the year 1929

With the later built roads which used iron constructions the old bridges already had to be exchanged here and there for such of more modern construction, with the stone nen landmarks of the technology on the Semmering quite damaged bridge curvatures were mended or substituted in the tunnels the old clay bricks with concrete brick, but her construction itself has needed no renewal, she had as grown to the requirements of the traffic at that time as the company from today with his gigantic machines and his massive and, nevertheless, easily up to hurrying expresses which the load trains stamping hard there follow; except some run away carriages a workplace accident was to be registered during 75 years also not. Ghega was the first one which built a road over a mountain, and he built them for centuries!

For a long time the south road was already completed from Vienna to Trieste, the 25-year-old jubilee of the road had been celebrated, maybe a million people had gone by train about the Semmering - and still he was not opened for a tourist traffic. He formed a mountain paradise which one wore out, marvelled at, admired - and, nevertheless, did not enter. Longer time the old stop pub served " for the archduke Johann " on the passport height only the tourist traffic if one could generally speak of such in first decades of the road, a little later originated in immediate nearness of the station Semmering the second, also rather modest restaurant from which bit by bit the today's hotel Stephanie developed.

One had learnt it for a long time not to find the mountains any more scaring off, but serenely and delightfully, all more important highs gipfel of the Alps were already climbed, and still nobody had discovered, what an incalculable jewel one owned in the Semmering. The Viennese still preferred the nearness of the city for her summer holidays, only quite esoteric went on Sunday in summer on the Semmering, mounted from there the mountains and swept rather tiredly, but already also enthusiastically back.

Again it was a man "from the construction" which the second discovery and with it the complete development of the Semmerings is to be owed. The beauty of this area had hit him, an eager nature lover, completely in her spell, he felt it as a outdated knowledge that such a marvellous land of a main rope of the world traffic passed through became and, nevertheless, on the other side all traffic remained. He put through it that the south road society led by him walked to the construction of a hotel on the Semmering.

As a place he chose the northern slope of the Kartnerkogels, a place which remained free According to experience almost always from the heraufstreichenden fog and offered an overpowering view of snowy mountain, Rax and single parts of the snowy nightmares. The construction , begun in 1881, was already opened in the nachsten year. Here at first the critics to the hotel construction also forecast a complete fiasco, but pupil let himself disconcert just as little like his big precursor Ghega, and also the success agreed with him: the visit was already so strong in the first year that one went the next year to the construction of a little cheaper accomodation, the tourist houses on the Wolfsbergkogel.

A lot to the quickly rising visit of the Semmerings contributed also the dominical pleasure trains introduced anew by which one could do the journey on the Semmering and about two guilders during the journey a little bit slow however which impaired the pleasure a little back.

The first tenant of the south road hotel was Vinzenz Panhans from Kaaden in German Bohemian. In his position he quickly acquired to himself popularity and also property and now set about it to make itself independent, the hotel of Panhans on the high-level way built in 1888. At that time the high-level way was not yet comfortable, almost level Promenadestreet, but led perpetually up and down, his highest point lay with a palatial villa which originated, however, only in 1893.

The original figure of both big hotels is also clearly recognizable even today, in spite of the gigantic other hotels.

At the end of the eightiess year a cousin of "alten Panhans" acquired the inn from the station Semmering and developed it under the name "Hotel Stephanie". The first private villas originated at the same time with the hotel constructions of the south road and in their immediate nearness.

In 1892 an architect was founded his nice villa above the north main entrance of the main tunnel and was instructed as a result for other hotel constructions. Two years later one also began with the establishment of a chapel whose completion dragged on, however, because of the low available finances still for decade. In this time one also already set about it to treat the Semmering as a health resort.

But all this impetus is tied up with the big work Ghegas which made the marvellous mountain world of the Semmerings so comfortably accessible; before the road construction the municipality of Semmering counted, on the whole, nine farms and two detached houses, today big hotel s stand there, and also they with the numerous other restaurants sometimes hardly are enough if at all a big sports event a quite special excess of guests brings.

The Semmering has developed also to one of the most important sport centres of Austria, the winter sports parties on the Semmering and the big car racings have international call, but also for the exercise any other sport excellent places have been created which can be enough for every claim and be hardly outbid concerning the regional charm.

Today a few words may be said, in the age of the car, also about the street across mount Semmering. Originally led away about the passport only very precipitous which led by a gulch and was very often closed in winter. In 1841 the new street whose arrangement must be also looked even today as exemplary was opened. The inauguration occurred through emperor Ferdinand for whom one had established a high triumphal curve in the myrtle bridge.

In 1908 the municipality of Semmering also built seven new streets. The next next closing of the Semmerings can come only from the big new height routes from which the planned and will probably open reaching street of houses a quite new, splendid area also first for the execution which belongs in every regard to the Semmering, but extends his circumference by the double.

Nevertheless, the nicest in the Semmering will remain for good his road . Here a brilliant engineer cannot be only led once by practical considerations, he put a stone spot which seems to have grown out till the last detail of the surrounding nature, a mental sign of the alliance between person and nature is which has created a really understood technology; Ghega did not construct his road, he composed them in her frame, created a work of perfect harmony which will always find admiration and also always love.