Senior citizens remember

Discover the historical shadows of the cellar lanes

The Weinviertel cellar lanes are an "intangible world cultural heritage site".(Bild: Weinviertel Tourismus/zVg)

Cellar alleys are a cultural and historical feature of Lower Austria and have been part of the landscape for around 250 years - especially in the Weinviertel. The LGA (Provincial Health Agency) has now launched a project with regional partners: Nursing home residents are to immerse themselves in this past - either on site, or during visiting lectures.

Kellergassen were originally exclusively wine production and storage sites, so today they are being brought back to life as part of various events and, above all, through guided tours of the Kellergassen. The background to one campaign: there are eleven nursing homes with 1300 residents in the Weinviertel health region alone.

Nursing home residents immerse themselves in times gone by
The focus should be on enriching their everyday lives. And in the north-east of the country, senior citizens do not have to travel long distances to discover "new" worlds and bring back old memories. Quite a few residents come from farms, for example, and many of them were once small winegrowers on the side.

And the trained cellar lane guides cover everything from the current significance of the so-called "villages by the village" to almost forgotten stories and show cellars with a history of wine production. Many older visitors to the Kellergassen will certainly remember the latter from their youth.

Project presented in Poysdorf's "most beautiful cellar lane": Managing Director of Gesundheit Weinviertel GmbH, Katja Steininger, the Chairman of the Association of Cellar Lane Guides, Prof. Dr. Joachim Maly, Provincial Councillor Christiane Teschl-Hofmeister, Cellar Lane Guide Johanna Schreiber and the President of the Provincial Parliament and Association of the Chairman of the Cellar Lane Guides, Karl Wilfing.(Bild: zVg)

When cellar lane guides come to the elderly
A new campaign has been launched for all those for whom the effort of a tour would be too much of a burden: cellar lane guides have developed programs and visit nursing homes. There they are introduced to the "intangible world cultural heritage" in the course of presentations, using images and sound and bringing along objects. Even if it is not directly on site, the memories of the past are certainly no less vivid.