History of Hinterbreiteneben House

Over the past centuries, Hinterbreiteneben served for the cultivation of the surrounding meadows and forests as well as for hunting and summer retreats. The ownership consisted of a succession of representatives of the House of Seefried, until Hinterbreiteneben passed through inheritances via Prince Alexander of Bavaria to the current owner, Johannes Hoyos.

At Hinterbreiteneben, one treads upon centuries-old wooden floors, passes through farmhouse doors worn smooth over time, and feels the tranquility and strength of the massive stone walls.

The original building fabric and renovated infrastructure allow one to imagine how the dairymaids made cheese in the heatable iron vat in the anteroom, how the farmer's wife conjured fragrant bread in the bread oven each morning, or how the ham took on its aromatic flavor in the old smokehouse. One can almost still see how the nobility gathered here for hunting or retreated for a few quiet days.

The year inscription "1796" in the Mary carving on the main beam of the carved wooden beam ceiling tells the observer of a long-gone era. A time when Napoleon married Josephine de Beauharnais and the premiere of Goethe's "Egmont" was celebrated in Weimar. What life surrounded Hinterbreiteneben during this time can be glimpsed from the following transcription about the nearby village of Bodingbach from the Description of the Archduchy of Austria below the Enns, Vienna, 1837.

Bodingbach

A hamlet of 22 houses, of which Kemmelbach is the nearest postal station.

This parish and school belong to Lunz. The district court is administered by the lordship of Stiebar at Gresten (Seefried); the local authority is held by Kirchberg, the conscription lordship is Gamming, and Kirchberg together with Stiebar owns the subjects and bondsmen residing here. The recruiting district belongs to the 49th Line Infantry Regiment.

Here live 26 families, 65 male and 67 female persons and 14 school-age children; they keep a livestock of 46 oxen, 68 cows, 112 sheep, 26 goats and 40 pigs.

The inhabitants are forest farmers with a moderate endowment, who also partly practice field cultivation, from which they obtain rye, barley and oats, though the grounds are not particularly productive; furthermore, they maintain good animal husbandry and burn charcoal.

The hamlet of Bodingbach lies in scattered houses 1.5 hours from Lunz, partly in the valley, partly on the mountains and hills among forests, where in the depths of the valley the so-called Bodingbach flows, which here drives a flour mill and several house mills. — The climate and water are good. The hunt yields deer, hares and hazel grouse.

The inhabitants are forest farmers who practice little field cultivation, and only engage in animal husbandry insofar as household needs require; their main occupation consists of forestry.