Hist

Executive summary.

Built in 1838 by Johann Konrad Bechter as a court seat, multiple changes of ownership.
The Natters have been innkeepers for 3 generations. Since 2005 Helene Nußbaumer-Natter and Dietmar Nußbaumer.

History for history lovers.

From the life of the Kronenwirtinnen.

And the builder of the crown.

Era Helene and Dietmar (since 2005) – told by Helene Nussbaumer-Natter

Because in a company of our size, a lot depends on the innkeepers and their cooperation, I’ll start with how Dietmar and I got together.

We met very early, when I was 15, I went to hotel management school in Innsbruck and we went out together as a group a few times, but then we didn’t see each other for a long time. Dietmar then worked in Lech for 10 years as a management assistant, as did I after hotel management school in 1997 – actually we almost had eye contact, but we didn’t see each other all winter. We then met again at an event in Wolfurt – we’re still puzzled today whether that was coincidence or fate. We’ve been together ever since. First privately, later also on business.

Dietmar started out in service at the Krone and has gradually grown into the family, the company and the place. We took over the Krone in 2005 , but I think we really – mentally and emotionally – took over with our first conversion in autumn 2007.

Since then, the clocks have ticked faster – we now share almost all of the hotel rooms with our friend and architect Bernardo Bader and the craftsmen of the region, the parlors, the reception and the hotel entrance, the fireplace room and since then we’ve had 2 more people: our boys Oskar and Max bring a lot of momentum to the shop ;-).

We are culturally involved with our reading room, the Marcel Proust Days, the “Guests in the Crown” series and other cooperations. Together with Florian Aicher, Dietmar brings out the Edition Krone, a small series of books on topics related to our house. It was very important to me that the Krone becomes an organic hotel, which is what these times demand, because the ecological footprint of our industry is large and we like to be one of the travel destinations where you can holiday with a clear conscience.

I think Dietmar and I make a good team: Dietmar is creative and a host with body and soul. I like being in the background (preferably at the back of the patisserie because I just love desserts!), a good team player and a good conversation partner for our employees. We both have high quality standards and are consistent.

Where you can see our two personalities quite well is when you look in front of our

“Krömle-Box” is written, in which we sell souvenirs: I made the homemade jams, the crown tea mixtures developed with a herbalist in Alberschwende, biscuits from our bakery, beautiful candles, etc., the books are from Dietmar – the edition krone , the werkraum krone book – which documents our first conversion and also contains recipes from the Kronen kitchen – as well as other selected books from the region.

I am proud that we are still very happy with the two major renovations ( 2007 and 2010 ) and the construction of the sauna in 2018. I see that as a sign of well-considered decisions. And I am very proud that we have many employees who have been loyal to us for years – Beate and Emanuela for almost 30 years, Johanna, Fatma and Figen for more than 10 years etc. – that’s just nice!

There are also a lot of people on the guest side who keep coming back to us – some since I was a child myself. I’m also happy every day when the homemade bread and cakes rise in the oven. But what is most important to me is that we as a family – all three generations of Nussbaumers and Natters – get along well and stand together.

Wilma and Herbert era (1971 to 2005)

told by Wilma Natter

Herbert and I got to know each other at a St. Nicholas wreath at the Junges Gastgewerbe in Bludenz – he asked me to dance. Which made me happy, because I had noticed it before. At that time, Herbert was a cashier at the Young Hospitality Trade, he sat in a smart suit at the end of a long table and smoked. That was in 1969.

The day after the Nikolauskränzle, Herbert was drinking coffee at the Engel in Schwarzach, my parents’ house. My father was immediately taken with Herbert, who is 11 years older than me – he always said, “A man under 30 is a ‘trullar’ – that is, a good-for-nothing – and he appreciated Herbert’s good manners and dry sense of humour.

I still remember one of my first visits to the Krone: In the evening a wedding was announced in the Kronensaal and I was asked to go out onto the terrace: there they gave me a Bosnian cake (which is still baked according to the same recipe today) and caramel cream ( prepared for the evening) was served, it was wonderful. I noticed that there was a very neat kitchen, everything was immaculately clean, but also a bit sober, there were hardly any flowers in the house. I would have liked to decorate there. A little later I sometimes helped out in the service department at the Krone. I particularly remember a carnival ball, which was more like running the gauntlet for me. I was “scrutinized” by the whole village.

Important events

In 1971 we got married.

In 1972, pretty soon after the wedding, we opened the basement bar. That was something special back then… our personal young hospitality project, at that time cocktails like “Weltfrieden” and “Moccaflip” were in vogue and we had a professional bartender from the Arlberg. The Krone cellar bar was the only bar in the village, with all the advantages and disadvantages that that entails…

In 1973 our daughter Isabella was born, who is now self-employed as an innovation consultant and lives with her family in Lingenau – ie nearby.

It might sound funny, but a big deal for us was the Saladette, which we bought in 1973 – a refrigerated salad cabinet that was outrageously expensive at the time but really is still in use today! We often went to Switzerland to eat on the rest day, there were already

Raw vegetable salads, while we were still cooking everything. I have always placed a lot of emphasis on the salad and to this day I still think that the way a salad is prepared says a lot about a kitchen.

In 1976 our daughter Helene was born.

That was also a very important business year for Herbert and me: the balls were no longer a business and running the hall was problematic overall: for the neighbors, for the guests in the house and for us as a young family too. So, with a heavy heart, we tore down the Kronensaal – de facto half the house – and built guest rooms with a total of 35 beds, a hotel with a lift, reception, fireplace room. I still vividly remember the discussions with site manager Walter Hauser – Helene lay in the pram and we talked for many evenings.

From 1977 it was necessary to fill the house. We had previously had individual guests from Alsace who were enthusiastic about the Bregenzerwald and we thought: good distance, nice people, that would be a market. So together with Gertrud and Otto Seiz from Ifenblick in Sibratsgfäll we simply went to Alsace in the off-season and went to travel agencies.

That brought us good guests by the bus and, through recommendations in Alsace, also company outings from chemical laboratories, refineries, clubs and senior citizen groups.

Another important partner later became the Dutch bus company Leo Thyssen, which brought groups to the house for many years.

At the end of the 1980s , quality bus tourism collapsed – the price war began, it wasn’t a fun time. We had to offer very cheaply and soon we had two breakfast buffets – one for bus travelers and one for private travelers.

We then worked consistently to only get more private guests – a tough time. Helpful was our good kitchen, family celebrations, diners who recommended us and little by little private hotel guests have arrived.

From 1992

In November, the wine merchant Walter Amann came to talk and congratulated him on the toque, an award in the recently published Gault Millau gourmet guide – we didn’t know anything about it, because we weren’t asked if we wanted to be tested! We were totally surprised and very happy! After that, many cooks came to eat, e.g. Ernst Huber, at that time certainly the most famous top chef in Vorarlberg.

Actually, we have always had many host colleagues as guests. It was never that competitive – Herbert contributed a lot to that with his dry humor and his correctness. Chefs and hosts are very good guests, we always appreciated that!

2005

This year our daughter Helene and our son-in-law Dietmar took over the crown. We are very grateful and happy that our life’s work remains in the family and is developing so well. We haven’t lived in the Krone for a long time, but we’re still there several times a week and are happy to help out here and there.

About cooking

We traveled a lot and collected inspiration every year. We then implemented or translated it at home – with local ingredients.

In 1984 , Edgar Husser from Alsace was on vacation in the Krone – he ran the Auberge d’Arzenheim, a very good restaurant. I was then able to spend a week on the “stage” in the kitchen and learned how to cook fish and also took a lot of other things with me that we didn’t know before.

We have collected inspiration over the many years in Ticino, Alsace, Friuli, Tuscany, Piedmont, Umbria, Liguria, Cinque Terre, Rome, Canary Islands, Australia, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, but also on spa treatments in Waltersdorf and Rakersdorf.

We were always impressed by what was cooked on site, the simple country cuisine: stewed onions with corn porridge, the whole fish in salt dough or sama fish with pink garlic steamed on the Canary Islands, cod with tomatoes in Lucca, whole fawn roasted with herbs in Friuli, fennel salad with oranges, lemon ice cream with wild strawberries in Tuscany, sea fish in white wine stock with the first Chardonnay in Australia, ….

I’m proud of:

That we get along well in the family – that we are there for each other. That we have good successors. That our daughters both go their own way. And of course we are very proud of our four grandchildren, who are all wonderful little personalities.

Herbert and I have always stuck together – if we can do things together, then we can do anything! We are both epicureans and creative and have ideas in very different ways.

My wish has always been that we are and can remain a good country inn, not a fancy hotel. A good country inn where everyone feels at home. I don’t like it when you “sift” people. We managed that well in our crown time.

Apollonia and Walter Natter era (1930 to 1965)

In 1930, the brothers Oskar and Walter Natter, who already own the post office in Bezau, bought the Hittisauer Krone from the Lässer family from Alberschwende. Soon after, the brothers split up the houses and Walter (1899 to 1971) took over the crown. He hires an experienced cook from the post office kitchen. It comes as it must, and the wedding is celebrated.

Appolonia, called Plone (1907 to 1980) joins the list of prominent people
crown hostesses. By the way, at her husband’s request, she wore the Bregenzerwald costume year in and year out, even in the summer when she was strenuous to work on the large wood stove.

In 1934 daughter Erika was born. Soon she can be found all over the crown as her mother’s right hand. Even before her brother Herbert, who was three years younger, took over the house, she was the crown landlady for a while.

After the war, business slowly picked up again. On Sundays, the parlors fill up for a morning pint. You drink lemonade, bottled beer (the brewery only delivers barrels on high holidays), wine: Kalterer, Lagrein Kretzer, Gumpoldskirchner. War refugees from the East lodge on the third floor, and now and then there is a wedding, a funeral feast.

The first balls take place in 1947/48 : the better gentlemen drive up in sleighs, stable hands unhitch the horses and take care of the horses, people dance above the stable (today the hotel wing), feast in the parlors: schnitzel, roast pork, meatloaf, sausages with sauerkraut. At that time, the supply of regional products was more than a marketing slogan: it was a necessary matter of course.

In the mid- 1950s , the men’s room and the South Tyrolean room were converted into a dining room. In 1952 , the tool shed in the rear part of the Krone was transformed into a hall: the famous Wednesday dance evenings take place here – for years the most important dating event in the Bregenzerwald.

Johann Konrad Bechter

(5/11/1796 – 5/17/1845)
Farmer, builder, mayor
From notes by Dr. Anton Stoeckler

Konrad Bechter came to Hittisau from Lingenau with his mother at the age of sixteen in 1812 . His father died in 1802 , as did his 5 siblings when they were still toddlers. Mother and son sold their homestead in Lingenau and bought a property in Hittisau with the proceeds.

In 1814 , the young man, who was self-employed from an early age, bought the “Sonne” inn opposite, along with the associated farm. In 1820 he acquired another adjoining farmstead. In 1816 , at the age of 20, he married Kristina Hagspiel, from the Hirschen inn, who was seven years his senior. These bold steps, which were unusually early for the time, took place in extremely difficult economic times.

From 1816 to the summer of 1818 , extremely snowy and long winters, cold and rainy spring and summer months had to be endured, which led to a great shortage of food, which ultimately could only be bridged by grain deliveries from Egypt.

Between 1817 and 1820 , Kristina Bechter gave birth to five children, three of whom died in infancy. Meanwhile, her husband became a builder on a grand scale. He rebuilt the “Sonne” inn and added a dance hall on the first floor. The lower part of the house still stands today. First and foremost, Konrad Bechter was a farmer. He set up a flourishing farm in Hittisau-Rain. Even then, good milk production was the priority, and Konrad Bechter was an excellent expert when it came to buying and trading cattle. He was born into a heyday of good milk conversion and took advantage of this opportunity.

The basis for this was, among other things, the good sales opportunities for cheese in the vast area of the Imperial and Royal Monarchy.

Bechter was particularly fortunate in acquiring shares in the alp from his childless relatives. Bechter built large stables and farm buildings on the difficult-to-reach Alps for his far-reaching, generously modern alpine farming. On the Alpe Oberbalderschwang, for example, Bechter tore down the old huts and built a barn for 100 cows. Gradually he became the largest farmer and owner of the Alps in the entire Bregenzerwald.

It was only a matter of time before the successful farmer took on a corresponding role in the public life of his community. In 1827 , the people of Hittisau elected the young economist Konrad Bechter as head (= mayor); he held this position until his early death in 1845. Increasing cattle and cheese exports as well as population growth in general necessitated urgent innovations in transport.

With great zeal, Bechter pushed for the construction of the Gschwendtobel Bridge over the Subersach, through which the Vorderbregenzerwald was to be connected to the road from Alberschwende to Egg and the Hinterwald. engineer Alois Negrelli (who later planned the Suez Canal), who was then a civil engineer at the Bregenz District Office (and drew up many valuable plans for Vorarlberg), also submitted one for the Gschwendtobel Bridge and Bechter eagerly helped with the realization of this urgent project from 1833-1835 . (This bridge is one of the few remaining covered wooden bridges).

With the same zeal, Bechter also supported the district captain Ebner against all resistance to the construction of the Schwarzachtobel road, which in 1835-1837 brought very valuable relief to the connection between the Rhine Valley and the Bregenzerwald. Bechter spoke on behalf of the Vorderwald communities to make 90,000 guilders available for the road projects mentioned, for which he was promised that the Müselbach-Lingenau connection would also be realized afterwards. However, this was delayed for years.

Ultimately, there are two buildings right on the village square that ensure Bechter’s lasting fame. On the one hand, of course, the parish church ( 1843 – 184 5), and directly opposite the Gasthof Krone (1838), which Bechter had originally intended as the seat of a regional court: one of the many wishes of the restless governor that did not come true. The church itself, temporarily inaugurated five months after Bechter’s death, had to wait another 8 years for its completion.

A cost estimate of 40,000 guilders was drawn up for the construction of the church in 1841, after completion 60,000 guilders are said to have been calculated. An almost overwhelming amount of work was required of the church people. Sand and gravel had to be scooped up in Subersach, a good 2 kilometers away, and passed on hand to hand in buckets to the construction site. In addition to the economic upswing, Bechter was not spared from personal and economic blows of fate. His wife died in 1835 when the 6 surviving children were between 4 and 18 years old (a total of 15 children were born). At least once between 1838 and 1841 , foot-and-mouth disease ravaged Bechter’s large livestock; the cheese trade was prohibited for reasons of epidemic hygiene, there were no cattle markets. In July 1841 a storm raged that killed at least 100,000 trees.

workroom crown

Yesterday used to be…

(taken from the book werkraum krone)

In 1930 , the brothers Oskar and Walter Natter, who already own the post office in Bezau, bought the Hittisauer Krone from the Lässer family from Alberschwende. Soon after, the brothers divided up the houses and Walter (1899 to 1971) took over the crown. He hires an experienced cook from the post office kitchen…

It comes as it must, and the wedding is celebrated. Appolonia, called Plone ( 1907 to 1980 ) joins the list of prominent landlords. By the way, at her husband’s request, she wore the Bregenzerwald costume year in and year out, even in the summer when she was strenuous to work on the large wood stove.

In 1934 daughter Erika was born. Soon she can be found all over the crown as her mother’s right hand. Even before her brother Herbert, who was three years younger, took over the house, she was the crown landlady for a while.

After the war, business slowly picked up again. On Sundays, the parlors fill up for a morning pint. You drink lemonade, bottled beer (the brewery only delivers barrels on high holidays), wine: Kalterer, Lagrein Kretzer, Gumpoldskirchner. War refugees from the East lodge on the third floor, and now and then there is a wedding, a funeral feast.

1947/48 first balls: the better gentlemen drive up in sleighs, stable hands unhitch the horses, take care of the horses, there is dancing in the large Kronensaal above the stables (today the hotel wing), feasting in the parlors: schnitzel, roast pork, meatloaf, sausages with sauerkraut. At that time, the supply of regional products was more than a marketing slogan: it was a necessary matter of course.

In the mid-1950s , the men’s room and the South Tyrolean room were converted into a dining room. In 1952 , the tool shed in the rear part of the Krone was transformed into a hall: the famous Wednesday dance evenings take place here – for years the most important dating event in the Vorderer Bregenzerwald.