Sieggraben

Sieggraben is about 80 kilometers (50 miles) South-East of Vienna. It lies at a height of 450 metres (1500 feet) in a narrow north-south valley which separates the heavily wooded Rosalien mountains to the West from the equally wooded Ödenburger Range on the East.

The area was first settled by the Celts about 2000 BC. Their remains can be seen in Sieggraben and in the neighbouring village of Schwarzenbach. The main road to Vindobona, Dacia and the northern provinces of the Roman Empire ran nearby.

The modern settlement of Sieggraben, first mentioned in 1302, consisted of loggers and charcoal burners. At the time of the Reformation Sieggraben was strongly Protestant, but in 1625 the town came under the control of the Catholic Princes of Esterhazy and the population was forcibly reconverted.

Sieggraben escaped the Turkish invasions of the 17th century relatively unscathed, but suffered greatly during the Napoleonic Wars of 1806-12. In 1921, along with the rest of the province of Burgenland, the town became part of the modern Austria.

Since the 2nd World War the prosperity of the whole region has steadily increased. Sieggraben today has a population of about 1400 people and is a friendly, well cared-for small town surrounded by fields, meadows and endless forests.