h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Austria - a virtual tour: Vorarlberg - A87795959
Author: Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor - U1314679

The first part of the tour.

A good first article in your project! I think I might have inadvertently misled you with the links at the top – in the bit in bold where it says 'Project Title', I'd meant for you to write 'Austria – a Virtual Tour' as that's the title of your project.

I've enjoyed reading this one, but as I've not been there, I do have a couple of questions:

'The Arlberg has been the most important way over the mountains eversince' – ever since when? What happened? Or do you mean it has long or traditionally been the most important way over the mountains?
I'm not entirely sure about the towns and cities in Austria. You mention that Bregenz is the capital, and that Dornbirn is the largest town. By that, do you mean that Dornbirn is bigger than Bregenz (it is not uncommon for capitals to be smaller than other principal towns and cities – on the Isle of Wight Ryde is bigger than the capital, Newport, just as in the US New York is a bigger city than Washington)? Or is Bregenz a city, and so in a different category to the town of Bornbirn.

Out of curiosity, what makes a city a city in Austria? In the UK a city either has a cathedral or has been granted city status by a special charter signed by the reigning monarch, usually in commemoration of a special event, such as coronation, jubilee, new millennium etc.

When you mentioned that Feldkirch has a gothic cathedral but called it a town, I wondered what a town has to have in Austria to become a city? Or are there no real divisions between towns and cities?

I hope you don't think I'm needlessly nitpicking, but I'm genuinely curious and love finding out about the small, intricate differences in different cultures, the things we take for granted and never really think about.

I'll add the links to the other ones here for ease of reference, and onto the next!
A87796039 - Austria - a virtual tour: Burgenland
A87796020 - Austria - a virtual tour: Vienna
A87796011 - Austria - a virtual tour: Lower Austria
A87796002 - Austria - a virtual tour: Upper Austria
A87795995 - Austria - a virtual tour: Styria
A87795986 - Austria - a virtual tour: Carinthia
A87795977 - Austria - a virtual tour: Salzburg
A87795968 - Austria - a virtual tour: Tyrol

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Thanks, I noticed my mistake with the 'Project Title' a few minutes ago.

The city/town question is a very good one, thanks. I had problems with that because in German there is no difference between city and town it both is 'Stadt'. To become a 'Stadt' a village has to get the so-called 'Stadtrecht', which means it is granted the status of a Stadt. If this makes it a city in English I guess all the town is my Entry are cities.

Project title changed and link to the Entry about Austria added instead of the introduction.

Sorry - I got confused about which Austria conversation I was in...

That's what I love about h2g2, you get to learn all sorts of things. From space cats to the fact that in Austria you have villages and stadts, and no difference between towns and cities.

Much easier than in the UK, where we have:
Hamlet – small settlement without a church
Village – settlement with a church, but does not have a charter granting it the right to hold a market
Town – settlement which can hold a market, but does not have a cathedral (or charter granting it city status)
City – settlement with a cathedral or charter granting it city status.

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Sounds really complicated.
We also have villages which have the so-called 'Marktrecht', the right to hold a markets. But that's not really relevant anymore today. They can get 'Markt' added in front of the actual name of the settlement.

So, I guess I'll change all towns to cities then?

I'd keep them as towns. If you don't have a division between towns and cities, the fact that there is a division between them in the UK is irrelevant. 'Town' works well, so there's no need to change them.

<BB<

Ok, thank you.

Changes made.

And I wanted to add: the 'Stadtrecht' here has nothing to do with cathedrals or special events. It gave (mainly in the middle ages) a settlement the right to hold markets (Marktrecht), build fortifications (a wall, therefore called 'Mauerrecht') and have a court of justice. It also gave freedoms in administration and the like. There were other rights like that, for instance the 'Münzrecht', which gave a settlement the right to mint coins.
The village where I grew up for instance once had the right to mint coins until they built a city nearby in the 13th Century and the 'Münzrecht' was taken from the village and given to the city.

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!

Well done Tav!

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Thank you!

Well done, Tav!


lil x