Nature in motion

Konrad Stadelmann, one of the initiators of the Georunde. He is working on a good future for his home town. Here is the cube, a crooked space in a – once again intact – environment, one of the stations on the Georunde Rindberg.

says Konrad Stadelmann as he gazes across the green valley. He spent five years of his life as the mayor of Sibratsgfäll. Today, in his role as local councillor, he looks after the welfare of the village. In 1999, the idyllic mountain village in the Bregenzerwald was affected by a gigantic landslide: on an area of around 1.6 square kilometres, the mountainsides on the Rindberg plot started moving inexorably, with 18 buildings sliding down to the valley, some houses moving from their original spot by up to 240 metres.

“The earth still hasn’t quietened down,” according to Stadelmann. The people in Sibratsgfäll have learned to live with the forces of nature, building houses which can move, which can slide along with the earth. In line with the mentality typical in Vorarlberg, the inhabitants have turned the disaster into something new, something positive. In conjunction with the association “Bewegte Natur Sibratsgfäll” the village has come to terms with the incidents and created the Georunde Rindberg project. This walk is a reminder of what happened, and raises awareness amongst locals and guests that they are part of nature.