Experience Styrian heartiness
Joglland-Waldheimat
The Joglland-Waldheimat region lies between the Wechsel mountain range, Rabenwaldkogel and Masenberg. Peter Rosegger the poet spent parts of his life here as well.
The legend of how the Joglland got its name, which goes back to Empress Maria Theresa, shows that it is an ancient cultivated landscape. At the time, many men were named after St James, the patron saint of pilgrims. Thus the land around St. Jakob was and remains a land of pilgrims and a vast alpine garden to boot, enwrought by archaic mountains and alpine pastures, clear brooks, deep gorges, dark forests and sunlit fields, numerous historic and religious sites, cult places and subterranean passages. This mystic landscape alone reveals why the first major forest clearing operations in medieval times set out to make the surrounding land usable, led for instance by the monastery of canons in Vorau.
At that time, many men were named after the patron saint of pilgrims, St. James. The land around St. James was and remains a land of pilgrims steeped in legend and a large alpine garden: interwoven with archaic mountains and alpine pastures, clear streams, deep gorges, dark forests and sun-drenched fields; and numerous historical and religious sites, places of worship and underground passages. This mythical landscape alone reveals why the Augustinian monastery in Vorau, for example, was the source of the first major clearances in the Middle Ages to make the land around it arable.