Hard is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in the west of the westernmost

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label=Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is ...

, directly on the southern shores of

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...

. Hard's attractions include the Strandbad and the Grünerdamm. Hard is also known for its

skatepark A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scootering, wheelchairs, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairsets, q ...

. An

honorary consulate A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

is located in Hard.

Population

Geography

Hard has an area of 17.46 km² (6.75 sq mi). Hard is also located between the two rivers

Bregenzer Ach The Bregenzer Ach (also: ''Bregenzer Ache'') is the main river of the Bregenz Forest (Bregenzerwald), in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. It is a tributary to Lake Constance, which is drained by the Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerla ...

and

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

, and borders on the provincial capital

Bregenz Bregenz (; gsw, label= Vorarlbergian, Breagaz ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switze ...

History

In the 7th century,

Alemanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pres ...

settled near Mittelweiherburg. Near Lake Constance, around the year 1200, large parts of the woods were cleared to build a village: Hard (

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

for "forest"). The community of Hard was first mentioned in a charter from

Pope Innocent IV Pope Innocent IV ( la, Innocentius IV; – 7 December 1254), born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254. Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universitie ...

to the monastery of Mehrerau in 1249. In 1794, Samuel Vogel from

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

opened the first Hard textile factory. In 1802, the "Allmenden" (common grounds) were suspended, resulting in private fields, pastures and forests. In 1997, the textile printing museum in Mittelweiherburg was opened.

Harder Schwabenkinder (
Swabian children The Swabian children (German: ''Schwabenkinder'') were peasant children from poor families in the Alps of Austria and Switzerland who went to find work on farms in Upper Swabia and the Swabian Jura. Usually they were sent by their parents to beco ...
)

From the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century, many poor Vorarlberg farmers sent their children to

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

, Southern Germany, to do seasonal work there. These children were called "Schwabenkinder", the undertaking itself was referred to as "Schwabengehen".

Heraldry

The coat of arms of Hard shows two trees and a sailboat. They symbolize important early activities in Hard: logging and fishing.

References

External links

Town of Hard
Cities and towns in Bregenz District Populated places on Lake Constance {{Vorarlberg-geo-stub