Hard is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in the west of the westernmost

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , 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 the state with the second-highest popu ...

, directly on the southern shores of

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three 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, called the Seerhein (). These ...

. 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, Freestyle scootering, scootering, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairw ...

. An honorary consulate of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

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 and

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

, and borders on the provincial capital

Bregenz Bregenz (; ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost states of Austria, state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switzerland in the wes ...

History

In the 7th century,

Alemanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic peoples, Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE ...

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; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

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

Pope Innocent IV Pope Innocent 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 universities of Parma and Bolo ...

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

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

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)

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

Swabia Swabia ; , 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 Swabia, one 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.

Transport

Hard-Fussach railway station serves Hard and Fußach. It is located on the St. Margrethen–Lauterach line. The station is served by the S3 and R5 regional train services of Vorarlberg S-Bahn, operated by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB).

References

External links

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