Sennhütte from Durlaßboden, near Gerlos

The alpine hut had to make way for the construction of the Gerlos reservoir in 1966. It is a revealing example of rural alpine farming as it was practised in large parts of Salzburg and the Tyrolean lowlands. The three-room log cabin is accessed from the gable end. The main room contains the brick fireplace with the overhanging cauldron for the fat cheese dairy and the table with the cheese mould for shaping the freshly scooped cheese wheels. There is also a cheese stretcher for transporting the cheese wheels, a butter churn, cheese cloths, wooden bowls and much more.

In the second outer corner of this room there is an open cooker for preparing the daily meals. There are two chambers at the back of the hut. One served as a milk room, the second was used to store cheese until it was transported down to the valley. A ladder leads up to the sleeping area above the cheese room, known locally as the ‘Schlenner’.