Sommerfrische ist ein alljährliches Nachhausekommen

Summer retreat! This expression derives from the 19th century, but the phenomenon of the annual flight from the city is much older. The team of the authors and the photographer Christof Aigner started to search and traced its roots by means of typical or extraordinary buildings in Lower Austria. The approach happened by the survey of the architectural substance, but it goes far beyond it. The description of the building during the history of its development and use includes also the question which stories are hidden in the house, which stories do the people have who built it, who lived in it or still live in it. The focus is on surveying all Lower Austria, at which the historical accumulation on special locations are considered in the choice of the buildings: From summer residences of nobility and clergy in the baroque era to the classical residences of the upper middle class at the Semmering and the allotment gardens of the railway employees along the Westbahn, and today’s summer residences of artists.