Standing at the foot of the funicular in the Lahn quarter, you look straight up at the salt mountain that gave Hallstatt its name and its fortune. Somewhere above you lies the oldest salt mine on Earth, worked for some seven thousand years.

High on the salt mountain, a squat stone tower keeps watch over the rooftops. This is the Rudolfsturm, a 13th-century fortress built to guard Hallstatt's white gold, and today it crowns the view with a panoramic terrace.

A foaming mountain stream that tumbles straight down the cliff into the heart of the village. For centuries this 'mill brook' turned the wheels of Hallstatt's grain mills.

Behind a doorway marked 'Door of History,' this small museum unfolds 7,000 years of salt mining and the prehistoric Hallstatt culture that gave its name to an entire age of Europe. It is the richest single window into why this tiny village matters to the world.

The pastel-painted heart of Hallstatt, where a baroque Holy Trinity column rises above a gently splashing fountain. Ringed by cafes and shops, this is the village's gathering place and its loveliest open space.

The slender-spired Protestant church standing right on the lakeshore, the single building at the heart of the world-famous Hallstatt postcard. A neo-Gothic house of worship completed in 1863, built by salt miners after centuries of religious struggle.

The slender-spired Protestant church standing right on the lakeshore, the single building at the heart of the world-famous Hallstatt postcard. A neo-Gothic house of worship completed in 1863, built by salt miners after centuries of religious struggle.

The spot of the world famous postcard panorama at the northern edge of the village. From here you look back south over the lakeside houses, the slender church spire, the glassy Hallstätter See and the Dachstein peaks beyond.