Lower Bregenz Forest (Vorderer Bregenzerwald) (red) Upper Bregenz Forest (Hinterer Bregenzerwald) (blue) The Nagelfluhkette Nature Park is the first cross-border nature park between Germany and Austria and is therefore an international pilot project.

It is 15,410 ha in size,[1] comprises six Bavarian and eight Vorarlberg municipalities and forms the transition between the Allgäu and the Bregenzerwald.

The highest areas, on the other hand, were settled in the late Middle Ages by Walsers who came from the Grisons or originally from the Valais.

In 1390, with the sale of the county of Feldkirch, the Innerbregenzerwald and Damüls fell to Austria, followed by the courts of Lingenau and Alberschwende in 1451.

The Tannberg with the Bregenzerwald communities of Schröcken and Warth became Austrian in 1453, and in 1523 the Habsburgs also acquired the court of Sulzberg.

Many of the well-known names that originally came from Bregenz Forest, e.g. Feurstein, Meusburger, Metzler, are depicted with their coats of arms on the surviving Landammann board.

The Landammann was appointed by free election and his town hall stood on the Bezegg between Bezau and Andelsbuch.

The existence of the peasant republic is confirmed in the tradition of the Capuchin priest Stanislaus Saurbeck (1595-1647): Bregenz Forest was still "a long undeveloped wilderness" at the beginning of the 17th century, which "already had a bad reputation" in the chronicles of the 16th century: The chroniclers explain the "(low) level of moral and religious life" of the inhabitants, "although they were descended from Catholic parents", with customs and traditions from "pagan ancestors", which they had retained like a "blatant superstition.

"A thorough renewal and moral transformation in the whole of Bregenzerwald" only took place on the initiative of Father Stanislaus: the Capuchins "in their insatiable thirst for souls hurried from hut to hut, from village to village, instructing the people through conversations, Christian teachings and sermons, not resting or resting until the ice cover broke and the rough and cold minds became warm."

In the 9th century, markets were regularly held in and around Bregenz Forest during church festivals, where cheese and lard were traded.

Until the second half of the 17th century, only sour cheese dairies (the milk was completely skimmed) were operated in Bregenz Forest, where a lot of butter could also be produced.

The spread of fat dairying is due to the fact that people in the less favorable climatic valleys had to build up durable food stocks for winter and times of need.

At the beginning of the 18th century, there was a ban on fat dairying, which resulted in uprisings by the people of the Bregenzerwald.

The cuboid brick cheese and a Swiss Emmental imitation were transported in carriages to the Danube Monarchy, including Italy and Greece.

Since the entire region was settled by the Alemanni, the Lake Constance Alemannic dialect became predominant beginning in the 5th and 6th centuries.

Over the centuries there was a brisk trading of goods which, with the increased extension of marriages and family networks, led to a linguistic intermingling.

[6] The Bregenz Forest is the only Austrian tracht region where there is a craftswoman for every detail of the costume: milliners, seamstresses, embroiderers, weavers and goldsmiths for the belt buckles.

These walks through Bregenz Forest are organized by the tourism associations and take visitors for breakfast and lunch through a selection of different restaurants, all of which focus on Vorarlberg products and specialities.

The KäseStraße Bregenzerwald is a theme route based on the Bregenz Forest's traditional cheese production.

[12] Master builders and craftsmen from the Bregenz Forest in particular, but also from other parts of today's Vorarlberg, played a leading role in the 600 churches and monasteries that were built in the Baroque style in the 17th and 18th centuries.

[13] Members of the Guild of Au received 60 percent of the more than 700 major construction contracts awarded to Vorarlbergers.

[15][16] In the centre of Schwarzenberg are a few well-preserved and relatively uniform Bregenzerwald houses, all built around the same time - after the great fire of 1755.

[15] The Neue Vorarlberger Bauschule developed organically in the second half of the 20th century and always involved local craftsmen in the building process.

With still recognizable typical Vorarlberg architecture, it combines tradition and modernity: clear lines, glass and local wood.

In many renovations of private homes and public buildings, local wood is preferred, which means that energy consumption can be minimised.

The festival in Schwarzenberg focuses on compositions that are usually not played at larger concerts and may or may not be composed by Franz Schubert.

The museum is devoted to the display and documentation of the cultural works and stories of women, which deal with a broad variety of topics, including questions of female identity and gender roles.

[27] Residents of the Bregenz Forest earn their living primarily from summer and winter tourism, agriculture and especially the wood processing industry.

The Alpine transhumance or Alp farming is the basis of the traditional cheese making process in Vorarlberg.

In the spring of 2011, UNESCO declared the Alp farming in the Bregenzerwald to be an intangible cultural heritage.