Hallstatt (German: [ˈhalʃtat] ⓘ) is a small town in the district of Gmunden, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria.

Situated between the southwestern shore of Hallstätter See and the steep slopes of the Dachstein massif, the town lies in the Salzkammergut region, on the national road linking Salzburg and Graz.

[4] In 1846 Johann Georg Ramsauer discovered a large prehistoric cemetery at the Salzberg mines near Hallstatt (47°33′40″N 13°38′31″E / 47.561°N 13.642°E / 47.561; 13.642), which he excavated during the second half of the 19th century.

In the mine workings themselves, the salt has preserved many organic materials such as textiles, wood, and leather, and many abandoned artefacts such as shoes, pieces of cloth, and tools and miner's backpacks have survived in good condition.

The "Hallstatt period" proper is restricted to HaC and HaD (8th to 5th centuries BC), corresponding to the early European Iron Age.

[5]: 48–49 Much of the material from early excavations was dispersed,[5]: 26 Tourists are told that Hallstatt is the site of "the world's oldest pipeline",[8] which was constructed 400 years ago from 13,000 hollowed-out trees.

[9] A collection of elaborately decorated skulls with the deceased's name, profession, and date of death inscribed on them is on display at the local chapel.

Nevertheless, this secluded and inhospitable landscape counts as one of the first places of human settlement due to the rich sources of natural salt, which have been mined for thousands of years, originally in the shape of hearts owing to the use of antler picks.

[14] Social media images of Hallstatt, captioned "the most Instagrammable town in the world," went viral in Eastern and Southeastern Asia.

It features artifacts from the Hallstatt culture, dating back to the Bronze and Iron Ages, including tools, weapons and burial objects.

The museum also covers the archaeological excavations in the nearby area that reveal the complex society of the Hallstatt civilization.

[citation needed] The problems and opportunities of greatly-increased tourism in Hallstatt were covered by The Washington Post in August 2019.

[31] On 2 June 2012, it was reported that Chinese mining company China Minmetals Corporation built a full-scale replica of the entire town in Huizhou, Guangdong province.

[32] In 2022, the Chinese town of Hallstatt was the final location of the 12th episode of 1st Korean television series Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area.

By mid-November, fall has turned to winter and the nighttime low temperature is ~freezing, giving a growing season of April to early November.