Günter Dinhobl (Hrsg.): Sonderband 7. Eisenbahn/Kultur – Railway/Culture (2004)
Aufsätze - Günter Dinhobl: Prologue for “Railway / Culture”
PROLOGUE FOR “RAILWAY/CULTURE Günter Dinhobl ,Recta Sequi' - following the straight line - this inscription in large letters, initiated by the site manager Matthias Schoenerer in the early 1840s, decorates the entrance of the only Wien-Raaber Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft tunnel on the section between Vienna and Gloggnitz. Twenty years later, in 1860, he chose this motto for his coat of arms. These examples from the beginnings of modem railways show how the ,new‘ technology was incorporated into the cultural ensemble. But they are also examples of how different sources can be used for the historiography of railways - the tunnel and the coat of arms as an expression of material culture and the inscription(s) and motto as a representation of,immaterial' culture. Even today technology and culture are seen repeatedly as opposing and incompatible spheres. Within the history of technology - especially in the German-speaking world - cultural influences are mainly disregarded. And, on the other hand, in cultural sciences the issues of (industrial) technology are addressed very rarely. As does no other technical innovation, the transportation technology railway symbolizes - especially in the 19th century - the process of industrialization and nowadays the railway is considered to be a complex socio-technical system. This means it is not only impossible to separate the technical aspects from the social - it is also impossible to separate them from the cultural aspects. The railway itself caused not only a mobility never known before, but it shaped public and private life in the country as well as in cities. This volume is the outcome of a workshop series which was organised between March and November 2001 by the “Faculty for Interdisciplinary Studies at Austrian Universities”, department city, region and spatial development (former: department Space and Economy at IFF; www.iff.ac.at ). Admittedly, the title “Railway/Culture” is a bit bulky, but it was chosen for two reasons: first of all to make reference to the relaMitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs/Sonderband 7 17
