Geography of Austria (German "Bodensee") on the Austrian-Swiss-German border in the west to the Neusiedler See on the Austrian-Hungarian border in the east. The contrast between these two lakes – one in the Alps and the other a typical steppe lake on the westernmost fringe of the Hungarian Plain – illustrates the diversity of Austria's landscape. Seven of Austria's nine provinces have long historical traditions predating the establishment of the Republic of Austria in 1918: Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol, and Vorarlberg. The provinces of Burgenland and Vienna were established after World War I. Most of Burgenland had been part
Vorarlberg is an informal meeting where casual music is played or recited by friends clubs or musicians, both on a professional and amateur level. The first Schubertiade took place in Hohenems in Vorarlberg in 1976. In addition, there are many museums and attractions such as the Kunsthaus Bregenz, the Vorarlberg Museum, the Jewish Museum of Hohenems and the Wälderbähnle ("Bregenz Forest Railway"), a narrow gauge heritage railway that today links Schwarzenberg to Bezau amidst a picturesque alpine scenery. Before the Romans conquered Vorarlberg, there were two Celtic tribes settled in this area: the Raeti in the highlands, and the Vindelici in