Patriarchal beard-wearer, long-distance walker, yoghurt-lover, ice-cream-eater, dog-whisperer, cow-communicator, mosquito-despiser and horse-fly-beater are just a few pilgrim-related epithets of the priest Johannes Maria Schwarz. A native of Upper Austria with an ecclesiastical home in the Principality of Liechtenstein, he has been lacing hiking boots to his feet since childhood. In summer 2018 he walked the whole Via Alpina, but the terrain and the weather brought challenges with it. In his luggage he also had about 1500 prayer requests from people all over the world, divided among the different stations of the way.
At this online 90-minute multi-media event, with readings and video footage, Johannes shares his experiences of the rich nature, culture and history of the Alps. He’s not only referring to the positive sides of the Alps, but also to useless happenings like the first world war in the Alps and the danger of national thinking. As he is a trained actor he really knows how to take the audience with him and create a special atmosphere – even online.
Johannes is invited as a guest in the framework of the development of Via Alpina and its 20-year anniversary in 2022. In the end of the event will be an open question & answer session with him and Jakob Dietachmair. People can therefore ask Johannes about his experiences and Jakob will inform about the upcoming projects of Via Alpina in the next year.
Further information:
This event will take place within the framework of the "Mountains Reading Festival 2021". The festival was initiated in 2015 by the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention and has been held every year since then on "International Mountain Day". It encourages the celebration of cultural differences and similarities in the Alps while connecting mountains and culture.
Registration: until 08th of December 2021 via https://cipra.typeform.com/BergeLesen
Location: online via Zoom Link.
Date and time: 10th of December 2021 from 6:00 to 7:30 pm
Language of the event: German
