Haus von Prükk

Cimbrian culture and language

“Asó stille izta ‘z lant un asó schümma, di zait vest zo lazzade lem a pizzle in di rue.”

Descendents of the ancient Bavarian settlers who arrived in the late Middle Ages, the Cimbrian people have held onto their identity over the centuries, passing down customs, legends and their own language, which is still spoken today in Luserna. Nestled on a sunny terrace in Alpe Cimbra, this village, which had over 1000 inhabitants in the early 1900s, now counts around 260. This is quite a substantial number if you consider that the Cimbrian language is spoken by only around 600 people in the whole world. Here, Cimbrian traditions have been kept alive in their artisan trades, in the production of bobbin lace, and in the rituals connected to the passing seasons. Every corner of the village tells a story of pride in their roots, which also resonates in the Cimbrian words of the inhabitants' legends and their many cultural initiatives.

Haus von Prükk

The "Haus von Prükk" Museum House is in a little street leading up from Luserna's piazza.

“A haus boda iz gestånt gelaich azpe di haüsar von baké von achtundart.”

The museum house, which was created from a conservative restoration of an old home carried out by Kulturinstitut Lusérn, has retained all the characteristics of a nineteenth-century Cimbrian country cottage. A little wrought-iron gate opens onto what used to be the home of a wealthy family at the time, inhabited until the end of the 1960s. Just a few square metres housing two families - 11 people on one side and 5 on the other. Parents, grandparents, children, aunts and uncles: all together to get through the harsh winters of the time. To keep in the heat, the rooms had low ceilings and small windows, with a single stove that sent heat from the kitchen to the bedroom to optimise the use of wood. Food was preserved in jars stored in a pantry in the cold, out of the way of the animals. These provisions had to last all winter for the whole family, without cutting into the seed for the coming year. And when the cold was truly bitter, there was "la mònega" to put under the sheets: a pan full of embers to heat up the bed before going to sleep. Despite the cold, there was no shortage of moments of joy: gathered together around the fire, they would tell fables and listen to music played on a little accordion.

"Herbege" is an untranslatable Cimbrian word that encapsulates a whole world, a society based on self-sufficiency; it means having (or not having) everything you need to get through the long winter: wood for the stoves, hay for the animals, potatoes, sauerkraut, sausages stored in the cellar, and the cupboard full of corn flour and white flour.

Traditions and legends

'Haus von Prükk' is a place steeped in stories, traditions and legends that stimulate your imagination and curiosity. For example, it was said that witch doctors used the rings from the cauldron chain to fly from place to place, while the cauldron itself had to stay hanging for the souls in Purgatory. Passing just outside the Museum House is the Sentiero dell'Immaginario, a trail around 7km long through the woods and pastures of Luserna, inspired by the legends and characters of Cimbrian popular imagination, such as Frau Pèrtega and Tüsele Marüsele.