1905Construction of the Vinschgau railway. Eduard Hauser’s efforts: the last Viennese entrepreneur
The Viennese Eduard Hauser, master mason of the Austro-Hungarian Court, became interested in the Lasa valley attracted by the imminent opening of the Vinschgau railway. Having purchased Zeller’s bankrupt business, Hauser ran a stone-processing workshop equipped with the latest machinery available at the time and without changing the overall direction of Lasa’s firm, which employed 14 sculptors.
The first marble blocks delivered by rail from the Vinschgau were those destined to the lions of the Marshals’ Lodge in Munich. The company prospered for 10 years but stagnation begun at the outbreak of World War I. After the war, the company was not able to renew the old success. Heavy competition in Lasa and a reduced demand for buildings and marble statues from Austria gradually led Eduard Hauser’s heirs to sell their possessions in the Vinschgau up until 1924. This ended the era of Viennese entrepreneurs in Lasa.
