You only see what you know (Goethe)
On certain days one can watch the Hoch- und Deutschmeister band in Vienna playing in their traditional uniforms of before 1918. This military band has its origins in the k.u.k. Lower Austrian Infantry Regiment Hoch- und Deutschmeister No. 4. [German]
View of Lambach Abbey taken on a train journey from Salzburg to Linz. The abbey is a Benedictine monastery. The Baroque theater inside the building is considered as the oldest still in use theater in Austria. [German]
Have you ever listened to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart inside a castle? At Tabor Manor (Schloss Tabor) in Neuhaus am Klausenbach I enjoyed his opera buffa ‘The Marriage of Figaro‘. It was fascinating to listen to the genius music of Mozart and to watch the full moon moving above the stage. [German]
Rotenturm Manor (Schloss Rotenturm), a romantic-eclectic building with Moorish forms in Rotenturm an der Pinka, was built by architect Antal Weber for Stephan Graf Erdődy in the years 1862/64. [German]
To my surprise, one of the frescoes at the church of Altenburg Abbey (Stift Altenburg) includes a dragon. The creator of these frescoes was Paul Troger.
On my walk through the basement vaults of Altenburg Abbey I came across this reconstruction of a Gothic tower stove. While unearthing the old monastery, the workers discovered 62 tiles showing Bible stories, saints, emblems and symbols. They were probably created in the years between 1480 and 1510.
The former Zell Manor (Schloss Zell) houses a hotel today: “Das Schloss an der Eisenstrasse“. The hotel name refers to the region’s history, where many ironworking plants settled along the main road.
After a walk through the seven gardens of Klosterneuburg Monastery (Stift Klosterneuburg) near Vienna, I also visited the orangery of the monastery. Inside, an old world map surprised me. It showed an expedition route of the Austrian ship ‘SMS Novara’.
This exhibition room of Stift Klosterneuburg (Klosterneuburg Monastery) displays ancient Roman pieces. They are from an ancient predecessor settlement of today’s Klosterneuburg. The name of the Roman place is uncertain. Suggestions are Arrianis, Asturis, Cannabiaca or Quadriburgium.
While my visit to Stift Klosterneuburg (Klosterneuburg Monastery) I came across several examples of contemporary art which were well hidden in the structures of the monastery. For example, I discovered this red ‘thing’ in the cloistered courtyard by glimpsing through an open window.
This fun sculpture is placed next to a memorial plaque to the Austrian actor Hans Moser. Schulpture and plaque are located in Gumpoldskirchen, a centre of wineries south of Vienna. Besides his movies and plays Hans Moser became famous for singing a song about the ‘Reblaus’ (‘Pyhlloxera’).
A pretty special hiking trail in Austria is the 1. Wiener Wasserleitungsweg which leads along the water supply line from the mountains of Lower Austria down to Vienna. So one can learn about the sources of Vienna’s water just by following a path.