You only see what you know (Goethe)
The coat of arms of Neunkirchen displays nine churches which refer to the meaning of the current city name (“Nine Churches”). Even though these city arms are a great example for canting arms the place was never known for nine churches. Actually the name origins from “new church”, a description which was used in the first mention of the place in 1094.
This 16th-century building located at the main square of Neunkirchen is generally known as Sgraffitohaus (Sgraffito House). An inscription at the portal dates back to 1591.
The pilgrimage church of Maria Taferl (Wallfahrtsbasilika Maria Taferl) is after the pilgrimage church of Mariazell the second most import pilgrimage church of Austria. Since 1947 the church has been granted the title basilica minor.
The manhole cover of Mistelbach shows a sprig of mistletoe, which is also depicted in the city arms. The term ‘Mistel‘ in the city name is actually the german term for a mistletoe.
Renaissance fresco dated with 1577 seen at a building in the old part of Melk.
This stone bridge was built in 1554 by Valentin Staudinger. The bridge using a rock in the middle of the river is considered to be the oldest still existing bridge crossing the Erlauf river. The name ‘Roman Bridge’ (Römerbrücke) for a 16th century bridge is odd but there is an assumption that the Romans used the same rock as base for their bridge.
The museum of historical targets displays a collection of target boards (Schützenscheiben) dating from 1670 up to 1941 used by the local rifle club (Schützenverein). In general, these boards display scenes of daily life, local events and even important persons of history.
The diesel railcar ÖBB 5047 was produced by the Tyrolean Jenbacher Werke in the years 1987-1995. It replaced several older railcars such as the ÖBB 5144. I few of them were sold to competitors of the ÖBB, e.g. to the Hugarian-Austrian Raaberbahn AG.
The distillery museum located in the vineyard estate and distillery Heger (Weingut & Destillerie Heger) in Poysdorf focuses on explaining the differences between small distilleries and industrial distilleries regarding the quality of their products. The pic above shows pieces generally used in smaller stillhouses.
View of the parish church of Poysdorf (Pfarrkirche Poysdorf) taken from a nearby vineyard. I took this photo while joining a guided hiking tour through the vineyards of Poysdorf.
A fun way to explore the wine cellar lanes in Poysdorf and the vineyards in the surroundings is to join a guided tour on board of historical trailers drawn by classic farm tractors. On this pic, I just headed down a wine cellar lane (Kellergasse) named Rösselberg.
This lane is one of several wine cellar lanes (Kellergassen) in Poysdorf. It is actually a hollow-way with a couple of rooms built into a loess layer. These rooms have only a front façade, but no brick walls or a timbered roof.