The legend of the Spinner at the Cross is a touching one, I think. While a merchant was abroad on Crusade, his wife came to the site every day to sit by the cross and work with her spinning wheel and pray for her husband's safety. Long after the Crusade ended and her husband hadn't returned, the woman was urged to forget him and marry again, but she refused. She continued to spin at the cross and was finally rewarded by her husband's return.
Spinner at the Cross
This miniature golf course was in the same park as the Spinner at the Cross. What a mix of old and new!
The cathedral, or dom, was consecrated in 1279 and renovated and added to from 1469 to 1785. We wanted to go inside, but it was closed on Saturday (first time we've seen that). Outside you can see a lot of reconstruction.
The cathedral from the front.
Part of the side of the Dom.
War memorial to the fallen from the world wars. This is the first one we've seen like this.
This tablet from 1681 commemmorates the dead from a plague epidemic, presumably the 1679 epidemic that was so shattering in central Europe.
Two views of the main door.
The side of the Dom.
This beautiful fountain is composed of tiny colored tiles and rocks. I think the figure is Neptune. Of course it's not working because of the reconstruction.
We were walking around the old town area when we noticed a park and this old wall. We had no idea what it was and were really surprised to discover that the wall is all that's left of the old Jewish synagogue.
A plaque on the wall says that these medieval Jewish tombstones were abandoned in 1496 (doesn't say why) but that they were revealed and properly displayed in 1846. Looking into the history of the town, I learned that there was a massacre of Jews in 1298. In 1348 during the hysteria of the Black Death, thousands of Jews in Austria were burned at the stake because it was believed they caused the plague. In the late 1400s Jews were expelled from Austria.
These tombstones have Hebrew writing on them and above five of them is a German translation. Of the five who have tablets, the first, third and last were rabbis, the third the daughter of a rabbi and fourth the wife of one. They died in the years (from left to right) 1252, 1353, 1286, 1285 and 1369 (this one noted that the rabbi died of plague).
This tablet translates roughly that Jewish citizens in 1938 left town [forced to by the Nazis]. They returned as survivors and had a celebration in 1995. About 200,000 Jews lived in Austria when the Nazis took over; 2/3 went into exile, the rest died in the Holocaust. In Wiener Neustadt, 700 Jews lived in the town at the beginning of World War II; now 10 do.
The Military Academy is housed in a 13th century formerly four-towered castle which was used as an imperial residence in the heyday of Wiener Neustadt. Habsburg Emperor Frederick III had the castle enlarged and added the St. George Chapel in the mid 1400s. The castle has notable glassworks and houses the tomb of Emperor Maximilian I. In 1751 Empress Maria Theresa dedicated the world's first military academy inside the imperial castle. Known as the Theresian Military Academy, it has been in continuous operation to the modern day and is often referred to as the Westpoint of the Alps. One interesting sidenote: Gen. Erwin Rommel was the commandant in 1938. Part of the original building was heavily damaged in an earthquake in 1768 and again in bombing during World War II, but it was rebuilt both times to the original architectural plans.
Four views of the Military Academy
No comments:
Post a Comment