In our time in Europe we saw so many of the monuments - churches, shrines, plague columns, war memorials, etc. There were so many, and here is a sampling of the most memorable to me.
No one loves plague columns like I do. I've been fascinated by the Black Death since childhood, and I knew that bubonic plague periodically "revisited" European countries, cities and villages. The people were so traumatized by the "pestilence" (don't blame them really - how horrifying to know that terrible disease was on the way and nothing could be done to prevent the horrible deaths it caused). Sometimes they would erect columns thanking God for taking it away. They didn't know about bacteria so it was easy to thank God, I suppose.
This is the beautiful plague column erected in 1679 after a particulaly virulent epidemic. It lies in the center of Vienna down the street from St. Stephen's Cathedral.
The plague memorial in the village of Donnerskirchen. Note the skull and crossbones - you see these all over central Europe.
The plague column in the center square in Korneuburg
This plague column lies near Schloss Esterhazy in Eisenstadt. I saw this one frequently and always paused to reflect.
I imagine no one but me finds this fascinating. These are the bones of 600 14th century Black Death victims that lie in a small dungeon in the basement of St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna. They were found during a general cleanup in the 1700s and re-interred together.
Small shrines dot the landscape all over Burgenland. You find them in villages, neglected in the weeds, alongside the road, in cemeteries, in towns, all over the place. I was told they were built either to thank God for something or to ask God for something. A representative sampling includes
this one in the village square in Au Am Leithaberge ...
near a church in Eisenstadt ...
by the side of the road near the village of Purbach ...
across the road from Burg Forchtenstein ...
and in an out-of-the-way park in Wiener Neustadt.
We also saw war memorials in every village and town. Austria suffered terrible losses during the two world wars, but the sacrifice of their soldiers is commemorated. A representative sampling includes memorials
in the village of Donnerskirchen ...
two parts of the memorial in the nearby town of Eisenstadt ...
in the nearby village of Siegendorf ...
in the village of Mullendorf ...
near the church in Kleinhoflein, which is today sort of a suburb to Eisenstadt ...
two of the many erected to the dead at Mauthausen Concentration Camp ...
this lovely quiet one at the back of the cemetery at St. Michael's Church in Sopron, Hungary ...
and this one dedicated to non-commissioned officers in World War I in London.
That's Lord Horatio Nelson at the top of this obelisk in Trafalgar Square. He was the hero of the Battle of Trafalgar when the British beat Napoleon.
That's Austria-Hungary's great Empress Maria Theresa at the top of the obelisk, her male generals and advisors below.
I guess the thing that Europe really builds best is churches. From stately cathedrals to small village churches, they're some of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. Surprisingly, sometimes the hardest part was learning what the name of the church was - St. Whosis? My German was good enough for that, but frequently people said it was just called the Bergkirche (apparently they liked building the church on the highest point in the village - I really enjoyed climbing up a lot of steps). We took pictures of them in every town and village. Some of the most memorable for me include
the Bergkirche (hill church) in Donnerskirchen ...
Siegendorf ...
the sweet in-the-middle-of-the-road chapel in Siegendorf ...
Bergkirche (Haydn's Church) in Eisenstadt ...
and its lovely gilded altar ...
Mullendorf ...
another Bergkirche in Kleinhoflein ...
Graz ...
the dilapidated church - named for St. Martin of Tours - in the small Hungarian village of Kophaza ...
the beautiful St. Michaels in Sopron that we passed every time we went to shop or eat in Hungary ...
This is the church in Klingenbach. Although the steeple is old, the lower part was remodeled a few decades ago. My primary memory of this church is the computer-set bells that ring four times an hour, and at several other times during the day for 98 peals and other times for hundreds of times. To tell you the truth, we really felt overscheduled. We lived only a block from it so we could really hear them. Not one of my favorite memories. The funny thing is that the name "Klingenbach" means the sound of ringing bells by the brook. First off, there was no brook, and the bells were a little overbearing.
This is the lovely church in Salzburg where the wedding scene in "The Sound of Music" was filmed.
You may recognize this lovely altar from the movie.
The front of historic Westminster Abbey in London ...
One of the sides of Westminster Abbey ...
And the best for last - St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna ...
The interior of the cathedral is beautiful and serene.
Building began in the 11th century, and renovations continue today.
More next time.
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