You only see what you know (Goethe)
The architecture of Altenburg Abbey in the Austrian region of Waldviertel reminds us of a Baroque abbey you see in Austria many times. But it hides an older monastery below its floors. Visitors walk through the ages by climbing the stairs up and down. [German]
This locomotive ÖBB 1040.09, built in 1951, forms an exhibit at the Waldviertel Railway Museum (Waldviertler Eisenbahnmuseum) in Sigmundsherberg. In addition to Austrian railway history, you also see an exhibition about the Sigmundsherberg POW camp from WWI. [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.
Geras Abbey (Stift Geras) is a Premonstratensian monastery in Lower Austria. At one of its side wings, you find this sundial. I wonder which building the sundial depicts. Perhaps one of its predecessor monasteries? Geras Abbey was founded in 1153 as a daughter house of Seelau Abbey.
This view from my hotel room in Geras shows Geras Abbey (Stift Geras). I stayed on the first floor of a former ‘Schüttkasten‘. A Schüttkasten is a building for the storage of corn in earlier times. Inside the abbey, I took a lesson in producing hand-made paper.