The Salzkammergut, Austria

The Salzkammergut is a resort area located in Austria. It stretches from the City of Salzburg eastwards along the Austrian Alpine Foreland and theNorthern Limestone Alps to the peaks of the Dachstein Mountains, spanning the federal states of Upper Austria, Salzburg, and Styria. The main river of the region is the Traun, a right tributary of the Danube. The name Salzkammergut literally means "Estate of the Salt Chamber" and derives from the Imperial Salt Chamber, the authority charged with running the precious salt mines of the Habsburg Monarchy. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

With its numerous lakes and mountains, the Salzkammergut offers many opportunities to take part in water sports, bathing, hiking, cycling, caving, golf and relaxing around lakes such as the Grundlsee orToplitzsee. The Katrinalm, an alpine pasture, is found near Bad Ischl. Typical Salzkammergut culinary specialities include dishes such as Kaiserschmarrn (cut-up and sugared pancake with raisins), Krapfen (similar to doughnuts) or Lebkuchen (gingerbread).

I think this card is one of the most beautiful cards I have ever received. 

Thank you Claudia for sending it to me. I think you are very lucky to be living in this wonderful region.

Schafberg in Austria

Anna sent me this lovely card showing Schafberg, a mountain in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Its height is 1783 metres. Situated within the Salzkammergut mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps, the Schafberg rises at the shore of a lake called Wolfgangsee. During the summer, the Schafbergbahn, a rack railway opened in 1893, runs from the small town of St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut on the shores of the Wolfgangsee to the summit. The peak offers a panoramic view of the Salzkammergut mountains and lakes and is also the site of a hotel (Schafbergspitze), established in 1862.

The Venus of Willendorf

This interesting card was sent to me by Daniela from Austria. The Venus of Willendorf, now known in academia as the Woman of Willendorf, is an 11 cm (4.3 in) high statuette of a female figure estimated to have been made between 24,000 and 22,000 BCE. It was found in 1908 by a workman named Johann Veran or Josef Veram during excavations conducted by archaeologists Josef Szombathy, Hugo Obermaier and Josef Bayer at a paleolithic site near Willendorf, a village in Lower Austria near the city of Krems. It is carved from an oolitic limestone that is not local to the area, and tinted with red ochre. The "Venus of Willendorf" is now in the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria.

Several similar statuettes and other forms of art have been discovered, and they are collectively referred to as Venus figurines, although they pre-date the mythological figure of Venus by millennia.

After a wide variety of proposed dates, following a revised analysis of the stratigraphy of its site in 1990, the figure has been estimated to have been carved 24,000–22,000 BCE. Very little is known about its origin, method of creation, or cultural significance.

The purpose of the carving is the subject of much speculation. It never had feet and does not stand on its own. The apparent large size of the breasts and abdomen, and the detail put into the vulva, have led scholars to interpret the figure as a fertility symbol. The figure has no visible face, her head being covered with circular horizontal bands of what might be rows of plaited hair, or a type of headdress.

The nickname, urging a comparison to the classical image of "Venus," is now controversial. According to Christopher Witcombe, "the ironic identification of these figurines as 'Venus' pleasantly satisfied certain assumptions at the time about the primitive, about women, and about taste." Catherine McCoid and LeRoy McDermott hypothesize that the figurines may have been created as self-portraits.

Turnau in Austria

Turnau is a market town at the foot of the Hochschwab in the Styrian District of Bruck an der Mur . Turnau has 5 boroughs: Turnau, Göriach, Seewiesen, Stübming, and Thal. Population of Turnau is 1615.

Turnau in Austria is a very small ski resort with just three ski lifts but it does boast a respectable 370 metres (1213 feet) of vertical descent. Turnau has 4 kilometers (2 miles) of pistes. Turnau is best suited to intermediate skiers and snowboarders but there is some terrain for beginners and advanced skiers.

The card shows a typical summer’s day in Turnau with the mountain cows grazing peacefully, with Hochanger and Aflenzer Staritzen in the background. An idyllic scene indeed. Thank you Thomas for this lovely card.

Mozart

Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position, always composing abundantly. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons. 
Theresa sent me this card.

Modern Art in Austria

This maxi card commemorates Modern Art in Austria. It was sent to me by  Björn from Berlin. The card depicts a painting by Ernst Fuchs.

Ernst Fuchs (February 13, 1930 in Vienna). Ernst Fuchs is an Austrian painter, draftsman, print maker, sculptor, architect, stage designer, composer, poet, singer and one of the founders of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism.

Opera House of Graz

Graz is the second-largest city in Austria after Vienna and the capital of the federal state of Styria (Steiermark). On 1 April 2010 it had a population of 291,890 (of which 258,605 had principal residence status). Graz has a long tradition as a student city: its six universities have more than 44,000 students. Its "Old Town" is one of the best-preserved city centres in Central Europe. Politically and culturally, Graz was for centuries more important for Slovenes than Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and still remains influential. In 1999, Graz was added to the UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage Sites, and Schloss Eggenberg extended the site in 2010. Graz was sole Cultural Capital of Europe for 2003 and got the title of a City of Culinary Delights in 2008.

The Opera House seen on the card is the Second largest opera house in Austria. Springboard for music careers. "Opera House of the Year" in 2001. Remarkable attributes for the theatre on the ring road. The architects Fellner and Helmer, who planned buildings all over Europe, erected it in 1899. A fascinating contrast to the neo-Baroque building is the steel sculpture "light sword" by Hartmut Skerbisch (1992). In the Human Rights City of Graz it is a symbol of open-mindedness and tolerance. Initially, today's opera house was the municipal theatre and did not exclusively serve music. So it was opened with Schiller's drama "Wilhelm Tell" on 16 September 1899. Anita from Graz sent me this pretty card.

Among the great musicians who have worked at the opera house, especially composer Robert Stolz (director of music at the age of 20) and conductor Karl Böhm rose to fame. Both were also born in Graz.

100 years of the incorporation of Floridsdorf into Vienna

This nice maximum card was sent to me by Daerden from Belgium. The card and the stamp on it were issued to commemorate 100 years of the incorporation of Floridsdorf into Vienna  Today's Floridsdorf, Vienna's 21st District, with an area of 44.46m2, stands on land cultivated and developed by early man. The discovery there of stone axes suggests that it was inhabited as early as the Neolithic Age (ca. 4000 to 2000 BC). Celts settled here around 500 BC and the whole settlement area to the north of the Danube, known to the Romans as "Transdanubia", was fought over first by Germanic tribes and later by other invading peoples such as the Lombards, Avars and the Slavs. The settlement was initially called "On the Peak" ("Am Spitz") and belonged to the seminary of Stift Klosterneuburg. In 1786, the prelate at that time, Floridus Leeb, gave 30 plots along the Schlosshofer road to settlers and it is from him that the area takes its present name "Floridsdorf". What began as a predominantly agricultural area rapidly grew and developed as a result of the Nordwestbahn railway, flourishing industries and the steam tramway, which opened in 1885. In 1894 its status was elevated to that of a town.
Throughout the ages Floridsdorf's survival depended on the Danube as an important trading route. At the same time the raging torrent with its countless tributaries and branches wreaked havoc each year with severe flooding. It was not until 1870-1875 that measures were taken to regulate the Danube. Between 1972 and 1988 the high water defences were again reinforced so that Floridsdorf, like the other districts which border on the Danube, has since been protected from flooding.

Princely Treasures – Liechtenstein Museum Vienna

The second series of “Princely Treasures – Liechtenstein Museum Vienna” commemorative is devoted to the ceiling frescos by the Salzburg painter Johann Michael Rottmayr (1654–1730), as seen in the ladies’ and gentlemen’s apartments on the ground floor and in the stairwells of the Liechtenstein Garden Palace in Vienna’s Rossau District.

At the end of the 1680s, after a period of study in Venice where he had mastered the Venetian/Neapolitan mixed technique, Rottmayr returned to his homeland where he was commissioned to produce works for the Archbishop’s palace. In 1696 he settled in Vienna and there became one of the most significant Austrian Baroque painters.

His principal works include the frescos in the churches of St. Peter and St. Charles in Vienna, in the Melk collegiate church, the Klosterneuburg collegiate church and the Garden Palace in Rossau, Vienna, built under Prince Johann Adam Andreas I of Liechtenstein, where Rottmayr created one of the finest examples of his master craftsmanship. Rottmayr had not figured in the original plan for the Palace, which provided for Bologna artists only. However, after making a name for himself as a fresco painter with his recently completed work in the Great Hall of Schönbrunn Palace, in 1705 he was the only local-born artist engaged to paint the ground floor and two staircases. He completed this commission in 1708.

The first of the two stamps depicts “The surrender of the Golden Fleece to Jason” (face value CHF 1.40), an obvious reference to the conferring of the Order of the Golden Fleece on Rottmayr’s client in 1693, and “Ariadne giving Theseus the thread” (face value CHF 1.00). Thank you my dear friend Maria for these two maxi cards, nay, Princely treasures.