Features
Austrian features
Retzerland by Peter Gieler
I am constantly astounded by the exceptional standard of exhibitions in Niederösterreich (Lower Austria).
The range and quality of the exhibits is rarely equalled and a great deal of thought and preparation goes into the annual Landesaustellung. The venue varies, but there is always an exhibition at Schloss Schallerburg and 2009 was an exceptional year. Not only was there an exhibition to commemorate Napoleon’s battles of 1809, but the towns of Raabs and Horn in Austria collaborated with the Czech town of Telc to present Österreich.Tschechien.’Geteilt-Getrennt-Vereint’ (Austria.TheCzech Republic ‘Divided-Separated-United’).
So, on a bitterly cold day in October we travelled with friends to the Wald and Weinviertel for a weekend to see the exhibition, but also to partake of the good wines of the region. We had booked a delightful bed and breakfast accommodation in the town of Retz, but more of that later. We travelled via Zellendorf where I wished to meet personally Herrn Diem, a wine maker whose wines I had enjoyed.
Not only is Herr Diem an excellent producer of wines, but he is also a recognised guide of the Kellergasse of Zellendorf. I had longed to visit the area ever since reading Alfred Komarek’s wonderfully evocative crime novels concerning Gendarme Polt. The northeast section of Niederösterreich known as the Weinviertel, is an area of gently rolling hills covered with vineyards and grain fields.
A common sight all over the region is the “Kellergasse”. These rural roads are lined with long rows of white-washed wine cellars, half-buried in the earth, with owners often more than happy to have passers-by stop for a sociable glass or two.
The cellars were originally dug directly into the sand and neither supported nor brick-lined. They can descend steeply downhill. The tour through the Zellendorfer Maulavern takes about an hour and Herrn Diem’s knowledge and humour kept our group attentive and lively in spite of the freezing evening temperatures.
Our guide regaled us with his stories including the tradition that the local village men used to escape from home for a few hours to indulge themselves and their friends in their Keller. Many of these cellars were linked and frequently one could escape from one cellar to another.
The theme of the cellars is continued in the town of Retz close to the Czech border. Retz has seen a dramatic turn in its fortunes during the last twenty years since the fall of the Iron Curtain. For 60 years this had been a backwater going nowhere, but now that the border is freely open, many guests visit the town and especially the cellars of Retz.
The privilege issued by Emperor Friedrich lll to the town in 1458 was the primary cause for the extension of its cellar vaults. This and subsequently issued privileges granted every citizen the legal right to trade in wine.
Ten local villages had to send their wine to Retz before November 11th (Martini). The town cellars were therefore only intended for the storage and maturing of wine. Every citizen who already possessed a cellar beneath his house began enlarging it according to his requirements, i.e. depending upon the quantity of wine that could be purchased.
The majority of these cellars were not only extended length-wise, but also branched off into tunnels of various levels, creating split-level cellars with two or three "floors". Most of the cellars in Retz are interconnected on one level, and altogether the cellars stretch to about double the surface of the streets above ground.
The town rests on a mighty 30 metre deep sea sediment of quartz sand. The cellars were originally dug directly into the sand and above this deposit is a comparatively thin layer of loam, protecting the cellars from precipitation. Due to the permanently moist sand, the air humidity in the cellars is constant at 88%, whereas the temperature ranges between 8 to 10 degrees Celsius.
The entrance to the part of the cellars adapted for tours by the tourist association, is located in the Znaimer Straße immediately next to the Volksbank. The tour of about 1 km of subterranean Retz continues in the direction of the main square, passing 8 wine tanks with a capacity of beyond 200.000 litres in total.
These concrete tanks also originated before 1914. An iron door in the long tunnel "langer Gang" marked the border between the old town and the town centre. The next cellar is already located beneath the houses on the main square. During the highest peak of the wine trade, in the middle of the 18th century, the Mössmer company alone stored in excess of 2 million litres of wine in their cellars.
These wines were transported by horse-drawn carriages from Retz to Prague, Kracow and Galicia. Throughout centuries, Retz was a wine metropolis and the main square "Hauptplatz" with its monumental architecture bears witness to this.
Having walked 1 km through the "catacombs", one arrives in the Vinarium of the Hotel Althof, where 130 selected wines are offered for sale and sample. Then one returns to the surface.
The distance covered corresponds only to some 5% of the entire cellar system in Retz. With the aid of multimedia projections the history of wine, commencing in ancient Persia, Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire is depicted.
The importance of wine in Mosaism and Christianity is explained. One section is dedicated to the wine exports from Retz. The amusing projections of "Wein & Rausch", to be followed by the "Reblauslied" sung by Hans Moser, complete the tour. Early on Saturday morning we set off for Telc, Raabs and Horn and the exhibition. Telc is a beautiful town, its main square stunning and now a Unesco heritage site.
The exhibition here was a little disappointing introducing the visitor to some of the cultural achievements of the area and its protagonists such as Gustav Mahler, Josef Hofmann and Robert Hammerling. Interestingly, our Austrian friends had not heard of the poet Hammerling.
He was one of the most remarkable poets of the modern Austrian school; his imagination was rich and his poems are full of life and colour. His most popular poem, Ahasver in Ram (1866), of which the emperor Nero is the central figure, shows at its best the author's brilliant talent for description. After lunch we moved on to Raabs, where we encountered a large number of coach tours and guides and found it somewhat difficult to see a great deal of the exhibits. Here the history of the area was vividly described, illustrated with paintings, models, maps of the period.
On then to Horn where the modern period was vividly depicted. Here the recent history of the 200th Century was portrayed with exhibits comparing and contrasting totalitarianism in the same section. One could clearly see the similarities between the activities of the Nazi period and that of communism. The differing fortunes of Austria and Czechoslovakia following the First World War were clearly displayed.
The portrayal of the Iron Curtain and the separate development of the two countries was cleverly shown allowing the visitor to proceed on the Austrian or Czech side with glimpses of what was occurring across the border. I was especially impressed that events and facts were shown without any attempt to minimize accountability.
This exhibition showed a mature Austria ready to look critically at its recent past and accept its responsibilities. Lower Austria is to be congratulated wholeheartedly. I know that the exhibition has been well attended and I am interested to discover how many school groups visited the exhibition and what the ratio was between Czechs and Austrians. What about the other exhibition then, the one at the Schallaburg.
Napoleon General, Emperor and Genius 2009 is the anniversary of the great battles against Napoleon at Aspern and Wagram (1809) in Lower Austria, which ended in Austria’s alliance with Napoleon. Napoleon’s marriage to Marie Louise, the daughter of the Austrian Emperor Franz I sealed this alliance – and even brought him the long-awaited legitimate heir.
Schloss Schallaburg, dedicates itself to the life of the legendary Corsican from his youth as a simple French cadet to his death in exile in 1821. Alongside the most important French collections such as the Louvre and the Fondation Napoléon, exhibits from the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Art) and the Museum of Army History in Vienna as well as the Hermitage in St Petersburg were on view.
The large-scale exhibition showed Napoleon as an incomparable strategist and politician, but also as an initiator of laws and a family man. Napoleon had a lasting effect in almost all areas of life: he arranged the marriages of his siblings, using a targeted marriage policy to establish a dynasty of rulers covering half of Europe.
He was a promoter of the arts, influenced the Empire Style, founded the research branch of Egyptology and not least, completed the Code Civil, the law book that in essential parts is still in force in France today. The spreading of the metric system is also attributable to Napoleon. Special attention was given to attracting the young, including the opportunity to put oneself in the role of Napoleon and slip for example into the historic portrait of the brilliant emperor.
A particular highlight was the faithful reconstruction of a Napoleonic field camp with adjoining Napoleonic herb garden in the grounds of the palace. Special show tents displayed the equipment with which one went to war under Napoleon.
And what of the future? I was delighted that Niederösterreich is to follow my lead and present next year’s exhibition on the Danube. They have even taken the title of my 2007 Powerpoint presentation ‘Fluch und Segen – Donau’ (The Danube - Curse and Saviour).
This again is a collaboration, this time between Oberösterreich and Niederösterreich and will be held in Ennshafen and Ardagger Markt. The exhibition at the Schallerburg is The 60s, The Beatles, the Pill and Revolt. Niederösterreich has already announcing that the Landesaustellung for 2011 will be ‘Römerland Carnuntum.’ Late in October Zellendorf has been selected to host the Kürbisfest for the entire region.
There will be processions and music, wine tastings and many culinary experiences, brass bands and folk music, handicraft and textiles, fun and hundreds of people. Special trains from Vienna have been laid on to bring the guests to the little village in the north of Austria.
Experience a wide range of cultural and social events including; concerts, wine tastings, lectures, film evenings, excursions and social gatherings.
