Austria: her people & their homelands

Front matter

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AUSTRIA: HER PEOPLE AND THEIR HOMELANDS

WORKS BT THE SAME AUTHOR RELATING TO AUSTRIA

Preface

IT is rather a significant fact that in the English Catalogue of Books issued between the years 1836 to 1872 there are only two books noted on Austria, one of these being priced at eighteenpence ; and between the years 1872 to 1889 there are no books issued on the Austrian Empire.

That is, in fifty-three years two books are catalogued for English readers upon this great Empire. Since that date there are such books as Whitman's " Story of the Nations," some statistical books, especially Geoffrey Drage's " Austria-Hungary," and one or two light books of travel ; upon separate parts of Austria, such as Bohemia, the Tyrol, the Danube, more books have appeared, but upon Austria as a whole there is a dearth unaccountable of works in the English tongue. For historical and other references I have had to go to the works of Palacky, Ploetz, Mayer, Borovsky, Putzger, etc., and to the local publications in the various provinces and towns, to the Governmental statistical works, or to the great work on Austria begun by the Crown Prince Rudolf. To most of these authors and to others I have referred in the body of this work ; but I have relied largely

vii on my own note-books, written during numerous journeys since 1873. In this volume I have tried to draw attention to what might be overlooked, rather than to the obvious to all travellers, and so have given sketches of the family life of the peasant and the well-to-do citizen, and sketched the intellectual aspirations and amusements of the people, giving cameos of the history in various provinces, as illustrative of the building up of the Empire. One fact will illustrate how little Austria and its nature marvels are known to the English reading public. I asked three well-read men, one an Alpinist, the length of the great chain of mountains, the Carpathians. The first answer was " about fifty miles," the second " about twenty miles," and the Alpinist said " perhaps hundreds of miles " ; but the fact that they swept round Southern and Eastern Austria for the length of over eight hundred miles astonished the three men.

Austria is so decentralised an Empire, that one meets with excellent work in Art, Music, Literature and Science, in, to an Englishman, remote towns. The Art, Trade and Science Schools foster invention, often high-souled genius ; and the local reverence for the history of the Homeland produces poets and historians — romancist and dramatist.

Throughout Austria, both I and my artist friend, Donald Maxwell, are indebted to so many courteous and kindly hospitable friends, who have enabled us

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Preface

to see and know somewhat of the home life in the varied parts of the Empire, and we have been cordially assisted in our work by the Ministry of Railways, of Education, and of the Public Works, and by the officials of towns and provinces ; by town clerks, librarians, curators, and schoolmasters ; but we feel what a small space we have in this volume wherein to attempt to make the English reading public comprehend the intense interest and gloriously varied nature there is to hold and delight one in the Austrian Empire.

IX

NOTE

For the names of places no exact rule has been followed. Locally now in Austria the traveller will find the names of towns given in two, and even three, tongues ; and it is necessary to know the name in the language preponderant in the district, and used in Maps and Guide-books. Frequently the dual name is given, such as the Slav and the Teuton, although the Slav accents have perforce been omitted.

Contents

I. Introductory .

II. Into Austria via the Elbe. Northern and Eastern Bohemia

III. The Capital of Bohemia, Prague

Chapter I Introductory

AUSTRIA as an Empire contains every type of Nature glory that Europe has to offer, and such varied races of humanity dwell within her borders that the student of history and ethnology is overwhelmed with dramatic incident and varied intensity of contrast.

And yet how little known is Austria to English readers. Of all that vast Empire, teeming with delightful beauty and exciting glories, certain points are known to the British traveller and diplomatist : the capitals such as Vienna, Prague, and Cracow, are known at least by name, although in sending a wire lately to Prague at a big English post office, I was given the German rate, and on doubting the price, was asked if it was not in Germany !

The glorious rivers of Austria, the Danube, Moldau or Vltava, to give its Bohemian name, and Elbe, are also known by name, but how few English are there who have wandered up the wild and intensely romantic ravines or klamms or grunds of the Elbe and Moldau, or halted on the famous historic spots on the Danube, amidst the romantic hills overshadowing the beauteous wide sweeps of that mighty flood.

The Danube ! That is sung of in the Niebelungen Lied, in Undine, and many legends and stories ; that has witnessed such heroic scenes in both mediaeval and modern times.

Austria's lesser rivers issue from mountain gorges that climb up to rugged, serrated mountain peaks far above the snow line, and from glacier heights they leap down to mirrored lakes that exceed in varied romantic beauty of both form and colour the betterknown lakes of Italy or Switzerland.

The clusters of emerald and turquoise gems that lie amidst the mountains at Ischl and at St Wolfgang, at Veldes and Wochein-Feistritz, and in the Tyrol, have a wondrous, varied charm that is ever enticing and beauteous. The railways that penetrate these mountain fastnesses are marvels of engineering skill that excite the expert in such details.

There is also the sea-coast of Austria, down the Adriatic, combining the colour of Italy with the soft, grey elusiveness of the Grecian isles. The towns upon its shores are full of wondrous monuments of past glories, under Roman and Venetian rule ; whilst the peoples of mingled Eastern and Western types, now living amidst these monuments, still retain much of their picturesque costume, and old habits of life and speech. The towns of Austria vary from the almost perfect mediaeval walled town, with its watchman patrolling around its gates and walls and towers, to the most modern city, built entirely upon new ideas, a city without a slum ; and the capitals of the various kingdoms and provinces, that make up this varied

Introductory

Empire, have in their splendid modern development preserved much of their historic glory.

The peasantry are yet full of mediaeval custom, and their costume in many spots is brilliant in colour and quaint in style ; but these same peasants are keenly alive to the scientific learning of the day, their knowledge gained under the very interesting and remarkable system of education adopted in Austria. The student of history, archaeology, or ethnology will find hints in this volume of as yet untrodden fields of research. Vast libraries, or the archives of small towns, contain light upon our own history, when it has been linked, as it so often has been, with that of Austria ; and the lover of romance can lave in a perfect sea of strange, weird legend, or historic fact yet stranger, and more weird and horrible, linked with the castles, abbeys, and monasteries that cluster so thickly on the hills and river banks, and yield so much to the lover of architecture, history, or folklore.

Not only in the ruins, or in the castles, that perchance for a thousand years have been inhabited, are preserved historic mementoes of the past, but in the palatial or tiny museums that are lovingly tended in city and townlet all over Austria. Art treasures, pictures, missals, books, armour, glass, domestic objects, needlework, all the past life is illustrated and jealously guarded.

In the matter of climate the traveller has enormous variety, from the mountain range of the Riesengebirge in the north, where the " snow men " even in May clothe the hills in white, to the soft, luxurious, southern air at Ragusa on the Adriatic, where summer ever smiles, and palms and roses flourish.

And the student in botany or geology has a vast variety of Nature's handiwork before him, sometimes embracing most unusual if not unique examples.

To the sportsman, the fisherman, and huntsman, Austria and her rivers, lakes, and forests offer big opportunities, for not only is Nature prolific with fish and game, but Austria in this, as in so many other things, takes care that the latest science assists Nature. In winter, sport of ski-ing and skating, and tobogganing or luging, as the French call it, can be revelled in on the mountain heights in glorious sunshine.

There are two things by which Austria has conquered the world, her music, and her industrial methods.

Her music in the days of Mozart and Haydn lit the intellectual world with its beauty, and to-day her composers, Dvofak, Strauss, Smetana, and her musicians, be they German or Slav, command the reverence and respect of all lovers of music.

One great work has been done in Austria, in all her dominions, by her remarkable educational system that decentralises, and yet in the end centralises, the highest types of scientific and technical education, enabling genius wherever found to advance and assist the nation ; and thus it is that Austrian products, her artistic creations, and domestic furniture are seen in every home in the western world, and her land is tilled with scientific knowledge, so that an Irish journalist who had travelled with the author through Bohemia, wrote : " There is only one thing they cannot grow, and that is weeds."

With such a vast outlook over such an Empire, so full of varied and intense interests, where the people

Introductory

of many races, speaking varied tongues, are all pressing forward in national and industrial life, how in one volume give such an impression of the whole as to induce the reader to go to Austria, and there study and enjoy the glories and beauty of her Empire ? But such is the aim of both artist and writer in this volume, and may that object be successfully attained.

Chapter II

INTO AUSTRIA VIA THE ELBE. NORTHERN AND EASTERN BOHEMIA

FOR the traveller from England there are two especial gates of entry into Austria, through France and over that most picturesque of railways, the Arlberg, to the pleasant town of Innsbruck, lying amidst the snowy Alps, or via the Hook of Holland to Dresden, and up through the rocky palisades of the Elbe to cross the frontier, afoot or riding, amidst the forests of Saxon Switzerland, or at the frontier railway town of Bodenbach on the Elbe.

It is by this latter route we commence our tour and study of Austria. There are of course other routes to Dresden, via Flushing, Ostend, or Calais, and Austria can also be entered by railways at such a point as Eger, for those going direct to Marienbad or Carlsbad, but this district we shall quickly reach also by the Dresden route.

Perhaps the most pleasantly picturesque way to enter Austria is to travel up from Dresden, by the comfortable and well-found Elbe saloon steamers, to disembark at Schandau, the last important German halting-place, send on the luggage to Herrenskretchen, and walk (or ride : ponies may be hired) a most delightful four and a half hours walk through the forest-clad mountains to this first Bohemian town.

The frontier is crossed between the height of the Grosse Winterberg and the strange, massive, natural arch of the Prebischthor, which is in Austria.

Standing on this strange and giddy outlook point, the traveller will begin to glean some faint idea of the picturesque, varied beauty of the kingdom of Bohemia, one of the richest jewels in the Austrian Imperial Crown.

A vast territory lies around of mountain peak and dark forest upland, and in the valleys lie the picturesque, prosperous villages, surrounded by meadow and fruit orchards, and cornland watered by innumerable streams that give fertility to the soil, and are often used as motive power for industrial work. In descending from this aerial outlook, one of the most romantic ravines in ail Austria can be traversed, the Edmunds Klamm; these klamms, or defiles, or gorges, to give them an English title, are characteristic of the mountain passes in many parts of Austria ; and in this Northern Bohemia lie also the fantastic and even grotesque mighty rock formations that have been dubbed " Rock towns." The two greatest of these strange Titanic groups of weird rocks lie in the extreme north of Bohemia on the borders of Prussian Silesia ; Adersbach, and Weckelsdorf . These formations were supposed to be enchanted towns turned into stone, so like are the vast rock piles to man's fortifications. But beyond the great line of masses of rock, isolated piers start up and are formed into grotesque shapes of varied forms, men and women, animals, etc., and at their base are caverns and narrow passages that are awe-inspiring and weirdly strange. _The first time we saw Edmunds Klamm was in early spring, and we dropped down into the narrow defile after a walk from the little town of Herrenskretchen to the village of Johnsdorf. Often since then have I pierced into these silent mountain recesses, beautiful at all seasons, but even in autumn never more lovely than on this day of spring, when the sombre pines that sprang from every rock ledge contrasted with the delicate, fresh, young green leaves of the birch ; the winter's torrents were still frozen, and hung in crystal light-blue and white cascades over the grey, towering rocks ; and these rocks were lit up with great splashes of sulphur-hued lichen, whilst overhead, above the mighty precipitous palisades, was the soft, clear blue sky in brilliant sunshine. Down through the gorge, rushes and hurtles, and foams onward the little river Kamnitz, rushing down rapids and over falls, but all at once it reaches a deeply worn bed, and all is still : and one can take a boat, and in absolute silence float on down the stream until another waterfall is reached, and the boat must be abandoned. A pleasant walk leads on through a gorge that reminds one of the Lyn Valley in Devon, or the Wye and its upper reaches, and yet here there is a vastness, and touches of colour not present in Welsh or Devon scenery. Then again a boat can be taken, and save in dry seasons the rapids of the little Kamnitz can be shot, down to the romantic village of Herrenskretchen on the broad Elbe.

This is as it were but a thumb-nail sketch of a marvellously beautiful scene, about which one could paint many pictures ; but our vast subject and limited space enforce condensation, and this picture of Edmunds Klamm pleads to the reader to imagine

I ETSi hundreds of such scenes as this in Bohemia, and in other parts of Austria, where her mountain streams carve out a beauty of varied charm in their course to Danube, or Elbe, or Moldau, or to her mountain lakes.

The Elbe from Herrenskretchen to Leitmeritz or Litomerice is full of beauty and interest. At Tetschen a diversion can be made from the river, and the railway utilised for excursions into a part of Bohemia that is crowded with strange scenery, and castles perched in romantic positions amidst mysterious rocky fastnesses.

The railway climbs slowly the hills until Tannenberg is reached, one of the highest points ; and then one can drop down by various routes either to the plateaus surrounded by the Iser Mountains or still farther onward, either by motor or carriage or rail, to Reichenberg and Turnov (Turnau) and Trautenau, from whence a view of the Giant Mountains is gained.

In this district, wherein lie these towns, there are wonders of Nature and beauties of scenery, and historic castles and quaint towns that would pleasantly occupy months of travel. And herein lie also busy industries such as glass, ceramics, weaving, jewellery; and educational establishments for the development of these industries that will detain the enthusiast in artistic development many a day. At Reichenberg is the oldest weaving school in Europe, splendidly equipped, and an excellent industrial museum. At Turnov a jewellery school of extremely high order, and deeply interesting ; at Trautenau an agricultural school, and in this district also are the remarkable castles of Burgstein or Sloup, a great castle scooped

ii out of an isolated standstone rock ; the historic, picturesque fortress of Bezdez or Bosig, the castles of the Wallenstein family, and the Roll ruin from whence such a vast view can be had of this romantic district, and a score of other castles, many still inhabited, others picturesque ruins.

Not a volume but a pile of volumes might be written upon the legend and history and architecture of the castles of Bohemia. The whole of Bohemia is dotted with these strongholds, and some of the most characteristic are in this northern section of the country, although all Bohemia teems with them.

The castle of Friedland, the erstwhile home of Wallenstein, is exceptionally well placed ; built around a basaltic mountain cone, now with extensive, handsome halls full of art and history treasures. The first building was a strong tower at the summit of the cone, and to-day the dungeons of the castle are at the summit, but embedded in the solid basalt. The date on this tower is 1014, and its fitful, fierce history can be traced until to-day.

Perhaps the weirdest of all these castles is that of Burgstein or Sloup near Haida. This was an isolated mass of sandstone left in a plainland and rising some 200 feet above the level. On its summit now flourish pine trees and other vegetation. But enter at its base, and by a narrow and V-shaped staircase, just wide enough for one person at a time to ascend, all the rooms, and armoury, and chapel, and stables of a castle can be entered ; all scooped out of the solid rock. Around this impregnable fortress was a lake, and the only approach was defended by a drawbridge ; and from this stronghold sallied forth the robber baron who held it, and ravaged the country around. In its Hunger tower when opened were found relics of humanity, and inscriptions carved on the walls, and drawings of loaves of bread, the chalice, the Husite's sign; roses, death's-heads and crosses, a woman with a child, and a line of strokes, perhaps the tally of days of some poor, starving wretch, maimed but not killed when thrown down. These Hunger towers are always a part of all the mediseval castles in Central Europe.

Another castle, not so weird, but of more imposing dimensions, is that of Bosig or Bezdez. Here is a great Hunger tower, never yet opened ; the walls are 15 feet in thickness. Another tall tower above, on the summit of the rocky ridge the castle walls enclose, commands a magnificent expanse of view, and the chapel is a charming example of fourteenth-century work. At one of the trefoil-headed windows were two niches that had both been walled up ; on opening them a skeleton was found walled into the one, the other was empty ; the awful problem of these two niches is full of strange, dramatic possibilities, and such problems are everywhere to be met with in these fascinating ruins, or still inhabited castles of Bohemia. In the volume " Pictures from Bohemia " I have sketched many of them, and developed some of them in my novels. In this district there is also the peculiarly strange type of scenery known as the Rock towns — wild labyrinths of gigantic rocks towering in the strangest of forms to the varied heights of hundreds of feet, even up to 600 feet. Some of the principal of these are near Jicin and Turnov. and from the latter place the castles of Waldstein and Gros and Klein Skal can be visited.

The range of the Giant Mountains affords a series of pleasant excursions, the highest point, the Schneekoppe, often cannot be ascended in the spring because of the snow. I remember once in the second week in May intending to ascend it, but on our awaking in the little town at the foot of the mountain all was white around us, and the porter at the inn told us it had " Kolossal geschneit heute fruh."

It had snowed colossally early in the morning, and tramping through half-melting snow is not possible. But at other times of the year the ascent is quite simple. The height is just upon 5300 feet, and the view from the summit is an immense and glorious one. It is on the frontier of Germany and Austria, and the view comprises vast stretches of both Empires. The network of railway that links up all parts of Bohemia will quickly run us down from Hohenelbe from whence the Giant Mountain excursions can be made, or from Trautenau to the central plainlands of Bohemia ; but the roads are good, and I have run easily at fifty miles an hour over them in an automobile, and driven hundreds of miles in pair-horsed carriages, that can be hired at low rates in most of the towns. One of the great pleasures, keenly enjoyed by all in these towns is music. At Jicin we heard a remarkable orchestra, and a mixed-voice choir, all amateurs of every grade of society in the town : their rendering of choice music was excellent.

At Jicin we are within easy driving or motoring distance of a district that has been dubbed the Bohemian Paradise ; and truly it is full of great natural beauty, of strange hill form ; vast, grotesque rock formations, lovely valleys and river gorges and meadows, and fruit lands that are richly cultivated. It embraces the mysterious ruins of the old castle of the Wallensteins, known as Waldstein, and the still more strange castle of Gros Skal with its horrible rock dungeons and subterranean passages ; and near here is the town of Turnov (Turnau) that has much besides its jewellery school to induce a halt. The district is famous also for its precious stones, especially the rich-hued Bohemian garnet. Two places especially interesting are Rotstein, with its wonderful masses of gigantic rocks, and the little town of Rovensko, where they boast of having an arrangement for the bells unique in Europe. The bells, in a tower, are hung mouth upwards, and are let go and rung by men's feet on treadles ; but there is a somewhat similar arrangement at East Bergholt near Dedham in England, only here the bells are on the ground in the churchyard, and not in a tower. We heard some good music at this small town, and the school children sing well.

The strangest of all the castles in this district, so packed full of natural beauty and historic interest, is that of the defiant Trosky — two castles perched on two lofty peaks, once opponents, then linked with a great wall, and to-day a most imposing ruin that dominates the whole country for a hundred miles over the plainland. A good ending to a tour in this district can be made at Jung Bunzlau, or Mlada Boleslav, as the Cechs call it.

Not only is the district we have been sketching full of natural beauty and industrial interest, but historically it is important — both in mediaeval times, when the lords of its numerous castles, the Waldsteins and Rosenbergs and others, played important parts in European history ; and in the Prussian campaign of 1866, Jicin and Trautenau, Sadowa, and the Rock town of Prokov, were the scenes of bloody conflicts and decisive battles.

Before running into Prague, the capital of Bohemia, there are some points of interest in Eastern Bohemia that cannot be omitted from any book on Austria.

The town of Kutna Hora, or Kuttenberg, to give the German name, is full of mediaeval monuments, recalling the important role that this town played as second city, and money-chest of the kingdom of Bohemia in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

In many parts of Austria there is much material for the lover of folklore and legend, and for the historical romancist ; and in Bohemia especially are the legends connected with the castles, and the history highly dramatic, and here in Kutna Hora are buildings that recall a terrible past, when religious wars were carried on with savage intensity, and yet a period when architecture and other arts flourished.

The great Church of St Barbara, a superb example of fourteenth- and early fifteenth-century architecture, contains some most remarkable monuments, and the other churches and civic buildings in and around the town, some dating back to the twelfth century, all tell of a great past history ; and not far from the town, overshadowing the little village of Kank, is a hill, the Kahlenberg, that recalls vividly the terrors of the Hussite period.

Here was the silver mine of St Martin's, and in

Palacky's History is given a vivid description of the man-hunts which were adopted for catching the heretics, who were burnt or beheaded, until the executioner became so wearied and the prisoners so numerous, that they were leashed together in groups, driven to the pit's mouth, and the first one or two driven over, and these pulled all the others over, and thus they were hurled to the bottom of the mine, which was about 300 feet deep. History states that no less than 5496 men and women were hurled down this one shaft. The reliquary or bone house chapel at Sedlec, not far off, gives awful evidence of the murderous work of this Wiclif period.

There are many points of interest and historic towns in this eastern part of Bohemia, and in the life of "A forgotten Great Englishman," and in the novels, " The Gleaming Dawn " and the " Cardinals' Page," I have given the history and somewhat of the romance of this period, when Bohemia and England were intimately linked together : when Anne of Bohemia, the wife of Richard the Second of England, lived at Bristol Castle and received the dues of Bristol and Southampton as part of her dowry, and many Bohemians were resident in England.

Not far by train from Kutna Hora is a town most prettily situated on the Elbe, the historic Podiebrad. The castle still stands, though much altered, where the great King George of Podiebrad was born. Prince Hohenlohe now resides there, and it was from here that the famous Hohenlohe memoirs went forth to the world. This town, so famous in past ages, has lately renewed its life by the discovery of valuable medicinal waters, and Prince Hohenlohe has established a Spa, since acquired by the town, that is attracting many to the old and interesting town.

In all these towns there is a social and family life that is very homely, but full of pleasant culture. In the upper professional and official circles and the well-to-do intellectual tradesmen who mingle together, there is always a love of literature or history, and, above all, of music. Let me sketch two homes, one of a well-known doctor, the other of a learned imperial councillor. In the first, I met at dinner the principal chemist of the town and the Protestant pastor, both learned men : the chemist, a good historian and learned antiquary ; the pastor, a clever linguist and a great patriot. The doctor's house was full of artistic treasures, books, pictures and sculpture ; his wife and daughters were notable housekeepers, priding themselves on their table, loaded with their own delicious productions. The ladies, as is the custom in most Slav houses, and many Teuton, wait on their guests ; but after dinner, whilst looking over some missals and historic treasures, we heard delightful music in another room, and quitting our books, we went in to see Madam at the piano, joining her son, who is a master of the violin, in a duet. So do the Bohemian ladies combine, and enjoy, the dual life of the careful housekeeper and the artist.

In the imperial councillor's home the wife was proud of her confections for the table, and loved to see her guests enjoy the products of her culinary skill, and after handing round delicious coffee, she sat down to the piano and played a song of her husband's translation from the English, set to music by herself, and then rambled away into masterly rendered excerpts from their own Cech masters, Dvorak, Smetana, and, on being asked, some of Wagner.

Another example of the outcome of Bohemian education in homelife was vividly presented at Domazlice (Taus), where during a luncheon the guests were waited upon by a bevy of very handsome girls, all delightfully dressed in white and cream-coloured dresses, enriched with elaborate needlework. We were told afterwards the whole luncheon had been prepared and cooked by these ladies, who were daughters of the best families of the district, and that their dresses were entirely their own handiwork : here also we had most excellent music.

Of the beauty of the Bohemian women we will quote a German author, writing in 1841, of a popular Slav fete on the Island in the Moldau. He devotes great space to the beauty present : " One lovely face followed each other in quick succession," and after arguing on the probable reason for this beauty, adds, " Be this, however, as it may, Prague is decidedly a very garden of beauty. For the young ladies of 1841, I am ready to give my testimony most unreservedly " ; and continues, " Titian, who studied the faces of lovely women for ninety-six years, and who, while at the Court of Charles V., spent five years in Germany, tells us, it was among the ladies of Prague that he found his ideal of a beautiful female head. If we go back beyond the times of Titian, we have the declaration of Charles IV. that Prague was a hortus deliciarum."