Impressions from Vienna – Tiergarten Schönbrunn – dragon-heads and other interesting things…

…and again another “embroidery-posting-free” sunday with more impressions from the Tiergarten Schönbrunn for you.

This week I have some new and interesting photos for you like pictures of traditional “Drachenköpfe” (dragon-heads), an about 100 Million year old stone plate,…

But first I would like to tell you why I find the building on the picture above – the “Tirolerhof” – so interesting:

This farm house, as you can see on the picture above and underneath, is a real old traditional farm house. It was relocated from the alps to Vienna. Yes, stone for stone – from the alps to Vienna. Amazing what people can do, isn’t it? …and in my opinion it looks like this farm house was there for ever, like it was never relocated.

For those of you who can read German, you can find the whole information about the “Tirolerhof” <here> at the website of the Tiergarten Schönbrunn.
…and for all of you who can’t read German – I did my best to translate the German text for you:

In the year 1722 this farm house, the “Haidachhof aus Brandenberg” was called the most beautiful farm house of Tyrol* by the authorized representative for monument protection Dr. Franz Caramelle. This farm house is a typical two-story “Unterinntaler”** “Einhof”***. It consists of a housing unit, a stable/barn and a building for farming. The owners of the entailed estate wanted to replace the farm house with a new building for quite a long time but because it has been under monument conservation, they didn’t get a permission to do it.
The farm house was bought by the Tiergarten Schönbrunn and worn away by accurately numbering every piece. Finally it was re-build piece for piece on the area of the zoo.
With this building the zoo now possesses a unique attraction with high scientific value. In the stables of the Tirolerhof not only animals which are threatened by extinction are looked after but also the handling with this animals is shown demonstrative.

Already in the year 1802 a farm house in the Tyrol stile was build by order of the Archduke Johann, a brother of the emperor Franz II./I., which also gave the adjacent area its name “Tirolergarten”.

*= Austria consists of 9 federal states, Tyrol/Tirol is one of them
**= the name of the small region/valley in the alps where the house was located
***= I couldn’t find a definition or translation for this word but translated word for word it means: Ein=one, hof=court/yard/farm – I guess this means a one building farm complex but I can’t say for sure

…but enough information and text, lets look at some photos of this Tirolerhof:

…and I guess you already noticed the “Drachenköpfe” – dragon-heads?!

According to the information the zoo gives about them, they are a traditional defense against every kind of badness and frame the windows of the Tirolerhof. I am quite sure that they work similar to the blue “eyes” made from glass in the mediterranean areas – that they scare off all the bad things before they can enter ones home.

Cute, aren’t they? 😉 …another interesting detail you might like is the small inscription you can find on the right side of the house:

Well, what i couldn’t decipher for sure, I tried to assume for the translation:

German:

Mein Vader ist kei Edelsman
das Sehet mir an den geberden an
mein Rum ist ein Ackerspflug
die Ressel hedden Arbeit genug

English

My father is no nobleman
you can tell from my gestures
my glory is a plow
the horses have work enough

…and last but not least I promised you a 100 Million old stone, didn’t I? Well, it’s not a normal stone, as you can see here:

On the right side of the Tirolerhof you can find this rather huge and I am sure also very heavy stone. It was once part of the “Atzlriff” from the Brandenbergtal in Tyrol – a 100 Million old stone with fossils from the alps. I am normally not very much into stones but I find fossils like this amazing.

I hope you enjoyed our small journey today. Next week I have some pictures for you which look a little bit more “Steampunk”, I promise. 🙂