Engelhartszell

We’ve had to backtrack along the river to Engelhartszell, but this doesn’t mean that we miss the tour of our original destination, Regensburg. However, an hour has been added on to the coach journey each way, and having spent five hours on a coach yesterday, we didn’t feel like repeating that today. We opted for the tour of Engelhartszell instead.

Engelhartszell is a small village (pop. 500-1,000 depending on whether you count holiday homes, village vs. district etc.) or so our guide, Daniel, informed us. It does have an inordinately large church for such a small community. The church is run by the local Trappiste monks (the only Trappistes to be found in Austria), who have a monastery, homes for elderly, physically, and mentally disabled people, and also rent land to local companies. In the manner of Trappistes everywhere, they make beer, varying in strength up to 10.5% alcohol. They also make a variety of schnapps (to a secret recipe) called Magenbitter, which translates as “stomach bitter”, and is supposedly good for upset stomachs. At 38% alcohol, this is debatable.

It's so big!

If it ain't baroque...

Daniel led us on a tour of the garden, which has a microcosm of the Danube running through it. He pointed out various features – hydroelectric plant, locks, the Iron Gate, and finally emptying in the Black Sea. This is educational material for kids, and there are placards (not in English) explaining this along the way. At the end he took us into the aquarium, which features local fish, including a six-foot-long beluga sturgeon called Harry. 

Harry

After the garden, we sat in the welcoming coolth of the church. Like so many churches, it had fallen into desuetude in earlier centuries under the edict of Joseph II, who declared that monasteries must be useful – schools, hospitals, and involvement in local community were OK – or they’d be closed. Around ⅓ of all the monasteries and nunneries were closed, including this one. It was re-opened when a bunch of Trappistes were looking for somewhere to monk, and they bought it and set about restoring it. One of the ceiling frescoes was beyond salvage, so after World War II they commissioned a local artist to do it in a more modern style – the only stipulation being that it should be in the same pastel colours as the other frescoes, and that it be dedicated to Mary. “Done, and done” he said. It looks like this: 

That's Mary in the middle

Another feature of the church is the presence of four (count 'em!) catacomb saints. These are skeletons recovered from the Christian catacomb of Rome, of people who had died for their beliefs in the time before Rome converted to Christianity. Having been so persecuted automatically qualifies them for martyrdom and sainthood. The skeletons are on display in glass coffins.

I see dead people

That's about all there is to see in Engelhartszell. Daniel thanked us with a gift of a miniature of Magenbitter, invited us to explore the gift shop, and then we walked back to the ship with him.

That about concludes our tours from the good ship Gullveig. We are continuing on to Nuremburg and Prague, where more tours will be undertaken.