exhibition - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 2007 - 55 Euro Cent

Fire and Earth - these two elements have always been of fundamental importance to humanity and civilization, good and evil, beneficial and destructive at the same time. These are the two elements that shaped the life and prosperity of the Mostviertel region in a special way. The fire as a prerequisite for the iron processing and blacksmithing, the earth as a fertile soil for thousands of cider pear trees. Fire and earth - these two elements are thematically in the focus of the Lower Austrian Provincial Exhibition 2007 and will be presented side by side in two exhibition venues: in Waidhofen / Ybbs on the Eisenstraße and in St. Peter in the Au on the Moststraße. The Hammerherrenstadt Waidhofen / Ybbs provides the right setting for the theme of fire. The exhibition in the Rothschild Castle presents an exciting arc from the fascination of this element to the influence on our lives. The duplicity of the emotional power of fire, the conveyance of warmth and the feeling of security as well as the fear, the use of fire for our food in cooking and for the production of important materials, for example glass and ceramics The use of fire in the transformation of energy are the topics of the exhibition as well as the fire as a force of nature in volcanoes, conflagrations and as a weapon in the hands of the people. Waidhofen an der Ybbs was for centuries the center of Eisenwurzen. Since the 12th century existed in the Ybbstal iron industry, which processed the iron from the nearby Styrian Erzberg. In its heyday in the 14th and 15th centuries Waidhofen owned about 200 blacksmiths. Large factories like the Böhlerwerke have long replaced the many small businesses. St. Peter in der Au, together with the nearby Stift Seitenstetten, is the center for the presentation of the Element Earth. Earth is safe ground and represents home. We owe our livelihoods to this element. Earth prepares enjoyment as a landscape and with its fruits. Earth becomes threatening when it gets moving as earthquakes, landslides, mudslides. Antiquity is the starting point for the journey through the cultic significance of the earth in the various cultural circles, creation myths, death cults, earth as the last place. These themes are processed in the castle of St. Peter. The building was first mentioned in documents in 1277, the building dates back to the Renaissance and formed together with the late Gothic fortified church, the local defense system. The baroque courtyard garden of Stift Seitenstetten invites you to a "rest in the garden" and presents itself in a new design as a place of silence and roses.