Tyrol (Austria) -- Description and travel; Tyrol (Austria) -- History
The town itself is shut in by the mountains and dominated by the old
fortress of Shattenburg, now used as a retreat or home for the poor;
and for this reason perhaps is less resorted to than it otherwise
might be. There are, however, a large number of most interesting
excursions to be made in the neighbourhood, and the fifteenth-century
church is a fine one, with a good "Descent from the Cross" by a native
artist, Wolfgang Huber, and a remarkable and handsome pulpit, both
dating from the early years of the sixteenth century. Costume, too, is
occasionally seen in Feldkirch, and on one Sunday, the occasion of a
festival, there were quite a number of women wearing the old-time
steeple-crowned, brimless beaver hats--in shape somewhat like that of
a Russian _Moujick_ or the busby of a Grenadier--wide white collars,
embroidered bodices, and handsome brocaded aprons.
The last place in Tyrol when leaving it by the Arlberg route is the
most delightful and ancient town of Bregenz, standing upon the
north-eastern shore of Lake Constance. It is the capital of the
Vorarlberg, and in this delightful corner of Tyrol there is no town of
greater charm or historic interest. Above it rises the picturesque
Gebhardsberg, from the summit of which there is one of the most
celebrated panoramic views in Tyrol, embracing as it does the
beautiful lake, the Appenzell Mountains, and the rapidly flowing
Rhine.
There are really two towns in Bregenz. The old town, shaped like a
quadrilateral, standing on the hill which ages ago was the site of the
Roman settlement and castle, with two ancient gates, one of which has
been pulled down; and the newer town, with its shady promenades, quay,
modern buildings, and air of bustle during the tourist season.
[Sidenote: A LEGEND OF BREGENZ]
Irrespective of its unusually beautiful situation, one finds in
Bregenz much to interest and detain. It is a truly ancient place, with
much history--some of it of a romantic kind--attached to it. In the
Middle Ages, indeed, the overlords of the town and district were so
powerful that their house supplied the Emperor Charlemagne with a
bride, concerning whom there is a legendary and highly romantic tale.
[Illustration: CHURCH INTERIOR, TYROL]
It would appear from this story that Charlemagne was of a more than
usually suspicious nature, and by no means one of those complaisant
husbands with which the Mediæval tales have familiarized us. An old
lover of Hildegarde, having seen her married to the Emperor with great
distress of mind, in his wrath against her for preferring even an
Emperor to himself, got ear of Charlemagne, and so succeeded in
poisoning the latter's mind against his bride, that he either divorced
or repudiated her, and married a Lombardian princess called
Desiderata.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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