Once a Week (magazine)/Series 1/Volume 2/Sketches in Styria - Part 1
SKETCHES IN STYRIA. By C. E.
Before describing the Château of Ehrenhausen, we shall give an outline of the beautiful scenery through which we passed, en route from Vienna, The nucleus of it is the range of mountains called, “the Semmering,” a branch of the Norische Alpen, running out from the main chain, at nearly right angles to the east, while the former stretches from the great Glockner, to the cast of the Ratische Alpen, and runs nearly north-east to Vienna. The Semmering divides the plain which extends from Vienna towards the south, from that of Gratz, in the centre of which is situated the town of the same name, the capital of Upper Styria. The railway which traverses this chain of mountains, is of a magnitude worthy of old Rome in its best days; the hills which it ascends are more than 5000 feet above the level of the sea; and the greatest elevation of the line, which is the centre of the principal tunnel of the Semmering, is not less than 2788.
From Glognitz, a “bourgade” at the foot of the Semmering, and 1308 feet above the level of the sea, the railway ascends the mountain by a succession of windings, which disclose a continual change of the most beautiful and romantic scenery, until in something more than twenty-four miles it has gained an elevation of 1480 feet. From this altitude it begins to descend towards the south, and often when it enters a valley terminating in a cul-de-sac, after turning the head of the glen it runs back for more than a mile parallel with the line it pursued on the other side of the valley, and continues till it finds an opening to the south; where again it is perhaps compelled to make a similar retrograde movement in search of an outlet; passing in its course through no less than fifteen tunnels, besides some most extraordinary galleries cut in the face of the precipices, and long corridors with rows of arches looking out from the rock upon the deep valleys below. In these valleys, rich in cultivation and pasture, and sheltered by forests which clothe the mountains to their summits, are seen here and there villages, scattered houses, convents, and châteaux; while on the towering crags above, perched like eagles’ nests on the rocks, whose natural sides cannot be distinguished from the grey masonry by which they are surmounted, rises many a noble ruin frowning in the silent grandeur of ages gone!
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Castle of Klamm.
Such, especially, is the castle of Klamm, which is situated in the centre of this mountain-pass, on the summit of the rocky Henbachkogels, where it has stood since the eleventh century, through all the wars, and revolutions, and tempests of seven-hundred years undilapidated, until, in 1801, it was struck by lightning, and reduced to a ruin. Its position is wonderful: hanging over the precipices on which it is built, so that from its projecting turrets a pebble may be dropped into the green valley below, where the cattle and their herdsmen appear like emmets on the grass. Wild, beautiful abode! and wild and daring must have been the man who first stood upon its aerial bastion, and resolved to build his eagle dwelling on that rock. A tide of overwhelming feeling rushes through the mind, as we gaze from those narrow loopholes, or wide-arched windows, and feel that this place was once inhabited by the noble and the beautiful; that its hall once resounded with all the mirth, and happiness, and splendour of social life and princely banquets, but in a pile hanging like an eagle’s nest upon the pinnacle of an isolated rock in the centre of a mountain range, some of whose peaks rise five, six, and nearly 7000 feet above the plane of the Mediterranean.[1] Even the point of view from which the above sketch was taken, is far above the ordinary haunts of man, at nearly 3000 feet above the level of the sea, upon an eminence from which the deep valleys lie hid, far beneath the prospect of the eye, and are only caught here and there, when a turn in the railway opens the bright green line of their narrow gorges.
Wonderful and magical change! from the days of the feudal baron who looked out from his proud fortress teeming with life, upon the solitary horse-litter, or jolting wain, toiling up the mountain-path, like the snail which climbed the rock, and ours who gaze from the now grey and silent battlements upon the rushing stream of carriages propelled by fire and water, flying from mountain to mountain; disappearing into the bowels of the earth with its long black train, like some mighty dragon! through apertures which seem, from a distance, not large enough to receive a mole, while the flying train, diminishing with every beat of the spectator’s heart, seems to contract itself to the dimensions of the rocky chasm which swallows it up. Then, issuing from beyond the hill in a cloud of white vapour, it seems to run along the face of the crags, now seen, now lost, as it shoots like lightning through the corridors of the rock, and disappears, sending its low thunder reverberating among the distant hills.
Such is the aspect which presents itself for the first time to the eye of the traveller, as he stands on the ruins of this ancient fortress, or looks down from some shattered mountain-peak. Nor is it less interesting to the occupant of a railway carriage; rock after rock seems to rise, and fall, and disappear around him; peaks, precipices, and valleys fly before the eye, like the deceptions of a phantasmagoria, and the old ruins of castles and monasteries, and villages, and groups of mountain cottages, all come and go before he has time to catch their names.
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The Church of Marie Strassengel.
In descending this range of mountains, towards the south, the beautiful valley which stretches before us leads to the town of Bruck, where the river Mur turns at right angles towards the south, and receives the combined waters of the Schwarzau and Mütz, which have already met below the Semmering, and formed the stream which we had been hitherto following. We now accompany the river Mur down the rich and beautiful valley which leads to the plain of Gratz; crossing and recrossing it, in its winding course, as it turns from side to side, washing alternately the feet of the steep wooded hills by which the valley is bounded, while here and there the train disappears amidst the broken rocks and tufts of trees, where the glen has contracted itself, and where the line cuts into the face of the solid rock—the cliffs above and the stream below—running through wide arched galleries like the arcades of a bazaar, open on one side to the river, showing between the pillars the most romantic scenery that it is possible for the mind to conceive.
We now find ourselves running down the beautiful vale which expands itself into the plain of Gratz, and after passing innumerable villages, sheltered by hills clothed in forests, out of whose rich foliage still continue to rise, here and there, on either side, the remains of many a noble pile, or still inhabited châteaux of the nobles of Stürmark. Among the most remarkable of the former are the ruins of the Castle of Güstinge, belonging to the Counts of Attems, but uninhabited since the year 1711. From this elevated point, as also from the votive chapel built in 1832, on the south side of the hill on which the castle stands, there is an exquisite view down the valley of the Mur, the chain of “Alps,” and the plain of Gratz. Still more interesting, however, is the little gothic church of “Marie Strassengel,” which stands on a wooded eminence to the right. This building was erected in the fourteenth century, and is attributed to Hauser, the principal architect engaged in the construction of the cathedral of St. Stephen’s in Vienna. The Church of Marie Strassengel was finished in 1355.
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The Château of Ehrenhausen, Upper Styria.
After having passed these interesting objects, we issue from the valley, and cross the plain of Gratz, in the centre of which, on the left of the line, rises the town of that name, with its fortress built on a rocky eminence, surrounded by trees and walks, while the town encircles the whole with all its gardens and orchards, and these are again encompassed by the most luxuriant cultivation, which stretches over the plain to the feet of the encircling hills, whose sides are studded with châteaux, and villas, and châlets. Having passed this beautiful town, the hills approach again from either side, leaving a narrow vale, through which run both the river and the railway; and the flying train, surpassing the stream in speed, soon brings us to the more extensive plain which stretches between the western mountains of Upper Styria and those of Gleichenberg Kugelberg, and Stradner-Kogel, the latter 1900 feet high, and in an hour’s run we arrive at Ehrenhausen, with its noble château rising in majestic grandeur above.
The hill upon which the castle stands rises from the right bank of the Mur, which river has its sources in two lakes not far from St. Michael’s, in the west extremity of the Norische Alpen, at the foot of the Rathhausberg, where also commence the Ratische Alpen in their course south-west; after passing Bruck, Gratz, Ehrenhausen, Marburg, it falls into the Drau, some miles below the Natter, and, in its turn, the Drau is swallowed up by the Danube below the town and fortress of Esseg. The castle-hill of Ehrenhausen is covered with fine trees—oak, beech, pine, and elm, and a variety of other kinds, over which the castle commands a magnificent view of the surrounding country, especially across the beautiful and richly-cultivated plain which stretches towards the east, towards the hills of Gleichenberg, where the buildings of the celebrated baths of that name shine like a mass of snow. To the west, north and south, rise in every form, mountains which have all the characteristics of an alpine range. Among these hills the views are of unrivalled beauty; valleys of luxuriant verdure and cultivation, the eminences clothed at their feet, and often half-way up their sides with vineyards and gardens, and studded everywhere with châlets of the most picturesque forms surrounded by forest and fruit-trees, and trellised with vines.
- ↑ The highest are—Grünschacher, 5490 feet; the Henkuppe, 6340; and the Schneeberg, 6570.