Ruins and figurines
Here on the uniform flow of the Danube, time is measured in large arcs. The Venus of Willendorf has rested nearby for more than 30,000 years. Mammoth hunters left their tracks here back in the Ice Age. And as early as 1441, the local village was elevated to the status of Aggsbach "market".
The Aggstein ruins present their historical aura more dramatically, on a rocky spur high above the opposite bank of the Danube. It is one of the most striking ruins in Austria and is shrouded in countless legends. Founded as early as the 12th century, it later passed to the Kuenring family and was already deserted by 1429. Then came Georg Scheck von Wald: he rebuilt the castle, fortified it unusually strongly and with innovative building methods. The expenses for this were offset by the lucrative right to collect tolls from passing ships on the Danube. Nevertheless, its defensive strength could not protect the castle against the destruction of the Turks at the beginning of the 16th century.
Would you have thought so?
A museum, the "Venusium", has been set up here in honor of Willendorf's most famous woman: with excavations and information, it takes visitors on a journey to the first female figurines in human history. Incidentally, the original "Venus of Willendorf" can be found in the Natural History Museum in Vienna.
