!!!Bildstöcke

Wayside Shrines, term for small monuments made of wood or stone (to be 
found on hills, pilgrimage routes, at crossroads, the end of villages 
etc.) with pictures, reliefs, or (since the 17%%sup th/%  century) 
plastic representations of religious scenes, often bearing an 
inscription; in a broader sense, the term also includes wayside 
crosses, trees with religious pictures attached, mural reliefs or 
statues, field chapels, columns or wayside shrines with crucifixes 
attached. In Austria, the practice of attaching pictures of saints or 
religious scenes to pole-like shrines dates from the Middle Ages; the 
first pictures of such shrines date from the 14%%sup th/%  century, 
bearing strong gothic characteristics. Later, the shrines were 
strongly influenced by the Baroque and Rococo styles. The theory that 
such shrines derive from the stone pillars in cemeteries with a 
tabernacle-like top containing lights in commemoration of the dead, 
is, however, disputed. In Carinthia, the shrines are lavishly painted 
and frequently have steep, tent-like roofs.

!Literature
F. Hula, Die Totenleuchten und Bildstoecke Oesterreichs, 
1948; J. Weingartner, Tiroler Bildstoecke, 1948; E. Skudnigg, 
Bildstoecke und Totenleuchten in Kaernten, 1967; J. Duenninger and B. 
Schemmel, Bildstoecke und Marterln in Franken, 1970; E. Schneeweis, 
Bildstoecke in Niederoesterreich, 1981; A. Leeb, Die Flurdenkmale im 
Strassertal, 1993.


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