Current Exhibits

The cross shown here is silver with hallmarks from 1805 or 1809. Stamp marks on metalwork objects usually certified their precious metal content. Further stamps had to do with legal stipulations.

The cross has an eight-piece foot with a double hallmark in the rhombus containing a large ‘C’s and another with an ‘8’, denoting 8-Lot silver. In addition, there is a stamp with crossed keys. At the foot of the cross is an inscription: ‘1470’ in Gothic numerals.

On the front of the cross, the ends of the top half branch out into trefoils. Trefoils are a common element of the late Romanesque and Gothic style and consist of three, outward-pointing circular arcs with the same radii as inscribed in a circle.

Left and right can be found the single letters ‘F’ and ‘H’ (probably the owner’s initials). At the top is the inscription ‘IH. CROS’, the abbreviation for ‘Jesus Christ’. The inscription ‘INRI’ (‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’) can be found above a relic window in the shape of a Teutonic Order cross. The trefoil on the lower end is decorated with a black, wolf-like animal in a blazon. The ring at the top end once served to attach a securing tape to ensure the cross did not fall during prayer processions.

The reverse shows an engraving of St. Christopher with the Infant Jesus and has a removable piece of the True Cross under clear quartz along with the coat of arms of an unknown bishop.

The inscription ‘receptacle containing the confirmation from Rome of the authenticity of this piece of the True Cross’ can be found on the bottom plate. This was the certificate of authenticity of a relic issued by a bishop. The foot of the cross is hollow, presumably it once held the now-lost certificate. The processional cross comes from the Margarete Sperl collection. It was a gift from His Magnificence Günther Georg Bauer, privy councillor of Salzburg.

The oil painting Alt Leogang by Michael Hofer has special significance for the region, as images of the municipality of Leogang in the mid-19th century are extremely rare.

If you view the centre of Leogang from the south, hardly anything has changed since Michael Hofer’s day. As then, the parish church of St. Leonhard and the historic ‘Kirchenwirt’ with its listed stable and farm buildings characterise Leogang in all its picturesque uniqueness.

It is assumed that the current parish church is at least the fourth sacred building to stand on this spot. The original patron saint of the church was St. Giles, but since 1477 it appears to have been St. Leonard, the so-called ‘God of Bavarian’.

St. Leonhard’s Church is unique because of the mighty iron chain around it. This rare motif is only found in churches dedicated to St. Leonhard, the ‘chain saint’. The people say ‘Mit seiner großen Ketten tut Leanhascht Leut und Vieh erretten’. (‘Leonhard will save the people and livestock with his chains.’)

St. Leonhard is pictured with a chain, as he strives to liberate prisoners. Since the 11th century he has been regarded as the patron saint of livestock, particular of horses. Incidentally, St. Leonhard’s Church is the only one of its kind in the archdiocese of Salzburg.

Behind the buildings on Hofer’s oil-on-cardboard painting is the picturesque backdrop of the Leogang Mountains, or ‘Pinzgau Dolomites’. The painting belongs to the Leogang Mining and Gothic Museum and bears Hofer’s handwritten title with his birth and death dates.

The exact origins of Lichtenberg Castle near Saalfelden are obscure. It was first mentioned in a document in 1281. The castle stands imposingly on a rock promontory above the Steinernes Meer (‘rocky sea’), 60 m above Saalfelden, and served from the end of the 13th century as the seat of the archbishop’s official who, from here, managed the Saalfelden-Lichtenberg administrative courts.

In 1526 the castle was destroyed during the Salzburg peasants’ revolt and rebuilt in subsequent decades by the Saalfelden municipality. In the course of rebuilding, the castle acquired its mighty round tower to the southwest.

After the archiepiscopal officials moved their seat of power to the valley in the early 18th century, the castle served only as the home of a senior forestry official. It fell noticeably into disrepair and was auctioned and sold for 8,340 guilders (just over 50,000 euros) to Adolf Ritter Weiß von Teßbach in 1870. Lichtenberg Castle owes its current appearance to the noble Weiß von Teßbach family; it is still in their possession today.

Behind Lichtenberg Castle, Michael Hofer’s painting shows the Leogang Valley and towering Leogang Mountains to the west and Zeller Basin to the south, with the Hohe Tauern beyond. The view to the east of the Urslautal and pilgrimage site of Maria Alm completes this tremendous panorama. Above the castle, at the foot of a high limestone cliff, we find the hermitage of St. George am Palfen which is still inhabited today.

Michael Hofer, who proves his masterful handling of colour, light, shadow and perspective here too, again with oil on cardboard, signed the picture ‘M. Hofer’ on the bottom right. The painting is on loan from a private collection in Salzburg.