Klagenfurt’s Lindwurm
I imagine that most English speaking people have heard the story about St. George and the dragon. My parents recounted the myth to me when I was a child and in turn I told my children about it when they were still young enough to have bed time stories. Many years have passed since those days and it was a surprise to be reintroduced to a dragon when I came to live in Klagenfurt as in Neuer Platz, opposite the Rathaus (Town Hall), there is a large carving of the Lindwurm (dragon).
Stories about dragon like creatures are common in the mythology of countries like Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Germany and the content of the stories are as varied as the countries who own them; Klagenfurt in Austria is no exception and one of the local versions of the story is as follows.
In ancient times the ford across the nearby River Glan was frequently washed away by floods and so many people were drowned that the area became known as Klagenfurt which translates as the ‘ford of lament’. The local people however, were convinced that a water dragon was living in the river and adjacent swamps – after all they could hear it roaring during thunderstorms - and it was this creature that was responsible for all the deaths at the ford. The ruler of the country decided that the dragon would have to be destroyed and said that the man who was able to kill the monster would be given the province as a reward. In response some very brave and shrewd men resorted to a ruse. They had a big strong tower built on the edge of the swamp and chained a well fed bull outside it. They also attached a hook to the bull and then hid in the tower. It wasn’t long before the winged Lindwurm appeared and gobbled down the bull and hook in one big bite. The hook caught in the monster’s throat and threw it into a panic. As it struggled unsuccessfully to free itself of the hook it grew weaker and weaker and eventually the men who had hidden in the tower attacked the monster with clubs and spears and despatched it.
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To this day the Klagenfurt coat of arms shows the Tower and the Lindwurm to honour the bravery of those ancient men.
In reality the oldest settlements in Klagenfurt were located to the north of the present town and because of the swampy conditions, the southern part of the area was not inhabited before the 13th Century but by this time the defeat of the dragon was enshrined in local folk lore. The discovery in 1335 of a 75 cm long skull that couldn’t be identified enhanced belief in the Lindwurm and as a result the skull was carefully preserved at the town hall. Unfortunately the skull was examined by a palaeontologist in about 1840 and he identified the relic as the cranium of a woolly rhinocerous.
It is believed that the sculpture of the Lindworm in Klagenfurt was carved in about 1590 by Ulrich Vogelsang from a single piece of chlorite slate. It is also believed that he used the skull as a model for the Lindwurm’s head. The sculpture is approximately six metres long and estimated to weigh sixty tonnes.
Tail Piece.
It is an unfortunate fact that Klagenfurt’s Lindwurm has lost the end of its tail and the explanation for this shortening is depressingly simple. After the second world war ended British troops formed the occupying force in Klagenfurt and I have been told that a soldier decided to sit on the dragon’s tail.
The result was inevitable!!
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John Langdon
Klagenfurt
September 2007