cover from Austria

Last Wednesday I got a cover from Austria.

Used for postage were four stamps including once again the lovely definitive showing a herbarized lady's slipper (issued 15-01-2008) and a souvenir sheet about Historic Mail Vehicles (issued 27-08-2015). The most interesting of these four for me however is the last one. It is from a series about Austrian wine regions and shows the Pagans' Gate at Carnuntum together with a Roman helmet (issued 05-09-2015). Carnuntum, a huge archaeological site and crossroads of trade routes in the Roman Empire, got the European Heritage Label in 2013.

Inside were three Austrian postcards.

The first card shows the Beethoven House in Baden bei Wien. In Baden bei Wien, a famous spa town in the Austrian State of Lower Austria, Ludwig van Beethoven spent his summer for 15 years. Between 1821 and 1823 he lived in this house at Rathausgasse 10, which is now known as Beethoven House and where he composed big parts of his 9th Symphony. Today it houses a museum.

EDIT: As one of The Great Spa Towns of Europe is Baden bei Wien since July 2021 on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Also the second card deals with Ludwig van Beethoven and shows some places in Baden, Bonn and Vienna connected to his life. It is especially nice to get a card like that in Beethoven's jubilee year.

The last card shows the Narrenturm in Vienna. Constructed in 1784 next to the site of the old Vienna General Hospital, the Narrenturm is continental Europa's oldest building for the accommodation of psychiatric patients. Since 1971 it is home to the Federal Pathologic-Anatomical Museum Vienna.

Thank You very much Anita!