EUROPE RENAISSANCE NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT: Easier and cheaper than PayPal bank transfer donations are essential to keep us publishing. Contact euroman_uk@yahoo.co.uk for details. You can also help by shopping at our online bookstore and encouraging others to do so. www.mikewalshwritingservices.wordpress.com

Schloss Hellbrunn, Salzburg, Austria

Trick water gardens from 1619 featuring a 200 piece mechanical theater powered by water. 

SCHLOSS HELLBRUNN WAS THE SUMMER playhouse of Markus Sittikus, the archbishop of Salzburg, built in 1619. The palace was only for the daytime; there are no bedrooms in the home. It was simply an opulent and delightful place to wile away the hot summer days for the powerful archbishop and his friends.

But Hellbrunn was not merely a place for luxurious food, wine and music. The palace was built over natural springs (supplied by the palace’s namesake, Hellbrunn River), which inspired Markus Sittikus to outfit Hellbrunn’s vast gardens with some remarkable fountains.

A summer day at Hellbrunn would start with a great outdoor feast. As the guests finished off their meal, water would suddenly shoot out of the table, and out of each guest’s seat, completely soaking all present, except of course, the archbishop. Sittikus would then lead his sopping and delighted guests through the gardens, showing them many marvels of the day.

Small water-powered automata dot the grounds, depicting everything from a knife-sharpener grinding scissors to the mythological Perseus, fighting the sea dragon and freeing the captured Andromeda. There are a number of beautiful grottoes, each one featuring a different curiosity, like the Birdcall Grotto—a mechanism, hidden from sight, makes the sounds of different bird calls, tweeting and singing in a cacophony of song. The water-powered device consisted of bellows and a pin roller which directed the air into the different pipes for the birdcalls. Also a delight of its day was the crown grotto, in which a golden crown would rise and fall on a jet of water, illustrating the quick and easy rise and fall of power.

As his guests gazed on these wonders, Markus Sittikus would place himself discreetly next to a set of controls…and before the guests knew what was happening, they were being soaked from all directions. No one was safe. It was impossible to guess when the water would come, and where it would come from. No spot in the garden was dry, except wherever Markus Sittikus stood, and where the tour guide stands today.

Hellbrunn remains almost completely unchanged nearly 400 years later, except for the Mechanical Theater, which was added in 1750, a little more than 100 years after Markus Sittikus’ death. The complicated mechanism for the enormous automaton is still functioning in its original form. The incredible theater displays a bustling baroque town with 200 moving figures, repeating their clockwork motions to the water-powered organ music.

The huge and complex Mechanical Theater and trick fountains of Hellbrunn would have been a marvel to guests in its day – and remains just as marvelous today.

Other attractions on the palace grounds include a museum in Hellbrunn hall, the Salzburg zoo, and the Steintheater, a rock quarry that was repurposed as a outdoor stone theater. Perhaps the best attraction is the Monatsschlösschen, which houses the folklore section of Salzburg’s Carolino Augusteum Museum. The charming and unique exhibition displays traditional costumes, furniture styles, and trends of everyday Austrian life in the 1600s. Source

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

MICHAEL WALSH is a journalist, broadcaster and the author of RISE OF THE SUN WHEEL, EUROPE ARISE,  TROTSKY’S WHITE NEGROES, MEGACAUST,  DEATH OF A CITY, WITNESS TO HISTORY, THE BUSINESS BOOSTER , THE FIFTH COLUMN VOLUME I and II, FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT SPEAK, IMMORTAL BELOVED, THE ALL LIES INVASION, INSPIRE A NATION Volume I, INSPIRE A NATION Volume II , SLAUGHTER OF A DYNASTY , REICH AND WRONG,  THE RED BRIGANDS, RANSACKING THE REICH ,    SCULPTURES OF THE THIRD RIECH: ARNO BREKER AND REICH SCULPTORS  , SCULPTURES OF THE THIRD RIECH:  JOSEF THORAK AND REICH SCULPTORS ,   PORCELAIN OF THE THIRD REICH: Supreme Ceramics and Porcelain Lost to War, The Exiled Duke Romanov Who Turned Desert Into Paradise , THE DOVETAILS , SEX FEST AT TIFFANY’S  and other book titles. These illustrated best-selling books are essential for the libraries of informed readers.

MICHAEL WALSH NOVELS

The revenge of a predator is a city-vigilante epic better than Death Wish A LEOPARD IN LIVERPOOL , 55 lavishly illustrated first-hand stories by a Liverpool sailor THE LEAVING OF LIVERPOOL, Latest Killer-Thriller From Michael Walsh the City Vigilante Supremo The Stigma Enigma , A powerful thought-provoking paranormal romance The Soul Meets, How to form a naughty ménage a trois THE DOVETAILS and SEX FEST AT TIFFANY’S.

Latest Michael Walsh bestsellers: Those who fall victim to the taxman, banks and moneylenders are victims of legalised mugging  DEBTOR’S REVENGE, The Business Booster shows you how to double your profits not your workload THE BUSINESS BOOSTER 

MICHAEL WALSH is a journalist, author, and broadcaster. His 70 books include best-selling RHODESIA’S DEATH EUROPE’S FUNERAL, AFRICA’S KILLING FIELDS,  THE LAST GLADIATORS, A Leopard in Liverpool, RISE OF THE SUN WHEEL, EUROPE ARISE, FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT SPEAK, THE ALL LIES INVASION, INSPIRE A NATION Volume I, INSPIRE A NATION Volume II, and many other book titles. These illustrated best-selling books are essential for the libraries of informed readers.

The author’s books available for purchase by visiting his website BOOKSTORE, and POETRY  links.

We are in debt to our donors who finance the distribution of spin-free real news and fearlessly expressed views.

KEEP REAL NEWS OPEN: Donate by using Western Union, MoneyGram, Ria, registered mail or contact Michael Walsh: keyboardcosmetics@gmail.com or euroman_uk@yahoo.co.uk 2) Follow our blog. 3) Share our stories and 4) buy our author-signed books. 5) Receive free newsletters by writing subscribe to euroman_uk@yahoo.co.uk

BOOKS THAT CHALLENGE, INSPIRE, INFORM Michael Walsh, ‘Writer of the Year’ with a strong global following. Nearly 70 interesting Amazon book titles famed for changing and improving lives. CLICK TO VIEW

www.mikewalshwritingservices.wordpress.com

New stories every day!

EUROPE RENAISSANCE

https://europerenaissance.wordpress.com/