Whenever you come to Austria, visit Klagenfurt, the capital of Carinthia. There you will find the famous Lindwurm monument, which was errected by Ulrich Vogelsang in 1590. Although it represents a dragon, it can be regarded as the first palaeontological reconstruction. |
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In 1335 the cranium of a wooly rhinoceros from the ice-age was found in a gravel pit near Klagenfurt. It was instantly interpreted as the skull of a dragon or Lindwurm. This fossil, which is still at exhibition at the Landesmuseum für Kärnten, served as a model for the head of the Lindwurm.
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However, the legend of a dragon haunting the surroundings of Klagenfurt is much older. The name of the town can be read as "ford of lament". Floods repeatedly destroyed the crossings over the river Glan and many persons lost their lives. |
In medieval times floods and debris flows were commonly depicted as dragons. Thus the idea arose, that a water dragon is responsible for all the letal accidents near the river Glan. The finding of the rhino-skull enhanced that belief.
The oldest document preserved about the Lindwurm is a city seal dated 1287 AD. It shows a two-legged, winged dragon in front of a tower. This image was used for centuries. However, at the end of the 16th century this idea of what a dragon should look like changed. From then on dragons used to have four legs, and the city arms of 1669 show that type of Lindwurm.
Ein Lindwurm gantz ungeheuer
Wellicher verprent durchs Feuer
Im Zollfelt sollicher da lag
Drob menschen und auch vich vertzag
In Wappen fierdt Clagenfurdt statt
Davon sie iren namen hatt.
[anonymus, 1608]
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"Das Wahrzeichen von Klagenfurt ist am Dienstag flügge geworden. Der Lindwurm des gleichnamigen Brunnens wird allerdings nicht zur Luftaufklärung bei der Makakenjagd eingesetzt, er soll vielmehr bis 1997 renoviert werden." |
Source:
ABEL O. (1939): Vorzeitliche Tierreste im Deutschen Mythus,
Brauchtum und Volksglauben. - 304 p., Jena (Gustav Fischer).
Photo of the fossil rhinoceros cranium courtsey of Dr. G.
Piccottini, Landesmuseum für Kärnten, Klagenfurt.
Lindwurm News: © Text: Der Standard 10.09.1996, © Photo:
APA/Fritz Press
