Advance literature path,Vorau
This themed trail (part of the "Styrian Literary Paths of the Middle Ages" network) retells the exciting "Vorau Novel" at 6 stations, symbolically linking the monastery with the market town and illustrated with magnificent illustrations from medieval manuscripts.
As with all eight "Styrian Literature Trails of the Middle Ages", outstanding local literature forms the thematic starting and pivotal point of the themed trail, as this literature is given a new voice against the backdrop of its native natural and cultural landscape. The context of the Vorau Literature Trail is as follows (according to the literature trail association's cross-location trail brochure):
The Vorau novella was probably written in the Alemannic region around 1200 - it is no longer clear who wrote it. What is certain is that the copy in the Vorau Abbey Library from the 13th century is the only one that has survived the ages, but even this record remains incomplete: it breaks off in the middle of the text and leaves the ending to our imagination. Clues to the end of the story are provided by the Latin version of the same material, which has also only survived in Styria, namely as the so-called Reuner Relationen in Rein Abbey. The theme of the so-called Vorau novella - namely the uninhibited search for happiness of two escaped monastery boys - seems like a forerunner of the Faust material: We hear of a magical book, a kind of devil's pact, of lust and grave sins with subsequent torments of conscience. The poem's masterful language also matches its extraordinarily high standard of content. Gripping images and lively dialog still captivate us today. It quickly becomes clear that it is not distant times and unknown places to which the plot of the Vorau novella symbolically refers. Rather, it also refers to us!
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More information
Vorau is located in the East Styrian hill country at an altitude of between 470 and 1248 meters.
By car:
From Vienna: A2 exit Pinggau - Rohrbach-Vorau
From Graz: A2 exit Pinkafeld or Hartberg - Rohrbach - Vorau
Detailed information on how to get here can be found
here.
- The trail begins in the abbey park at the information point in front of the abbey and then leads us first to the right along the elevated Ackerrain, where the market town of Vorau lies picturesquely at our feet (storytelling stations I and II)
- From there, we continue down Klosterberggasse to Griesplatz (III). We then walk along the main street for a while, turn left up to the market church (IV) and then reach the magnificent Renaissance town hall (V)
The trail is only approx. 0.7 km long, but is correspondingly longer including the way back, and can be combined with a detour to the famous Vorau Canons' Monastery before or after the visit to the trail.
1/8
Vorau Open-Air Museum in Eastern Styria | © Oststeiermark Tourismus | Birgit Kandlbauer
2/8
Vorau Abbey in Eastern Styria | © Oststeiermark Tourismus | Birgit Kandlbauer
3/8
Erzählstation I | © Wernfried Hofmeister | TV Joglland-Waldhimat
4/8
Erzählstation II | © Wernfried Hofmeister | TV Joglland-Walheimat
5/8
Erzählstation IV | © Wernfried Hofmeister | TV Joglland-Waldheimat
6/8
Erzählstation V | © Wernfried Hofmeister | TV Joglland-Waldheimat
7/8
Pfadverlauf | © Wernfried Hofmeister | TV Joglland-Waldheimat
8/8
Stiftsinnenhof | © Wernfried Hofmeister | TV Joglland-Waldheimat
What the weather will be like
Vorau (675m)
Dry and partly sunny throughout the day, with cloudy periods from time to time.
Some clouds in the morning, lateron much sunshine and hardly any clouds
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