Wachau Valley, Danube River, Austria for Weathervane Wednesday

This weathercock is above the Durnstein Abbey, famous for the blue and white tower.  The weathercock above the church is typical of European weathervanes, since the 9th century when there was a Papal decree for each church to feature a rooster in honor of St. Peter's denial of Christ three times before the cock crowed on Good Friday. The original chapel was built in 1372, and in the 15th century an Augustinian Abbey was founded here.  In the 17th century it was renovated into this baroque style complex. 

This banner style weathervane is above a tower near the Danube and the town of Emmersdorf an der Donau. You can see the Emmersdorf Railway Viaduct (Bahnviadukt Emmersdorf) in the first photo. The tower is above the Rothenhof Castle. This castle dates from the 16th century, with 18th century renovations.  It is open for events and as a hotel.     

The Wachau Valley of the Danube River runs 22 miles from Krem,  just west of Vienna, to Melk, home of the famous Benedictine Abbey with the fantastic library. We cruised along this stretch of the river in May earlier this year, and photographed many villages, vineyards, castles, abbeys, and monuments. There were a few more weathervanes than these two, but they were too far away to zoom in with our cameras.  One of the most interesting places we passed was Durnstein, where Richard the Lionheart was captured and imprisoned in a castle on top of a mountain in 1192.  

This monument marks the spot where Richard I "Lionheart" was captured on 20 December 1192

For the truly curious: 

Wachau Valley at Wikipedia:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wachau  

Click here to see over 550 more weathervanes featured on Weathervane Wednesday:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday  

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Wachau Valley, Danube River, Austria for Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 12, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/08/wachau-valley-danube-river-austria-for.html: accessed [access date]).