St. Pölten: July 23–24, 2026

Some scenes from downtown, as I wandered about in the afternoon upon arrival.

Wire-frame umbrellas hanging from a line stretched across a street

Wire frame yellow umbrella and green bird

wire frame blue butterfly and red flower

At left, Pestsäule; in middle frame, a church steeple with clock tower

Another Pestsäule.

Curved base of Pestsäule with fountain in the curved area.

Painted carving on wall, depicting a man carrying loaves of bread in bags on his back.

Wall painting of man in jester’s hat playing bagpipes. He is followed by a procession of children in costumes.

Mosaic of naked man playing flute. he is kneeling, with his genitals hidden.

Museum Niederösterreich (Museum of Lower Austria)

The next morning, I went to the local museum of history and natural history. I didn’t much care for the history museum; it was dimly lit and uninviting. The natural history part of the museum was much more attractive.

Building with tilted, sinusoidal roof area. At right, the name of the museum

I really like the logo, which is an MN, but it takes a while to see it that way.

Wooden carved, painted crucificion scene

Top of a column showing the head of a red-haired woman. She has a weary expression on her face.

Stone statue of cleric holding a crucifix cradled in his arms

World War II era Enigma coding machine with kezboard, and, below it, a plugboard of the letters

An actual Enigma encoding machine!

Long view of Natural History Museum, with stairways between levels

This is what you see when you enter the Natural History part of the museum.

Taxidermied european wolf at left, lynx at right.

Room with display cases of minerals and crystals. The displays have triangular windows.

Tiere der Nacht. The words are written on several irregularly spaced panels, and must be viewed at a particular angle to see the complete letters.

Animals of the Night

Klangturm (Sound Tower)

Apparently this is used for doing multimedia performances which involve a lot of sound. I could not figure out how to use the elevator to get to the observation platform (the buttons were not labeled), so I took the 280 stairs to the top.

view of city; at center right is a tall church spire.

View of farmland. At left, a tall wind turbine.

View of river with three bridges horizontally across the photo.

Industrial buildings in foreground; farmland with several wind turbines in background.

Letters ZYXWVU in black asphalt tiles on sidewalk.

This is near the Klangturm. It has the whole alphabet, but I took just this one picture so you could get the idea.

After leaving the Klangturm, I headed back to the center of town and passed by the old synagogue, which is deconsecrated.

Synagogue with Hebrew words and the 10 commandments under an arched part of the facade.

Synagogue interior showing ark for Torah and glass window above it with a star of David.

The Ten Commandments in Hebrew with carved grapevines at left and right.

Broken and partially melted stained glass window.

The synagogue was burned in 1938, this part of a stained glass window was found later.

...and continuing the walk back downtown...

Modernist building with translucent glass walls

Opening in wall tiled with irregularly shaped geometric forms.

Large planters with puffy green plants in them

Top of church tower with a somewhat onion-shaped steeple

Photos taken when approaching the cathedral. The wrought iron gate is really amazing.

At left, an old, elegant building. At right, what appears to be a headless man on a column

Statue of man with arms upraised and head tilted back

Wall with large oval niches; a carved urn is in each niche.

Arch with wrought iron gate. In background, a statue of a holy person.

Detail of wrought iron gate. Several uprights at bottom, with curlicue forms above

Deteail of gate; human head in center with two down-pointing spears on either side

Diagonally crossing lines with flowers at intersection points.

Gold figure of man holding flag in one hand and shield in the other. The date 1727 is below it.

Bronze? metal door with pictures of saints and names, some of which are Hippolyt, Severin, and Florian

Interior of church with altar and large chandeliers

Rows of pews with metal shields on front depicting holy scenes

Back outside the cathedral and headed to the west of downtown, where there is a forested area.

Life-size metal sculpture of two women carrying shopping bags and having a conversation

Small sculpture of workman. Behind him is a stack of bricks.

Arch above doorway. In middle of arch, a sculpture of a lion’s head

Art deco style wall painting of man at piano and woman singer standing next to him. They are surrounded by people listening.

Art deco style wall painting of two women dancing. In background, a small band of musicians with a conductor.

Painting of a smiling saint with a young person next to him. Below them, the text St. Hippolyt

A wooden shelter; under it, a log and a portion of a tree. At left, a small bench

Robert Frost.

Signage

Window signs: Wieso kaufen wir mehr, als wir brauchen? Wieviel Spielzeug braucht ein Kind?

Why do we buy more than we need? How many toys does a child need?

These signs are from a Christian group. Where to? Where am I going? What happens after death? Is it really just over? What if not? Am I good enough for heaven?

What for? What am I here for? What is the sense of my life? Is everything just arbitrary and governed by chance? or can God give me sense and fulfillment?

From where? Where do I come from? Am I really a product of chance? Can life emerge from nothing, just like that? Or is there a creator?

Wir sind nicht religiös, wir leben einfach nur mit Gott.

In light of the preceding statements, it is hard for me to take this seriously: “We are not religious, we simply live with God.” Um, yeah, but which god are you living with?