Hi Mom!
Today we went to the western parts of Styria, to a city called Bärnbach. The city was famous for its coal mining in former days. That's why you see me on some coals and the wagon!
We visited the (catholic) church of St. Barbara there. The church is named after St. Barbara because she is the patroness of miners. This church is quite famous as is was redesigned by the famous Austrian painter and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser. He designed many buildings for example the Hundertwasser-House in Vienna, the KunstHaus in Vienna, a thermal spa in Bad Blumau, the oncology ward of the University Hospital in Graz, to just name a few.
The inside of the church is mostly the same as it has been before the redecoration, there were just a few alterations made to the altar.
The outside of the church is very colorful with mosaics and nothing is really geometric. Everything is a bit different, no straight lines.
Therefore my post today is also really colorful!
There is a walkway around the church and the path is uneven, made of different stones, bricks, tarmac... You pass through many archways, which all stand for a different religion with symbols of this specific religion on the archway. And then there is one without any symbols. For all people who don't believe or have a different view of life. My host mom decided it would be best to photograph me under the "naked" archway as not to offend any of her guest's parents!
You can also see that the pathway has been decoreted with an autumn theme!
We were given an extended tour through the church and its history and then it was time for some meal! No pics of that though.
We then went on to another city. I'll tell you more about that soon!