Commemorative column “Imperial Stone”
On the left of the Traun River bridge in Lauffen
On the left of the Traun River bridge in Lauffen
This commemorative column marks the end of the "Emperor Ferdinand's morning trail", which was constructed in 1838 to commemorate the visit of Emperor Ferdinand I The Benign of Austria and his Empress Consort Maria Anna of Austria, neé Princess of Savoy, in August 1837. The trail was paid for with private funds of the imperial family. The trail leads from Kaltenbach, where until 1939 a counterpart column was located at Kaltenbachstraße 30, via the Engleiten to Lauffen. The models for the columns were ancient Roman milestones which was common that time. The custom of marking the beginning and end of a street with a column also dates back to ancient times. Originally, the column stood downstream of the bridge and probably collapsed into the Traun River during the flood of 1899. The parts of the column, which were found by young people, were recovered in 2002 by the Cultural Heritage Society of Bad Ischl (Ischler Heimatverein (IHV)) with the help of the Municipality of Bad Ischl (GdeBI). They were restored and re-erected a little upstream in 2003.
On a new base made of a square stone block with a step (with the inscription of 2003 and the abbreviations of the above-mentioned participating institutions) rises the old cube-shaped pedestal stone with dating. On it is the cylindrical column, pointed at the top with a broad cone. On the column shaft, a smoothed ornate frame with an inscription and some scratches from the fall or the recovery.
