Schallaburg Castle & exhibition about Indians

Yesterday we visited the Schallaburg Castle for the second time.

Last year there was an exhibition about the crusaders and this year it's about the Indians.
(I write Indians because it's about several indigenous peoples not only native Americans and so on.)

For info about the castle itself just take a look at my report from our last year's visit or visit the websites at the end of this post.

This year we were very lucky with the weather. Sun was shining and just a few light clouds were moving across the blue sky. So we were able to visit the castle's tournament garden this time.
(Last year it kept raining all day so we just visited the exhibition.)

The patio looked even better with sun shining then it already does on rainy days. It's rally a beautiful castle!



As usual photographing and filming were not allowed inside the exhibition.
It was really fascinating how the ancient peoples lived and what happend when the white people discovered the 'new world'.
I can tell you, when you heard all that you eventually don't want to be white anymore. After all the trading they just couldn't get enough and so the trading got poisoned with cheating and stealing and even worse things.
Of course there were mistakes made on both sides but I would say that most of the happenings caused by the Indians were partly just some kind of 'aggressive defense'.
For example the fight between general Custer and chief Sitting Bull at Little Big Horn maybe would have ended in a less horrible way if Custer hadn't underestimated the Indians' power.
The massacre at Wounded Knee was just a slaughter, not just a fight. Innocent people were killed without having harmed anybody in the first place.
It's clear that court yards still have to deal with things like that and the big problems with the relocation of several tribes and broken contracts.
On the other side I can understand that for example the U.S. government can't just say 'Okay, we're sorry!'. If they would do that they would confess the mistakes and cruelties and would have to pay immediately. And that amount of money would simply kill the whole nation - so court yards will be dealing with this issues for a very long time.

The exhibition, wasn't only about the problems between red and white. It also showed that the picture many people have of Indians is not completely right. It always depends on the tribe you think about. Of course Karl May provided a very detailed picture but he never said that it is complete or completely right. He was an author and not an historian.

It was also about the peoples in Greenland and parts of Russia of course.

In the last room they showed a bit about Indians nowadays. Fascinating!
During the early 20th century people were placing bets on the 'extinction' of the Indian popilation, but today you can see that more and more people with Indian roots accept that and are proud of it. So the population keeps rising very fast because of all the people remembering and accepting where they come from.
I was very glad to hear that! It would be a huge tragedy if all that was forgotten!

After the tour and another round to take a closer look at everything we went to the restaurant which had again special meals according to the exhibition.
Julia had an Indian appetizers (jalapenos and quesadillas with dip sauce), I had the chilli con carne in a small loaf of bread and we both had Zuni (pita bread made of corn). It was very delicious!



After that we had a little look at the small arcade court and the old fortress but the fortress was closed for restauration. An overwhelming building anyway!



Finally we visited the tournament garden.
It is beautiful!
Next to the castle they planted a lot of apple trees and in the other half there are colorful flowers. The garden is framed with a great wall and a lot of different trees and bushes.



Again it was a wonderful and very intersting day at this great castle!

When you get the chance you really should visit it!

Next year's exhibition will be about Napoleon. - We will be there!

Websites: www.schallaburg.at & www.schallaburg.com