It was hidden under iron crosses weighing 200 kilograms and at a height of 80 meters: the time capsule of the monastery towers. Until now, one might only speculate regarding their existence. While it is not uncommon for church towers from the late 19th century to have documents, artifacts, and sometimes even relics embedded in “time capsules” with them. However, there are almost no records of the architecture and building structure of the two church towers of Klosterneuburg Abbey.
The joy was all the greater when on Monday a forearm-sized tin can, together with a lot of dust, might be recovered from the gold-plated ball below the cross. “This is a very valuable moment,” says master tinsmith Ulrich Sukup, who led the campaign. “If you think regarding it: these were people who lived 150 years ago and who left us a message here. Nobody knows what’s in there.”
Unusual container is a mystery
This “time capsule” of the pen that Sukup is now holding in his hands is certainly not ordinary, that was clear to the plumber at first glance. Because the metal cylinder has holes at both ends. “Normally you avoid holes that ventilate the capsule and solder everything tightly,” says the church tower expert: “That’s something very unusual.”
In the tube, neatly rolled up, lie a few sheets of white parchment paper written in black ink. “Paper in ‘time capsules’ is rare,” says Sukup. In this condition too: “As far as I can see, the parchment is in excellent condition,” Sukup enthuses. In view of the conditions under which the “time capsule” has existed over the past 150 years, this was anything but to be expected: Temperature differences in the sphere were up to 100 degrees Celsius, and the humidity at a height of 80 meters fluctuated from cold and wet to hot and dry.
“Time Capsule” is to solve puzzles regarding tower construction
Under the supervision of historians, the canons of the monastery now want to analyze what is written on the parchment paper in neat handwriting. “We hope that the ‘time capsule’ will provide us with written documents regarding the erection of the two tower crosses, for example regarding the architect and who the company was that erected the crosses at the time,” explains Canon Anton Höslinger. The historical analyzes should be completed in August, then we will know more.
In the meantime, the two church tower crosses are being extensively restored. Wind and weather have marked them over the past 150 years, parts have chipped off or shifted. The church tower plumbers have already been able to solve a first secret regarding the construction of the towers: the crosses were not attached to the tower as a whole, as is usual. “They were too heavy for that,” explains Sukup. Rather, the vertical iron mandrel was built into the tower. Only at the very end were the crossbars and the decorations attached by hand – all without modern tools and at a height of 80 meters. The ‘time capsule’ may provide an answer as to how exactly this was possible.
