Walking Tour in Linz - Part III

After leaving the castle, we go further up to visit St. Martin's Church. It is currently the oldest church in Austria. It was first documented in 799, and was rebuilt several time after that. Click here to learn more about the church.

Unlike those splendid Gothic cathedral, this one is small and down-to-earth. The murals on the wall date back to the 15th century.

What amazed me most is that people still use the church for religious service and wedding. The murals on the wall are expose to the public. They do not install any protection facility over these murals. They preserve the church in a "living" way, as our guide says, and not afraid that people will destroy it. I really admire the self-restriction the Austrian shows.

Sometime we preserve historic sites just because they generate money from toruism, and not because we treasure the history they represent. But here, I feel like people here accept the history as a part of their life and are proud of it.