Vienna - Neidhart Frescoes

In 1400 a wealthy cloth merchant, Michael Menschein, had the great hall on the first floor of the house at Tuchlauben 19 (near the Graben square) decorated with frescoes depicting the Minnesänger Neidhart's poetry. In 1715/16 the house was refashioned in the Baroque style and most of the paintings were destroyed and the rest covered with a thick layer of plaster. The frescoes were discovered by accident during renovation work in 1979 and took three years to restore. They are the oldest secular wall paintings in Vienna and an important example of popular art in the late Middle Ages. The walls of the 15 ê 7.5m/50 ê 25ft hall were originally completely covered; the frescoes depict typical scenes from Neidhart's songs in the cycle of the four seasons.