The dove had been stuck on that tombstone for a long time. It was white, but moss had already found its home in the folds of her feathers due to her stillness. Perhaps if she moved her wings a bit and flew towards the sky, or at least to another tombstone, it would feel again pure white and light, free...?
That day, that is exactly what she did in the end. The dove decided to fly through the cemetery and guide us for this Wednesday Walk post.
Her first destination was the tower built of yellow bricks at the entrance of the cemetery. It was a visit to the stork's nest which rises on top of the roof of the tower. With that good visibility the high construction provides, it is not wonder that the family of Mr Stork chose this spot for their summer home many years ago. They like it so much that every spring he and his family come back to spend here some months.
That day when the white dove was taking us on this cemetery walk, the nest was empty. I guess the stork family was flying around the same place by the river where one Hiver and her niece had a bike ride in one summer afternoon.
We didn't have that much time to wait for the storks to return home... What if the dark cloak of evening covered us while we waited? Nothing, nothing would happen but the dove wouldn't fly anymore and we wouldn't continue our Wednesday Walk either.
Taking a different direction, towards the interior of the municipal cemetery, which is not the same one as the cemetery seen here, we reached our next stop. The Weindl family mausoleum. I don't know the particular history of this family, but they must have been an affluent family from this town. As it was the case with many other German families, they had their own mausoleum.
The white dove needed to rest quite often in her flight, so the next stop was the crypt of Wiola family, not so far from the previous stop. However, I have always been a little scared by those details on the facade of this crypt, the skulls and the bones...
Perhaps our winged guide sensed this, so we quickly moved on to the next tombstone, that of the Dombovits family. Here you can feel safe and calm. It is located almost in the central part of the cemetery, next to the path that leads to the largest monument of this peaceful place.
The path, a bit cracked and challenging for us who use our feet to walk though the cemetery, but of no importance to our white dove guiding us. In the blink of an eye, we were standing in front of the mausoleum that all the inhabitants of this town know. The Mausoleum of Ferdinand Speiser and his family.
The dark marble construction maybe wouldn't be so impressive without its upper part, the bronze composition which represents the Pietà scene.
The focus of this composition is the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the lifeless body of Jesus Christ in her arms. Above them, there are two female figures and an angel. A beutiful and astonishing composition, though it is a pity that grass grows among the black marble stones.
I stood in front of this monument for a while until I noticed that the white dove had disappeared. Well, she flew back to her tombstone, to take care of it as a peaceful guardian. And what about us? Should we finish this Wednesday walk then?
I think this is what will happen.
