The Oyster Reef Next Door
After intense weeks at the desk, a daytrip was in order. Looking up possibilities in the area, I discovered Fossilienwelt Weinviertel, just across the Danube.
I had no idea I lived around the corner from the world's largest fossil oyster reef.
Sixteen and a half million years ago, the Korneuburg Basin was a tropical sea. Sharks swam here. Dolphins. Turtles. Funny-looking animals I have never heard of.
What remains: fifteen thousand giant oyster shells, some up to a metre long, still lying where the sea once held them. As if time had forgotten to tidy up.
The museum was built around the reef to protect it from harm. An animated film shows how Caribbean the area once looked. Accompanied by Richard Strauss’ Zarathustra theme via surround sound, I stood in front of it, feeling appropriately small.
Among the exhibits next door: the largest fossil pearl in the world, 4.5 cm in diameter. The skull of a long-snouted dolphin, the only one of its kind known to exist anywhere. Both sit behind glass, unmistakably highlighted as SENSATION! to make sure one does not miss them.
A few steps further, in a vitrine that made no such announcement: a fossilised cinnamon leaf.
Sixteen and a half million years old. And somehow, through all that impossible distance of aeons, cinnamon is still around. Is there a single kitchen on earth without my favourite of all spices?
Considering Bespoke Vienna's Object of the Month format, I smiled, and couldn't help thinking: now t h a t's what I call a timeless classic.
After intense weeks at the desk, a daytrip was in order. Looking up possibilities in the area, I discovered Fossilienwelt Weinviertel, just across the Danube.
I had no idea I lived around the corner from the world's largest fossil oyster reef.
Sixteen and a half million years ago, the Korneuburg Basin was a tropical sea. Sharks swam here. Dolphins. Turtles. Funny-looking animals I have never heard of.
What remains: fifteen thousand giant oyster shells, some up to a metre long, still lying where the sea once held them. As if time had forgotten to tidy up.
The museum was built around the reef to protect it from harm. An animated film shows how Caribbean the area once looked. Accompanied by Richard Strauss’ Zarathustra theme via surround sound, I stood in front of it, feeling appropriately small.
Among the exhibits next door: the largest fossil pearl in the world, 4.5 cm in diameter. The skull of a long-snouted dolphin, the only one of its kind known to exist anywhere. Both sit behind glass, unmistakably highlighted as SENSATION! to make sure one does not miss them.
A few steps further, in a vitrine that made no such announcement: a fossilised cinnamon leaf.
Sixteen and a half million years old. And somehow, through all that impossible distance of aeons, cinnamon is still around. Is there a single kitchen on earth without my favourite of all spices?
Considering Bespoke Vienna's Object of the Month format, I smiled, and couldn't help thinking: now t h a t's what I call a timeless classic.