Reisserkreuz Wayside Shrine

The cross was erected on the site of a former cemetery where plague victims were buried in the 17th century.

The oldest wayside shrine in an epidemic cemetery is probably the Reisser cross. The Reisser Cross was erected in 1697 where the victims of the plague of 1679 were buried in the Sievering Plague Cemetery. It is at the highest point on Agnesgasse, where the path from Dreimarkstein flows into Agnesgasse. This “cross” shows the shape of the wayside shrine, which is clearly derived from the shape of the old funeral lamp. The wide, square shaft carries the “tabernacle”, which is open on three sides and bordered on the sides by two baluster columns. On the inside of the back wall, where the funeral light was originally placed, there is now (1983) a colored print of a picture of the Heart of Jesus and the Heart of Mary in a wooden frame. The four-sided pyramidal roof of the "tabernacle" made of brick is crowned by a wrought iron cross, the cruciform center of which is surrounded by rays and displays the letters IHS. The shaft is adorned with a modern colored mosaic of the Mother of God with child under a decorated sheet metal canopy. The mosaic was installed by the singer Rössl Madjan during the renovation of the Reisserkreuz in 1968.