Journey into the past

When Saxony lost its king in a drama in Tyrol

King Friedrich August II succumbed to his serious injuries at the Neuner Inn, not far from the site of the accident. Today, an inscription on a bay window of the hotel commemorates the tragic death.

(Bild: Immanuel Voigt, zVg)

170 years ago, King Friedrich August II died in an accident in Brennbichl in the Tyrolean Oberland. There are still many reminders of the monarch's death in the village today. A journey into the past.

In 1979, the singer Jürgen Hart, who used to be well-known in East Germany, put down on paper a piece of wisdom that has lost none of its accuracy to this day: "The Saxon loves to travel." This was already true of contemporaries who had lived long before. The Wettins in particular, who were elevated to the status of Saxon royalty by Napoleon's grace in 1815, were extremely fond of travel.

Some of the aristocratic lords seem to have had a special relationship with the mountains and Tyrol in particular.