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27. 06. 12. - 18:00

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27. 06. 12. - 18:00

China admits leaving out the bone house

Welcome to the 'Bone House', or 'Beinhaus' - something which the Chinese seem to have forgotten to copy when they rebuilt the Austrian village of Hallstatt.

Home to an estimated 1,200 skulls it lies at the centre of the UNESCO world Heritage village.

Many of the skulls located inside the tiny room have been painted with symbolic floral crowns and the name of the deceased before being placed inside.

The Bone House came into being in the 12th century because the lakeside village's cemetery was too small to hold all the dead from the surrounding area.

They would then be left out in the sun and moonlight until they were bleached ivory white and then stacked in rows in the charnel.

The last skull to go into the Beinhaus was interred in 1995. It belonged to a woman who died in 1983 and her dying wish was to have her skull placed in the vault.

Arguably the best one dates from 1510 and shows saints Barbara and Katharina, with Mary in the middle.

Under the rules of the cemetery there are no family graves, and a plot can be re-occupied after ten years.

The dead are buried horizontally with the grave verge covering only a small part of the buried.

The church was Protestant for a short time following a religious argument, and is close to heart to many salt miners and wealthy salt mine lords from Salzburg.

Austrian Times

Police raid dairy headquarters
A raid in the second largest Austrian dairy NÖM, which started on 15 May, was terminated yesterday (Thur) afternoon. Employees of the Federal Competition Authority (BWB) are still in the headquarters in Baden.

Austrian on trial over Aldi blackmail
The trial of a 61-year-old man from Salzburg, who blackmailed the company Aldi South, started yesterday (Wed) in Duisburg, Germany. The defendant has already admitted that he demanded 15 million Euros from the firm.

State secretary denies interfering over Baumgartner taxes
The extreme sportsman Felix Baumgartner stated that the Ministry of Finance spared him additional taxation by political intervention. The former Financial Secretary Reinhold Lopatka (ÖVP) denies these claims.

Search for trapped after Felbertauern rockfall
The Felbertauern road in Tyrol, Western Austria, has been closed completely after rock fall last night (Mon). Rock came down on the East Tyrol side just before 2 a.m. It completely destroyed an avalanche gallery.

Delunamagma creditors to lose most of their investment
The creditors of the technology firm Delunamagma Industries GmbH from Bludesch-Gais, Vorarlberg (Western Austria) will lose the majority of their money in the bankruptcy proceedings.

SPÖ Salzburg votes for new party leader
The current health and social state councillor Walter Steidl has been elected the new head of the Social democratic party of Salzburg yesterday (Mon).

SPÖ see devastating loss after weekend election
The SPÖ lost a huge amoung of votes in the Salzburg state election yesterday (Sun). The party of Governor Gabi Burgstaller only achieved 23.81%, which is a loss of 15.58% compared to 2009. Even though the ÖVP lost more than seven percent, they came first. The Green Party is a winner of this election.

VAT fraudster arrested in Germany
The police of Flachgau, state of Salzburg, arrested a presumed fraudster from Germany. The 35-year-old is suspected of having committed tax evasion as the head of a European-wide operating union.

Finance scandal reason for early election
The financial scandal in Salzburg has been hotly debated since last December. Many people lost their trust in the government and this has led to early elections on 5 May.

TV show reveals the dark side to energy drink Red Bull
A documentary of the "Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen" (ARD), which was shown on TV on Monday night, deals with the dark side of the company Red Bull. It is about risky spectacles with a deadly end.