The photo above shows the municipal coat of arms of Berndorf, a small town some 15km south-west of Baden in Lower Austria. As it lies on the edge of the Viennese Woods in an area characterised by arable farming, the conifer and the wheat sheaf are readily comprehensible. The bear with the spoon, however, is not. It suggests a focus on beekeeping and honey production, but you will find little evidence of any activity of this kind here. A bit of research reveals that the bear is actually the result of an erroneous, but long-held, belief that the town’s name derived from the German word for ‘bear’. More recent investigations of historical records suggest strongly that it was named after a family that settled here in the 11th century.
We shall come back to the bear briefly a little later, but for now the most pertinent aspect of the image is that this town crest is displayed above the entrance to a rather grand-looking school. In fact, there are two virtually identical school buildings here – one either side of a big church in the centre of Berndorf.
The town is famous for these schools, which were built in the early years of the 20th century. One was originally the boys’ school, the other the girls’. What makes them well-known beyond the region is the fact that the classrooms were lavishly decorated in a variety of different period styles, ranging from Egyptian through Moorish and Gothic to Baroque, Rococo, and others.
Unfortunately, there were no guided tours on the day we visited and thus we did not get to see or photograph these classrooms ourselves. The next photo, however, will give you some idea of the elaborate designs involved. It depicts an Egyptian-themed room.
Source: Thomas Ledl – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48600952
There are further good photographs on the same Wikimedia site and the article in the link below also provides additional images:
https://www.worldofinteriors.com/story/stilklassen-in-berndorf
More than that, it gives at least partial answers to the obvious question: how did a small place like Berndorf end up with such impressive schools?
The key is one Arthur Krupp, an industrialist who was part of the Austrian branch of the German Krupp dynasty. He grew up in Berndorf and made a vast fortune from a metalware factory based in the town. The original product? Cutlery! (I did not think there was a lot of money to be made from that – maybe that explains why I’m not rich …)
The company used a logo with a bear in the centre to identify its products.
Expanding its product range into cookware, and later munitions, it quickly became the largest employer in the area and Berndorf itself also grew. Arthur Krupp was instrumental in creating the infrastructure to support this expansion. He had a large number of houses built for his workers and made sure that affordable mortgage schemes were available to them. Leisure facilities such as a public swimming pool and a town theatre followed, and, since Krupp saw education as a key asset for any community, he had the two impressive schools built.
The church sitting in between them was erected around the same time, so, whilst its appearance might suggest a much longer history, it is actually less than 120 years old.
Krupp was a Protestant, but the church he built was a Catholic one – in line with the religious affiliation of most of his workers. The church is dedicated to St. Margaret of Scotland and I strongly suspect that the name of Krupp’s wife – Margret – had something to do with that. The interior is dominated by a 20-ton bronze altar.
Diagonally opposite the church is the building shown below.
You might just be able to make out the words ‘Krupp Casino’ on the facade, which might suggest a gambling venue. However, that was never its role. It was built as another cultural asset for the town and served to house concerts and other events as well as providing a central meeting place for citizens. Today it operates as a guesthouse/restaurant.
