The Pummerin's 'Triumphzug': Staging Austrian-Catholic Identity – A Historical Exhibition

This exhibition details the elaborate 'Triumphzug' (triumphal procession) of the Pummerin bell in April 1952, which marked its transfer from Linz to Vienna. The event was meticulously prepared and showcased as a symbol of Austrian unity and freedom, involving political and religious dignitaries, festive groups, and large public gatherings.

In April 1952, the Pummerin bell, a donation from Upper Austria and cast in St. Florian, was transported from Linz to Vienna in a grand 'Triumphzug'. This meticulously prepared and widely publicized event saw the bell, originally planned to travel by ship on the Danube, instead moved on a decorated low-loader truck. The procession, which traversed numerous towns from Linz to Vienna, including Enns, Amstetten, Melk, and St. Pölten, was imbued with significant symbolic meaning. Designated by the Governor of Upper Austria, Heinrich Gleißner, as a "sign of the unity and freedom of Austria," the bell's journey was accompanied by high political and spiritual dignitaries who passed it along like a relay across demarcation lines and diocesan borders. Festive speakers, music bands, traditional costume groups, and flag bearers welcomed the Pummerin at each stop, while massive crowds lined the route, lending the event a folk festival character. The Pummerin's arrival and the reopening of St. Stephen's Cathedral were strategically leveraged by the church and state during the Allied administration period to construct a sense of shared national identity and confirm Austria's autonomy.