Playing backgammon with a cow

Bäckerstraße (c) Pablo Rodriguez for untoldplaces.com
Bäckerstraße Vienna

In a nutshell – expect this here

A rather curious medieval fresco from approximately 1509 depicting a cow playing backgammon with a Wolf in a house in the center of Vienna.

Where can you find this place

Located in Bäckerstraße 12, this stunning fresco of a cow with glasses playing Backgammon with a wolf is nothing but unusual.

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Playing Backgammon with a cow

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Playing Backgammon with a cow 48.208999, 16.376385 Find rather curious medieval fresco from approximately 1509 depicting a cow playing backgammon with a Wolf in a house in the center of Vienna. Click the image to find out more.

The full story of the cow playing backgammon

The legend goes as follows:

This guy named Kuh (cow in German) used to play constantly backgammon with one of his friends, and eventually ended up asking in marriage to his friend’s daughter. As a commemoration of such an event, they agreed on doing something special to the house where such a story occurred, and the cow playing backgammon was painted.

The reason for the wolf has to be guessed as nothing is known about it.

As a side story, from the 16th century onwards, finding addresses in Vienna was not an easy task, as houses were not numbered and only a few people were able to read or write. Houses were named after certain characteristics, and therefore number 12 of Bäckerstraße was known as ” where the cow plays backgammon“.

Forage for further odd places in Vienna

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Click the image to find out more.

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