Lost – and found – Lincoln statue in Salzburg/Austria

[Angela]

Greetings from Austria - success!
I found the statue I was talking about the other day in beautiful Salzburg/Austria.

Just as told, it stands in the backyard of what is today a Youth Hostel, opened only three month in the year. Since that period had not started, the place was abandoned but well taken care of (mostly).

The statue is nestled between trees and fairly well maintained and clean. A little less taken care of is the plaque which is hidden in a overgrowth a little to the side and the inscription is hardly readable anymore.

The place is anything but public. Visitors are kept out by a low fence and a gate that has a large sign which informs any possible intruder about this being “private ground” and to “keep out”.

Nevertheless, the gate happened to be open. Therefore, I applied the international definition of “private” which is “private – but only meant seriously if enforced by heavy locks, guard dogs or angry neighbors, threatening to call the police”.

Illegal trespassing on my record, I enjoyed the fact that I had not only the park but the statue to myself and to my camera for as long as it pleased me. It was great fun and only my bad choice in shoes kept me from climbing the horse to get even more angles.

I’m still working on finding out the official status of the statue that was a gift to Austria, yet sits on privately owned ground.

Can it be sold by the owner?
Would the owner have to grant access to the public if a visitor demanded it?