Postcard Schiessendempel, Luxembourg's Little Switzerland, Black Ernz

Black-and-white postcard with a pictorialist view of the Black Ernz near the Schiessendempel in Luxembourg's Little Switzerland, published by Kunstverlag P.C. Schoren, Luxemburg-Bahnhof, as number 17 of the Serie Müllertal. The composition shows flowing water between mossy boulders and dense deciduous trees, with a diffuse play of light through the canopy at the top. The long exposure has turned the water into a milky, white trail, a technique characteristic of pictorialist landscape photography around 1900. The printed caption "Petite Suisse luxembourgeoise - Partie près du Schiessendempel" appears at the bottom. The card is in good condition.

The Schiessendempel, in Luxembourgish Schéissendëmpel, is a three-tiered waterfall on the Black Ernz near the village of Mullerthal and the iconic emblem of the Petite Suisse. The sandstone bridge above the waterfall was built in 1879 and has been regarded ever since as the symbol of the region. This card does not show the classic icon with the bridge, but a side branch of the stream further upstream, where the water finds its way between sandstone blocks through the forest. Until accessible paths were developed at the end of the nineteenth century, the area was known as "land of the wolves"; only after the visit of Joseph von Görres from Koblenz in 1814 and the publication of his enthusiastic travel accounts did the opening up begin that led to the construction of the bridge and to the image seen on this card. The reverse bears the LUX emblem, placing the card in the period from around 1905 to 1920.