Wayside cross

The custom of placing an "accident cross" at spots on the roadside where people have been killed has, meanwhile, spread worldwide.

Many wayside crosses, however, simply act as waymarks to indicate difficult or dangerous spots or to mark intersections.

Originally these stone crosses were short and stocky in shape and, with a height of about half a metre, considerably smaller than their wooden counterparts.

In 1594, the fortress city of Raab (present day Győr in Hungary) was recaptured from Ottoman Empire by Baron Adolf von Schwarzenberg.

In commemoration, the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II decreed that crucifixes be set up on all the main roads and crossing points of the empire, bearing the inscription: "Praise and thanks to the Lord God".

Votive crosses are erected by people in gratitude for being rescued from death, such as war, sickness, infection or other life-threatening danger.