Shadows of a Forgotten World

In Vienna one can still find the covers to WWII civilian bomb shelters. Originally I thought these metal grates were either storm drains or vaults lights with missing glass, but I discovered that in fact they were covers for ventilation shafts and emergency exits. Across the territory of Nazi Germany basements in cities were designated as bomb shelters and sometimes ventilation shafts and emergency exits were built from them and covered by special covers. On the outer walls of these buildings "LSR" was painted in white along with an arrow pointing to the entrance. Emergency exits were marked with arrows and the letters "NA" ( examples of which can be found even in Lviv ). The air-raid covers that I found were made by a company called Mannesmanm.  "Luftschutz" means air-raid. 

Anti-toilets or urine deflectors were placed in a city's building corners to prevent people from urinating on the street. Such a solution to urban hygiene has been used for centuries, as, for example, can be seen in ancient Venice. Here pissottas ("pee bumps") were installed as can be seen  here  and here . If one tries to urinate, they will be showered with their own pee. In Victorial London urine deflectors were installed, examples of which can be seen here . More examples from both Venice and London here . These still serve a purpose, though I think most people don't know what they are. Having read about "anti-toilets" before, as soon as I saw these metal barriers in Vienna and Klosterneuburg I knew what purpose they served. In Vienna and Klosterneuburg the anti-toilets are not deflectors but rather metal barriers that prevent people from standing in corners. Thus they also prevent people from loitering. Vienna  Klosterneuburg ...

Antique building number signs still adorn many of Vienna's buildings - at least, I assume the rectangular and oval metal plaques date from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as they look very similar to Lviv's prewar street signs. Unlike in Lviv, the official language didn't change in Austria so there was probably less of a need to replace the old signs. Furthermore, I assume fewer streets in Vienna as compared to Lviv were renamed after the war. These reasons plus the fact that Vienna is a much larger city than Lviv is probably why so many of these old signs can still be found in Vienna. These signs are very similar to the Polish-language pre- and interwar ones found Lviv, as seen here .  It's not uncommon to see newer signs (blue with white font) near the old signs. Here the building number 45 is found in 3 spots The number 13 is also found on the glass window Street name signs

A lot of the old conscription numbers can still be found in Vienna, usually on plaques located inside a building's entrance on the left-hand side near the door or above the second portal near the stairwell. House numbering was introduced in Europe in the eighteenth century (before that houses usually had names). According to this article :  "This technology was not introduced to facilitate orientation for the cities’ inhabitants or to be helpful to foreigners; its origin can be located in the border areas of early modern police, military and tax administration. It aimed to give the state access to the riches and resources of every house, and to make it easier to control, tax or recruit their inhabitants, or to lodge soldiers." Vienna underwent many house numbering projects ; in particular, the conscription numbers in Vienna were changed in 1795, 1821, and after 1874. For example, this building has had many different conscription numbers throughout the centuries (m...

The most intersting vault light that I found in Vienna was the one made by the German copmany Luxfer, examples of which can also be found in Lviv (posts are  here  and here ).