Crucifix with lightning rod (Austrian traditional cultural symbols, crosses erected on mountain summits)

In the early summer months of 1823, a colossal crucifix, donated by archduk e Johann, cast of local iron was erected with great pomp and publicity on t he summit of the Erzberg in Styria. Barely mentioned, as though it was mean t to be kept a secret, was the fact that a lightning rod was attached to th is crucifix. What does this lightning rod signify? What perspectives open t o us if we note that this Erzberg crucifix was one of the earliest summit c rosses to be erected? The author argues here that the cultural sign the cru cifix represented, despite the apparent unbroken continuity in its exterior form and its unvarying appearance, carried a different meaning from this p oint onward. This small contribution is not only to the history of mountain and summit symbols, thus to a history of the material manifestations of si gns and symbols, but also a further building-block in the debate about cont inuity.