The White Horse of Lochgass

The "Schimmelgasse" ("White Horse Road") in Vaduz is named after the famous Liechtenstein fable "Der Lochgass-Schimmel" ("The White Horse of Lochgass").

Indeed, the road in Vaduz which is now named "Schimmelgasse" used to be called "Lochgasse" and extended all the way up to Schlossstrasse. The name "Schimmelgasse" comes from the legend of the same name which tells the story of a mean farmer who used to live in that very same road. This farmer had no respect for other people's property and stole everything he could get his hands on, including horses.

Once he even went out on Christmas Eve and, lo and behold, saw a white saddled horse tied up next to a church on the other side of the Rhine. He immediately jumped on the horse and started riding it back towards the Lochgasse. But the horse started galloping so fast towards Vaduz that he became scared. When the horse reached the Lochgasse, the farmer thought he had finally arrived. But the horse stopped suddenly, catapulting the farmer forward onto the ground and breaking his neck. As he lay dying, the farmer saw the horse turn into the devil himself. From that day on he was condemned to a life trotting up and down the Lochgasse as a white horse. It wasn't until a cross was erected in the Lochgasse that his nightmare came to an end.