A granite crucifix rises from a boulder mid-stream in the pellucid Traun River at Bad Ischl — the beloved Salzkammergut spa town where Emperor Franz Joseph I spent every summer of his long reign — in this sharp real-photo postcard published by Erich Bährendl in 1942. The Kreuzstein (Cross Rock), a centuries-old wayside shrine balanced on a natural river outcrop, frames a background of forested alpine slopes and the gentle arc of the Ischler Brücke, electric poles lining the far bank in quiet contrast to the ancient stone. Published in the "Echte Photographie" (genuine photograph) format — a premium designation used during the Second World War era — the card is unused, retaining its full photographic brilliance. Card no. 66 in Bährendl's Bad Ischl series, printed 1942.