The sign is located on the side of this ancient church.
It reads:
"JAN III SOBIESKI
KONIG VON POLEN
OBERBEFEHLSHABER
DER VEREINIGTEN HEERE
BESUCHTE HIER
AM 13 SEPTEMBER 1683
NACH DER BEFREIUNG WIENS
VON DEN TURKISCHEN
BELAGERERN
DIE HEILIGE MESSE
KOMITTEE 300 JAHRE ENTSATZ VON WIEN
MIT KONIG JAN III SOBIESKI
SEPTEMBER 1983"
which Google translates as:
"Jan III Sobieski
KING OF POLAND
COMMANDER-
THE UNITED HEERE
VISITED HERE
AM September 13, 1683
AFTER THE LIBERATION OF VIENNA
OF THE TURKISH ED
besiegers
THE HOLY MASS
Comittee 300 YEARS Relief of Vienna
WITH KING Jan III Sobieski
September 1983"
Wikipedia (
visit link) has an extensive article on the Battle of Vienna which in part informs us:
"The Battle of Vienna ... is a battle that took place on 11 and 12 September 1683 after the imperial city of Vienna had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months. It was a battle of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in league with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Holy League) versus the Muslim Ottoman Empire and chiefdoms of the Ottoman Empire, and took place at the Kahlenberg mountain near Vienna. The battle marked the beginning of the political hegemony of the Habsburg dynasty in the Holy Roman Empire and Central Europe.
The battle was won by the combined forces of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the latter being represented only by the forces of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (the march of the Lithuanian army was delayed; as a result they arrived in Vienna after it was relieved). The Viennese garrison was led by Ernst Rüdiger Graf von Starhemberg, an Austrian subject of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. The overall command was held by the commander of the Polish forces, the King of Poland, Jan III Sobieski.
The alliance fought the army of the Ottoman Empire and those of Ottoman fiefdoms commanded by Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha. The siege itself began on 14 July 1683, by the Ottoman Empire army of approximately 90,000[1]–300,000 men. The besieging force was composed of 60 ortas of Janissaries (12,000 men paper strength) with an observation army of c.70,000 men watching the countryside. The decisive battle took place on 12 September, after the united relief army of approximately 84,000 men had arrived.
It has been suggested by some historians that the battle marked the turning-point in the Ottoman–Habsburg wars, the 300-year struggle between the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Indeed, over the sixteen years following the battle, the Habsburgs of Austria gradually occupied and dominated southern Hungary and Transylvania, which had been largely cleared of the Ottoman forces. However, post-Orientalist historiographies shed light on the fact that the Ottoman Empire did remain strong and imposing in the Balkan –despite some administrative, economic and military turmoils– up until the late 18th century. Much of the Holy Leagues' gains would be recaptured by the Ottomans, such as the Morea and Azov, while the Balkan territories would fall back in parts to the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of Passarowitz."