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Vienna Pages by von.otter
Tips 1 - 10 of 13 Vienna Things to Do
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Things To Do: Athens in Vienna : Theseustempel
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What a pleasant surprise it was when we happened upon Theseustempel (the Temple to Theseus) in the middle of the Volksgarten.
This curious Neo-Classical folly, a replica of the Thesion in Athens, was commissioned to house Canova’s “Theseus Slaying a Centaur,” in 1820.
Four years later the monumental sculpture that Napoleon had ordered for the Corso in Milan was installed in the temple. In 1890 it was moved to its present location, the Grand Staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
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Things To Do: Home for Art : Kunsthistorisches
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For the first time most of the imperial art collections of the ruling Hapsburg family were brought together under one roof at the Kunsthistorisches (Art History) Museum. And most importantly, these treasures were put on display for public viewing. The monumental building was conceived as a memorial to glorify Hapsburg patronage. Designed in the Italian Renaissance style it was opened in 1891 by Emperor Franz Joseph I. The interior curly-cue details are in the Neo-Baroque style of the late 19th century.
The museum’s entry hall ceiling has an oculus that opens to the first floor rotunda, where a small café serving light fare can be found (see accompanying photos).
Wedding Brawl
Peirithous, King of the Lapiths, invited Theseus, King of Athens to his wedding to Hippodameia. Among the guests were the Centaurs, who were known for their inability to hold their liquor. During the wedding celebration the Centaurs became violently drunk; they tried to carry off the bride and other Lapith women to have their way with them. Fierce fighting broke out; Theseus killed many Centaurs, including their leader Eurytion.
This is the scene that Antonio Canova has so vividly brought to life with his stunningly beautiful marble grouping “Theseus Slaying a Centaur” (see accompanying photos). Carved between 1805 and 1819 this monumental work stands on the landing of the Kunsthistorisches’s Grand Staircase greeting guests. Oh! from every angle Theseus won my heart.
I made a beeline for the 1480 terra cotta portrait “Alexander the Great” (see accompanying photo). It was spot lit so dramatically it was all that I could focus on. Molded in Florence by Andrea Verocchio and glazed by Andre della Robbia I wanted to take it home and hand it on my wall.
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Address: various museums
Website: http://www.khm.at/homeE/homeE.html
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“Be sure that you first preach by the way you live. If you do not, people will notice that you say one thing, but live otherwise, and your words will bring only cynical laughter and a derisive shake of the head.”
— Saint Charles Borromeo (1538–1584)
Master of the Baroque in Vienna, Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach looked to Ancient Rome and Renaissance Rome for the elements that he so skillfully combined in 1715 to create Karlskirche (the Church of St. Charles).
To give thanks to God for delivering Vienna from plague that swept the city in 1713, Emperor Karl VI made a vow to build a church dedicated to San Carlo Borromeo. As Archbishop of Milan Our Saint had ministered to those sick and dying of plague in his city in 1576.
The two free-standing front columns are decorated with scenes from Our Saint’s life. The left column shows his steadfastness, the right illustrates his courage. Both were inspired by Trajan’s Column in Rome. The triangular pediment and columns of the front porch are designed after Rome’s Pantheon. And the dramatic green copper, 236-foot high dome pays homage to St. Peter’s; Karlskirche is a landmark on the Viennese skyline.
The Angel of the Old Testament is to the left of the front steps; the Angel of the New Testament stands to the right (see photos #2 and #3).
This church is quite visible, standing as it does outside the narrow quarters of the center of the city, with land surrounding it, its many splendid elements can be better appreciated.
And to Heaven On the high altar San Carlo is assumed into Heaven with hosts of angels to guide his way (see photo #5). Our Saint is the patron of apple orchards, catechists, seminarians, and starch makers; he’s invoked against stomachaches and ulcers.
Now here’s a thought: the same artist, Lorenzo Mattielli, who created this masterpiece also carved those rock-hard muscular Hercules in front of the Michaelertrakt! (see von.otter’s Vienna travelogue “Hercules in Stone” for photos)
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Address: Karlsplatz
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“If there is anyone here whom I have not insulted, I beg his pardon.”
— Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897), said upon leaving a gathering of friends
Genius as Vulgarian : Johannes Brahms lived near-by to where Rudolf von Weyr’s memorial, sculpted between 1902 and 1908, now stands in Resselpark. The mournful Muse of Music (see accompanying photo) is filled with sorrow at the master’s feet.
Brahms settled permanently in Vienna in 1868. His urge to hold an official position (connected with his notions of social respectability) resulted in the 1872 conductorship of the Vienna Gesellschaftskonzerte; but the demands of the job conflicted with his intense longing to compose. Both the 1869 German Requiem and the Variations on the St. Antony Chorale (1873) were met with acclaim, bringing international renown and financial security. In Vienna he came to occupy a position similar to that once held by Beethoven, his gruff idiosyncrasies tolerated by those who valued his genius.
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Address: Resselpark
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Things To Do: The Pestsäule (the Plague Column)
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“In the middle stands a monumental column that looks very much like a dice tumbler.”
— Gérard de Nerval, (1808–1855), French poet, on the Pestsäule, the Plague Column
In Sickness and Health—The Pestsäule (the Plague Column) is sometimes known as the Trinity Column. The Viennese hold this monumental thanksgiving offering, designed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, between 1713 and 1714, in high esteem. It stands 69-feet tall on the fashionable shopping boulevard known as the Graben; it was commissioned by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I (kneeling at the center of photo #2) to give thanks to God for the cessation of the plague that had ravaged the city in 1679.
Like so much, in so many tourist cities, the Pestsäule is not something that one does. Because it stands on a shopping street, one passes it by as one goes about from here to there. One takes note of it, perhaps appreciates it for the history it represents or the beauty it has; but the Pestsäule is not really “a thing to do,” as a museum is “a thing to do.”
It is such a frothy, Baroque, very Viennese object, I would encourage a visitor to take a look at the Pestsäule.
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Things To Do: The Mozart Memorial
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“Music, even in situations of the greatest horror, should never be painful to the ear but should flatter and charm it, and thereby always remain music.”
— Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Austria’s favorite musical son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), moved to Vienna in 1781, aged 25. The Salzburg native had embarked on a freelance career in the capital following his falling out with his provincial employer, Hieronymus von Schrattenbach, the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg.
In addition to composing many piano concerti and much chamber and church music, he composed the operas “The Marriage of Figaro” and “The Magic Flute” while living in Vienna.
Mozart died here on the 5th of December 1791.
Among the prettiest spot that remember the composer is the Mozart Memorial in the Burggarten, constructed in 1819. The Burggarten had formerly been part of the Kaiser’s private garden, but has been open to the public since 1919.
The Mozart Memorial is a work in marble created in 1896 by Victor Tilgner. The pose that Mozart strikes is from a scene in “Don Giovanni.” The plinth is decorated with members of the Mozart family and with two scenes, in relief form, from “Don Giovanni.” The monument, which once stood in Albertina Platz, was seriously damaged in the Second World War. It was removed and then in 1953, after full restoration, re-erected in the Burggarten. A flowerbed G clef decorates the lawn that stretches out in front of the memorial (see accompanying photo).
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Things To Do: The Church of Maria am Gestade
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“The streets of Vienna are paved with culture, the streets of other cities with asphalt.”
— Karl Kraus (1874-1936) Austrian writer
Maria am Gestade, St. Mary on the Strand, is among Vienna’s oldest buildings and one of the few surviving examples of Gothic architecture here. The church is located near the Donaukanal and was traditionally used by sailors on the Danube.
A wooden church stood at this place in the ninth century. With an arm of the Danube flowing by, it served as a place of worship for fishermen and sailors. The river is now diverted, but the church and its name remain. The first documented reference to the church is in 1158. The present Gothic-style building was built between 1394 and 1414. The church was desecrated in 1786 and fell into disuse. It was used as a military magazine and stable during Napoleon’s 1809 occupation of Vienna. In 1812, the church was renovated and re-consecrated. Today, it is associated with the Czech community in Vienna.
The open latticework that tops the 180-foot high bell tower is meant to be the heavenly crown of the Virgin Mary. It’s the church’s most striking exterior characteristic, recognizable from a distance. We could see this lovely feature, lit at night, from our hotel, the K+K.
To get a private tour of the church’s interior we asked our hotel’s front desk clerk to call and arrange it. A very obliging gentleman, speaking excellent English, took us around. We gave a donation at the end of his excellent tour.
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Phone: + 43 1 533 95 94 0
Address: Salvatorgasse, 12
Other Contact: Fax: + 43 1 533 95 94 28
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Things To Do: The Secession Building
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“Der Zeit ihre Kunst. Der Kunst ihre Freiheit” (“For every time its art. For art its Freedom”)
— Slogan that once appeared on the exterior of the Secession Building, removed during a 1908 renovation
A golden cabbage, that is how the snickering Viennese ridiculed the gilded laurel-leafed cupola above Josef Maria Olbrich’s 1898 exhibition hall. Built in a six-month period for the Association of Visual Artists Vienna Secession to display works of that modern movement, today it’s known simply as the Secession Building.
The gallery’s most famous work of art — other than the building itself — is the Beethoven Frieze, painted in 1902 by the leader of the Secessionists, Gustav Klimt. Just as I’m unsettled by most of Klimt’s work, so the Frieze too leaves me uneasy. The figures are so gaunt, ghostly, and downright ugly!
The Secession Building’s main decorative feature is the laurel leaf. It can be found on the pilasters of the front and the anterior wing, as well as in the entrance recess, and in the garlands on the building’s side. The most striking application of this natural motif is the 3,000 gilt leaves and 700 berries of the dome.
Representing architecture, sculpture and painting, three masks of the Gorgons decorate the recess above the entrance door (see accompanying photo). Owls (see accompanying photo), attributes of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, victory and the arts, are featured on the outside sidewalls; these are the designs of Kolo Moser. This Classical symbolism is used in a fresh interpretation by Joseph Maria Olbrich.
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Phone: +43-1-5875307-21
Address: Friedrichstrasse 12, 1010 Vienna
Website: http://www.secession.at/building/menu_e.html
Other Contact: Hours Tuesday to Sunday 10 am–6
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Things To Do: Vienna Boys Choir : Voices of Angels
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“The natural animal spirit of the boys sometimes make the afternoon nap difficult to enforce but we have an effective cure. The recalcitrant loses his chance to sit next to the bus driver and honk the horn at crossroads!”
— Father Josef Schnitt, rector of the Choir during the Second World War; he was imprisoned by the Nazis when he would not allow his boys to act as a propaganda tool
You can hear the Wiener Sängerknaben (Vienna Boys Choir) at Sunday morning Mass in the Hofkappel (Imperial Chapel): what a way to start the day! Tickets for Mass can be bought on-line at the Choir’s website listed here.
At the Sunday, December 30th 2001 Mass we attended these little angels performed the 1826 German Mass by Franz Schubert, who had been a choirboy.
From 1498 to 1918, the choir sang exclusively for the Imperial Court. When the empire was dissolved and Austria became a republic the choir was established as a private institution. Today there are 100 boys, ranging in age from 10 to 14, divided among 4 groups, which travel the world performing 300 concerts each year.
Following Mass the boys were scattered in the Swiss Courtyard, this time to perform another duty, pose with the tourists. And judging from their forced smiles (see accompanying photo), this was indeed nothing but a duty for them.
We were treated to a preview of the choirboys at the JFK Airport; a group was returning from America to Vienna on the same Air Austria flight we flew (see accompanying photo). Although well behaved, their boyish nature came to the surface in this non-performance setting.
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Website: www.wsk.at
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What delight it would be to walk out of the apartment building at Linke Wienzeile No. 40 each morning and return to it each evening. It was designed by Otto Wagner (1841-1918); it is known as Majolika House (1898-1899) for its façade that is lavishly decorated with sheets of majolica painted with fuchsia and blue flowers, and their sensuously curving, climbing green leaves and stems. What a flight of fancy the designer, Wagner’s student Alois Ludwig, took with this building. Today Majolika Haus has retail at the ground floor level and private apartments on its upper floors.
If I couldn’t live at the Belvedere, I could live here.
Or I would settle for living next door, at Linke Wienzeile No. 38. Another exemplary piece of Secessionist architecture, a residential building also designed by Wagner, No. 38, is known as Medallion House, for the gilded medallions on the façade; they are the work of Kolo Moser (1886-1918), who founded Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshops) with Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956).
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Directions: Linke Wienzeile
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More Vienna Tips
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Tips: 13 - Photos: 43 | | Restaurants | Hotels & Accommodations | | Nightlife | Off The Beaten Path | | Tourist Traps | Warnings Or Dangers | | Transportation | Local Customs
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breughel Mon Apr 2, 2007 10:46 UTC
Excellent comments about the Centaurs at the staircase of the KHM. You should write more! |
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on Mar 28, 2007
