Danube, Stephansdom, Schatzkammer

We started the day taking a bike trip along the Danube. We went to the Prater (an amusement park) to rent bikes and biked across a bridge onto Donau Insel. Since so many of the Viennese citizens bike, the city is very biking friendly. There are bike lanes everywhere and bicycle riders even have their own stoplight apart from pedestrians and cars. This is very different from America, where bikers just have a small little piece of road to ride on and making left turns is very difficult. The bridge even had a pedestrian and biking zone on the lower level. Once we got to Donau Insel, there were many walking and biking trails. Again, I saw many Turkish people barbecuing and enjoying picnics. Also on the way to the island, there were many graffiti signs of the PKK, a Kurdish Nationalist party in Turkey, which made me infer that most of the Turks here are actually Kurds who may have been oppressed by the Sunni majority. Along the biking path there were a lot of picnic tables and places where you could get down into the water. Closer to the bridge there were many bars and places to rent paddle boats and other fun water toys. The Donau Insel is actually a man made island and has proved to be a big hit with the Viennese. It is a lot like going into the countryside without getting out of the city. Today it was too cold to jump into the water, but I would definitely like to swim into the water soon.
After biking along the Danube, we headed back into Central Vienna to visit the Stephansdom. Since previously it was really crowded and I was unable to visit some of the sites. We visited the catacombs and the north tower. The catacombs were quite interesting and unique, I had never seen anything like it. The catacombs are a series of crypts and vaults beneath the gothic Stephansdom. Again, the icon of Jesus being crucified is omnipresent, on various walls through out the catacombs. The catacombs start with a vault specifically dedicated to high-ranking church officials. Here they have actually tombs and they are stacked about 9 to a wall (3x3). After the first crypt the other crypts are the final resting places of the hoi polloi. At first they would place the people and their coffins in here and stack them one by one; however, the smell became so strong and unbearable that people could smell the rotting carcasses from the Stephansplatz and also inside the church. During the plague, so many people were dying in Vienna that they did not have enough time to build coffins or give proper funeral processions for those who had died, that they just dug a hole in the Stephansplatz and would dump bodies into the catacombs of the church. Looking into the vault, you can see a lot of deteriorating bones. I had never seen so many bones in my life, it was quite a sight. The catacombs eventually began to reek and reach maximum capacity, so as punishment to prisoners, they had to clean the deceased bones and stack them to allow for optimal storage. In this crypt, the bones were neatly stacked with a skull for about every 100 bones. It seems that during the Middle Ages, prisoners had no social or civil rights. Nowadays in America, it would be considered cruel and unusual punishment to make felons clean and stack bones of the deceased.
After visiting the Stephansdom, we visited the Schatzkammer or the Imperial Treasury. The Schatzkammer is a museum located in the Hofburg and houses the jewels and valuable possessions of the Habsburg emperors and empresses. Among the gilded and precious jewel adorned items, the notable ones are: the Imperial Crown of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire, the Coronation mantle of the Holy Roman Empire, the Order of the Golden Fleece necklace, and the largest Emerald in the world. This truly shows the opulence of the Habsburgs. In my opinion, these items are completely unnecessary and all the ceremonial processions that the royalty have to go through are completely superfluous. I understand that the monarchy had to display some sort of grandiose; however, it is at the expense of their hardworking people that they were able to receive these wonderful items and they did not make much of an effort to see that all their people were living above poverty. This money could have been better used to benefit society, especially since most of the items displayed at the Schatzkammer was just for looking at or only used once. Seeing all that the Habsburgs have has really shown me that they are very wasteful and harmful to the economy for their people.

First Weekend

The Naschmarkt is a huge outdoor market covered by awning. In the entrance near the Opera house, there are two rows of restaurant, serving all different types of cuisine: Asian, Austrian, Mediteranean, and Turkish (to name a few). After traveling further down, they offer a lot of fresh produce. There were many stands that sold fresh vegetables, fruit, meat and nuts. There were also stands that sold freshly made ravioli, tortellini, pickled vegetables, sun-dried tomatoes, and olives. I noticed that most of the salesmen were Turkish and I even found a few stores that sold Turkish Delight. It reminded me a lot of the Spice Market and Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. It was interesting to see that most of the stands sold the same thing. There were over 40 stands selling the same exact thing. I wonder how they make money, the competition must be very high since everyone is selling the same thing. Since it was Saturday, the Naschmarkt also puts on a flea market. It was full of a bunch of antiques and used goods.
Kaisergruft is the final resting place of many of the Habsburgs. Originally called the Capuchin Monastery, it was commissioned by Empress Anna to be her final resting place along with her husband Emperor Matthias. Since Ferdinand III, the Kaisergruft has become the burial place for the Habsburgs. Among the bodies buried in the vaults, 12 are emperors and 17 are empresses. Some famous Habsburgs that are buried here include: Leopold I, Karl VI, Sisi, Maria Theresa, Joseph I, and Franz Joseph I. Along with the emperors and empresses buried here, their family members are also buried here. The tombs are made of metal and have very intricate designs on the surface. Inside the vault, Jesus being crucified is an omnipresent idol, whether carved onto the tombs themselves or hanging on the surfaces of the walls. It is very easy to tell who the important figure’s tombs are, they are very extravagant, large, and have intricate carvings decorating the surface. The most magnificent vault in the building belongs to Maria Theresa. It is very obvious that her tomb is the oversized metal coffin in the direct center of the vault. Her remains are surrounded by Joseph I and Franz I. There are also some very small coffins, which I suspect may have belonged to babies who have passed away. Vienna a Cultural History states that the Kaisergruft was the burial place for only the Habsburg family. There decadent lifestyles were also carried into the afterlife where the coffins decorations and extra adornments could help one to determine the status of the specific person. For instance “coffins draped in black velvet and gold brocade signified that the occupants were rulers or their spouses, while red velvet and silver brocade were for the archdukes, archduchesses and their immediate families” (Parsons, 72).
After visiting the Kaisergruft, we visited the Beethoven house. Since it is not in central Vienna, our guidebook did not have very explicit directions on how to get there. So we proceeded to ask some people we saw on the street, however it did not seem that anyone knew that this attraction existed. We went all over town and checked the maps at the bus stops and finally found Probusgasse 6, where Beethoven’s house was. It was a modest little cottage with two stories and a courtyard in the middle. The actual museum was very small and did not have much besides some two original papers written by Beethoven. That was when I realized why no one knew where this supposed Beethoven’s house was because it is not much of an attraction (it did not even get its own section in the guidebook it was just mentioned in passing). After paying the entrance fee, I entered the house and read an information wall that said something on the lines of: recent research has placed doubts on the fact that this was actually Beethoven’s house, but it give us a good idea of what a house in the 1800s may have looked like. I was a bit disappointed that I had searched so long for a house that may or may not have belonged to Beethoven. Nevertheless, it was nice to get out of the immediate city and see the sights. We actually ran across a Heuliger that used to be Beethoven’s house and an apartment that Albert Einstein once lived in.

Kunsthistoriches Museum

The Kunsthistoriches Museum is a museum that predominantly displays the art from the upper Belvedere collection, which was opened by Maria Theresia. The museum features many famous works of art from the Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque art periods. The building the museum is located in is part of the Hofburg. It is one of two identical buildings facing one another, part of a bilateral system. The other building now houses the Natural History Museum. The two buildings are built in a Neo-Renaissance style.
Carnival is considered the period after Christmas and before Easter and Lent is the period after Easter in which people would have to engage in fasting. Many historians used Bruegel’s painting in order to look at the daily life of the 16th century. During the reformation there is a tightening of moral screws and people become more and more conservative. It is interesting to see how indulgent the people were and then how very conservative they became.
Other interesting works by Bruegel on display at the Kunsthistoriches Museum include: Gloomy Day, The Return of the Herd, and Hunters in the Snow. Each of these three paintings conveys one of the four seasons. Gloomy Day represents spring, The Return of the Herd represents autumn, and Hunters in the Snow represents winter; the summer representation: Haymaking is on display in Prague. These season paintings are revolutionary because they demonstrate the period after the Reformation in which there is a shift from religious paintings to one of daily life scenes and landscapes.
Catholic and Protestant paintings differ in many areas. Because the Protestant faith preaches a “sola scriptura” ideology; it follows the idea that you don’t need to do anything for salvation and will receive salvation by grace alone. However, the Catholic faith incorporates the use of rosaries, saints, pilgrimages, and confessions to reach salvation. Because of the differences in ideology, the Protestant art does not focus at all on saints, but the Catholic art does. Furthermore, a lot of the Catholic art features visions of the Virgin Mary and demonstrates other Catholic practices, such as public Catholic exorcisms. An interesting feature of Catholic art is that after the Counter-Reformation saints have to have visions of the Virgin Mary as part of the painting. In these paintings, the Virgin Mary is usually featured very discretely as a triangle near the top of the painting.
The more interesting paintings of the museum are the portraits of the Habsburg. The most interesting of course is the portrait of Charles II. It is very evident that “you, happy Austria, marry” the Habsburgs had married into many royal families in order to acquire lands and kingdoms, instead of waging many wars. The portrait of Charles II very clearly shows the consequences of interbreeding between royal families. He is very pale, has a large nose, plump lips, and an enormous under-bite.
It was cool to actually see the differences between the different art periods that we had talked about in class. Before, when I visited art museums, such as the Louvre or the Prado, I could not really enjoy it because I had no knowledge or appreciation for art. But even just learning some basic characteristics of art styles and the history behind how they came to be and how they evolved, whether it is through religious movements or imperial influences, has really helped me to appreciate and enjoy looking at art. I can appreciate the hard work the artist put into his painting and I can also appreciate the history behind the art form used. This makes visits to art museums a lot more enjoyable.

Klosterneuberg

Klosterneuburg is the site of an Augustinian monastery built in the 1100s. It was commissioned by Leopold III, a Babenberg, who later was canonized a saint. The story goes that Leopold and Agnes, his beloved wife, were riding their horses, when her veil flew off her head. Nine years later, while Leopold was hunting in the woods he found her veil and saw a vision of the Virgin Mary, who asked him to build her a church on the site in her honor.
In the early 1700s after Charles VI lost during the Spanish Succession, he felt the need to show the Habsburgs power and decided to make Klosterneuburg the Escorial of Austria. He wanted to build his own escorial because he lost the Spanish one. However he died seven years after they started construction. The construction stopped once he died 7 years later because his daughter Maria Theresia had other more important diplomatic issues to deal with than to see the building of this church go through. Its interesting to see because the church is unfinished you can see the way they were going about building the church. The new visitor’s entrance to the monastery is only partially finished. You can see that they were beginning to smooth out the sides of the walls and cover the brick with a more aesthetically pleasing covering.
Now, Klosterneuburg is the monastery for Augustinian canons, this did not happen until about 20 years after the church had been commissioned. This monastery has over 900 years of Augustinian history. The Augustinian canons are a monastic order that follow the teachings of St. Augustine. The process to become a canon is as follows: one can approach the order and will become a novice, after a year as a novice the chapter meets to determine if the novice can continue on. If the novice receives the chapter’s approval, he will take his simple vows for three years. After three years, the chapter will meet once again to determine if they would like to keep him for life. If admitted, he will take his solemn vows and becomes a member of the monastery for life. The process the chapter follows for voting on a novice is one that is seen in many organizations. The chapter members have black balls and white balls and will place white balls if they think the novice should pass. If the novice has more white balls then black balls, then he can move on to take his simple vows. The same process is implemented to go from taking simple vows to solemn vows. Currently there are 46 members in the Klosterneuburg monastery and the median age of its members is going down.
Klosterneuburg is also the site of one of Austria’s biggest and oldest wine estates, dating back nearly 900 years and consisting of 275 acres. The cellars are Baroque cellars dating back 270 years. The grapes are from all different areas in Austria. Each grape has a different soil and microclimate that is most conducive to its growth and taste. These grapes are then brought to Klosterneuburg where they are stomped, fermented, bottled, and shipped out for sale. The close location of the Danube made it easy in the past to ship the wines to various Bavarian monasteries. The cellars are very cool and conducive to the fermentation process. In order to tell if the conditions are good, they can check the types of mold growing inside the cellar. Black mold means that the conditions are good; however, once white mold starts to grow than the conditions inside the cellar are too humid. Every year they ship out about 600,000 bottles of wine.
After visiting the monastery of Klosterneuburg, we went to Heuriger or a wine tavern, where they serve young wines. Here you can order wines and some small tapas like dishes. It was a lot of fun to get to know everyone on the trip better over a nice glass of wine in a beautiful garden setting. I preferred the white wine to the red wine and I tried some of the traditional Austrian dishes, which were very delicious.

Karlskirche

A visit to the Karlskirche museum really helped me to somewhat define the look of the Baroque style. The outside of the church was very similar to that of the Belvedere, also in Baroque, and the inside was very ornate. There were amazing murals of angels, saints, and priests covering the entire ceiling, which was very massive. You could even take the stairs up closer to the ceiling to see the amazing frescoes more closely, since they were restoring many of them. Up close you could not tell the characteristic of “tricking the eye” from the Baroque; however, when you were standing on the ground floor of the church looking up, you could see the illusions of angels following you and I could not really get a feel of how high the ceiling was or when structure ended and painting began. The inside of the church was adorned in a rich, deep red marble and gilded altars all over. It seems that a lot of the Baroque style is used to show off the grandness and the power of the Habsburg and the superiority of Catholicism, especially during the Reformation period. For instance, in the Belvedere the guesthouse, upper Belvedere, is an amazing structure set on top a hill outside the center of Vienna with gorgeous views of the city. The entrance to the guesthouse is a long pathway fit with an artificial pond, which mirrors the image of the Belvedere, this follows the Baroque styles tending towards the use of mirrors and reflections to create illusions.
It seems that this over the top “peacocking” could be a way to legitimize the Habsburg empire. Unlike the French to the west and the Ottomans to the east, the Habsburg did not engage themselves in great battles or wars in order to gain land and subjects; however, they created marriage alliances overseen by Maximilian I (Beller 41). The marriage between his son, Philip, and Juana of Castile helped to ensure the Habsburg line in Spain, which probably also led to the Habsburg allegiance to Catholicism.
After the rise of Protestantism and the conversion of many great European powers to Protestantism, the Habsburg still remained Catholic, while countries to the north and immediately west were becoming Protestant. This led to a power struggle between the Protestants and Catholics, resulting in the 30 Years war, which lasted from 1618 until 1648. This was initially a war between the Catholic Habsburgs and the Protestant Swedes; however, as the war progressed it turned from a religious war to a strategic war. The French were worried of the rising powers of the Habsburgs and in an effort to preserve the balance of powers in Europe, they, even though Catholic, joined the side of the Protestant Swedes to fight against the Habsburgs. In the end, the Catholics prevailed, after the death on battlefield of the Swedish King, Gustavos Adolphus.

Stephansdom

Today I visited one of the most famous attractions in Vienna and maybe all of Austria, the Stephansdom. On my previous visit to Vienna, I had visited this cathedral and on both occasions the cathedral has been packed, but today it was worse than the last time. Because of the rain, almost all tourists sought refuge inside, instead of taking pictures from the outside. It was interesting to see the differences between the St. Stephens and the Votivkirche. I remember Dr. O talking about how many tourists mistake the Votivkirche for the Stephansdom and I can see how that could be a common mistake. They are a lot alike and with an untrained eye such as mine, it is very difficult to tell the difference between Neo-gothic and Gothic styles, hopefully after this trip I will be more well-versed in detecting the features of certain art forms and styles. The building of this church started in 1147, during the Middle Ages and different renovations and additions have been made throughout the following two centuries. I wanted to go up the bell tower in order to see the view of Vienna; however, the weather was very bad today and it was raining and cloudy, so I have decided to come back on another day to see the view along with the catacombs.
Back to news about my adapter blowing, I went on another mission to find an adapter today and finally after many stores I was able to find what I was looking for. I did, however, find that the people working at Cosmos, an electronic store, to be ever so unhelpful. They were sort of rude and were unwilling to help me, maybe it was because I was unable to speak to them in German. I then visited two other big chain electronic stores and was still unable to find an adapter to go from American to European. Finally on the way back to the apartment, I found a very small appliances store that sold everything from water filters to televisions. I thought it was strange that the big chain stores that would parallel Fry’s in America did not sell something as simple as an adapter. Back to the customer service, they were very slow and would just take their time with the customers ahead even if they saw that there was a very long line. I think maybe the sense of efficiency and time management is just as much of a priority here than it is back in the states. That carries into an observation I have made. Austrians and maybe Europeans in general really value their leisure time. For instance, some girls and I wanted to go out to eat so we checked in our Lonely Planet book to look for suggestions. We spent about half an hour trying to choose a place and then finding out how to get there. When we finally got there, we discovered that the restaurant has gone on summer vacation and has been closed since the middle of July and will not re-open until the end of August. It is interesting to see how their lives are not driven by the economy and consumers, how it is in America. Also for all meals they like to take their time and the waiters never bother you with the check until you ask for it. I am still not used to that yet and have found myself sitting and chatting for a very long time and still not receiving the bill, then I will remember that we have to ask for it first. It is nice that they value their company and leisure time so much and take things slowly.

Day 1

August 3, 2009

Today started my second full day in Vienna. After doing the reading, I was a little bit disoriented by all the rulers, tribes, and empires that have rolled through and ruled Austria. It was nice to watch a video on the Hapsburg and receive a more concise and focused view of the great ruling family of Austria. I remembered that when I went to Spain a few years ago I visited and saw many of the Hapsburgs buried in Madrid and always never understood why. Now, it makes sense since during the time of Charles V, the Hapsburg ruled over the Spanish empire also since Philip of Burgundy married Juana of Castile allowing Charles V and Ferdinand of Austria to inherit parts of the Spanish empire. Also another tie I found with Spain and Austria is the Hundertwasser House. It reminded me a lot of the Gaudi buildings that I saw in Barcelona, similar style and innovation with lots of colors and no straight lines.

It was also interesting to see the Belvedere (beautiful view, with truly beautiful views) palace of Eugene of Savoy, defeater of the Turks. I have previously taken a class on the modern history of Turkey, so I am familiar with the events that occurred during the late Ottoman empire and the beginning of the Turkish republic; however, I am not as well informed about how the Ottomans acquired such a vast empire and where they won or lost important lands. It will be interesting to learn about the Ottomans from the perspective of the Hapsburg dynasty. I also found it hilarious when Dr. O told us about how the Turkish embassy in Vienna is right next to the summer palace of Eugene, the defeater of the Turks, even more ironic is that their embassy is actually on Prinz-Eugenstrasse. Speaking on a tangent off of the Ottomans, I have noticed that there are a lot of Turks here in Vienna. Doner and kebap cafes are just as prevalent as biergartens and wienerschnitzel stands. I know that the Turks immigrated in vast numbers to Germany during their industrial boom when the Germans needed cheap labor and the Turkish economy was suffering; however, I was not expecting to see so many Turks here in Vienna. I wonder why Turks have immigrated to Vienna.
A great thing about this trip is being able to learn history and be able to see it. This travel study program has made it very possible to make the history we learn to be tangible. For instance, today in class we talked about the Babenbergs, the Austrian rulers that preceded the Hapsburg, and then this afternoon we drove by the church of Klosterneurburg where Leopold, a Babenberg, built a church where he had found his wife’s veil that had been lost almost a decade before. It was also interesting to be able to tie the images and busts seen in the Hofburg to the Hapsburg we talked about in class today.
In the Lonely Planet guidebook and just from others’ experiences, I have found that the Viennese are known to be rude or proud people; however, I do not really find this the case. Today, I was out looking for a converter and I walked into this electronic store and since I only speak a little bit of German it was difficult to communicate with the clerk. Instead of sending me away, he got all the employees in the shop to try and help me with the problem. When that didn’t work, he got onto Yahoo! Translator and typed in what he said in German and translated it into English. It was a genius idea and I found it very nice that he would go through so much trouble to help me. Furthermore, I was able to practice the little German that I know in the cell phone shope when I was trying to get a SIM card. The shop owner told me that he as really happy that he was able to practice his English and I would be able to practice my German. I have made a really good connection with all the people I have at least attempted to speak my poor German with. They have always been very gracious and willing to help me, which makes me really happy that I did decide to go through the trouble to take German classes before coming on this trip (even though I only know a tiny bit it’s been very helpful).