Vienna

Vienna is grand. The buildings are grand, the monuments are grand, and the churches are grand…like I said, Vienna is grand. Everywhere you go, and I do mean everywhere in the oldest sections of town, there is grandeur. It has enough history and culture and music and art and food and…well, let’s just say that Vienna has enough of everything to keep a tourist busy for months let alone the parts of four days we spent there.

Vienna (spelled Wien and pronounced “veen” in German) is considered the eastern-most city in Western Europe. Geographically, Vienna is further east than Prague in the Czech Republic. It was the capital of the Austrian Empire for 640 years as the Habsburg Dynasty ruled a multinational region of the world comprised of modern day Austria, and parts of Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, Ukraine, Croatia, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia and Poland, making it the second largest country by size in Europe (behind the Russian Empire) and the third most populous. Thanks to Austria starting then losing WWI, the vast land holdings were greatly reduced, however Vienna remains capital over what we now know as Austria, approximately the size of South Carolina.

 

Vienna Opera House

The history of Vienna and that of Austria is inextricably the history of the Habsburgs, an in-breeding lot that controlled the Holy Roman Empire and contributed royalty to the thrones of Bohemia, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Russia, Croatia, Mexico, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands. No kidding. One of the most revered Habsburg monarchs (1740-1780) Maria Theresa had 16 children in 18 years. The most famous (or is that infamous?) of whom is Marie Antoinette who was subsequently married off to the French monarch. In fact Mama Maria Theresa arranged the marriages of all her children except one, Maria Christina who was allowed to marry for love. Needless to say, after two days of asking which Habsburg married which monarch and who is who’s father and who built which palace, I had had enough Austrian history to last the entire 640 years.

Historical significance aside, Vienna has been home to world-renowned musicians, artists, philosophers, and thinkers. Home to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig von Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Johann Strauss (father and son), Sigmund Freud, and Gustav Klimt, at one time Vienna was the fifth largest city in the world behind only New York, London, Paris, and Berlin. Even today, it serves as home for thousands of transplanted artists and musicians maintaining Vienna’s rich sense of history and culture.

The “old town” I mentioned is loosely defined by the Ringstrasse (the ring road) that encircles the sky scraper-free, pedestrian-friendly oldest portions of Vienna seemingly filled with the most magnificent collection of massive, ornate buildings on earth. Vienna is divided into 40-some districts, with zone #1, as you might imagine, being the oldest of all with its origins in the Roman Empire. In fact, one of the main pedestrian streets is called “Graben” which means “the ditch,” named after the moat that surrounded the Roman military camp first established in this area. The Graben leads directly to the majestic St. Stephen’s Cathedral (which I only mention here, but will describe in detail in a subsequent posting).

St. Stephen's

Quite near St. Stephen’s is an odd looking monument that requires much closer examination. The first time I saw it, I was not at all sure I understood what I was seeing. Standing some sixty feet tall, is the Holy Trinity Plague Column. The story goes something like this: Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and, you guessed it, a Habsburg big-shot fell to his knees in public begging for divine intervention as the Black Plague quickly ravaged his minions. Now understand, Habsburgs falling to their knees, let alone begging—anyone, including the Almighty—was unprecedented. After learning a hard-earned lesson in who was really in charge, he ordered the column built to show his gratitude. The symbols within the column are far too numerous to describe, but one especially bizarre image is that of Faith casting out the Black Death (in the form of a “saggy,” half-deteriorated, old girl) while a Cupid-looking angel helps seal the deal.

Yep, grand. That’s the best word for Vienna—grand.

Holy Trinity Plague Column