Melk Abbey (Melk, Austria)

Posted on 30 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — 3 Comments ↓

Melk Abbey

After our tour of Mathausen Memorial, we again boarded our van for the 86.8-km. (1-hour) trip, via the A1, to huge Melk Abbey (German: Stift Melk), one of Europe’s great sights located on a rock-strewn outcrop overlooking the banks of the Danube River. Adjoining the Wachau Valley between Salzburg and Vienna, it is a Benedictine abbey above the town of Melk in Lower Austria.

Inner (Prelates) Courtyard

The 497-room (with 1,365 windows) abbey, founded in 1089 when Leopold II, Margrave of Austria gave one of his castles to Benedictine monks from Lambach Abbey (who turned it into a fortified abbey), contains the tomb of St. Coloman of Stockerau and the remains of several members of the House of Babenberg, Austria’s first ruling dynasty who ruled Austria from 976 until the House of Hapsburg took over.

Abbey gate

A monastic school, the Stiftsgymnasium Melk, was founded in the 12th century and the abbey’s influence and reputation as a center of learning and culture spread throughout Austria. The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco‘s popular novel, was researched by Eco in the abbey’s monastic library which is renowned for its extensive manuscript collection (the monastery’s scriptorium was a major site for the production of manuscripts).

Main Entrance with statues of Apostles Peter & Paul designed by Lorenzo Mattielli

As a tribute to the abbey and its famous library, he named the apprentice, one of the protagonists, as “Adson von Melk.” Members of the Melk monastic community have achieved significant success in the fields of natural science and the arts and among its alumni was the 19th-century Austrian dramatist and short-story writer, Friedrich Halm.

L-R: the author, Grace, Kyle, Cheska and Jandy

Since 1625 the abbey has been a member of the Austrian Congregation, now within the Benedictine Confederation. During the Reformation and the 1683 Turkish invasion, Melk Abbey suffered damage but it was spared direct attack when the Ottoman armies were halted just outside Vienna. In 1701, a Baroquization of the abbey church was planned but, after 1701, at Abbot Berthold Dietmayr’s instigation, a complete reconstruction of the church took place, following plans by architect Jakob Prandtauer, and completed in 1736.

Kaisergang (Emperors’ Gallery)

Between 1780 and 1790, under Emperor Joseph II, many Austrian abbeys were seized and dissolved but, due to its fame and academic stature, Melk managed to escape dissolution. The abbey also managed to survive the Napoleonic Wars and the period following the Anschluss in 1938, when the school and a large part of the abbey were confiscated by the state. After the Second World War, the school was returned to the abbey and now caters for nearly 900 pupils, of both sexes, in secondary and preparatory school. Today, the institution survives, funded by agriculture and tourist visits.

Rule of St. Benedict at Room 1 – Listen with Your Heart

In 1947, the abbey church was damaged by fire but, after a 10-year long restoration, financed with help from the state and federal government, was finished in 1987. To celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of the first reference to a country named Österreich (Austria), another grand restoration project, financed in part by the sale of the abbey’s Gutenberg Bible to Harvard University (which was later donated to Yale University), was completed by 1996.

Room 2 – A House for God and Man

Room 3 – The Ups and Downs of History

Upon arrival, we entered Benedict Hall, above which is a leitmotif with the Latin words “absit gloriari nisi incruce” (“Glory is found only in the cross”) and a huge copy of the Melk Cross, one of the abbey’s greatest treasures (the original is hidden in the treasury, viewable only with special permission).

Room 4 – The Word of Life

We first visited the imperial rooms with its restored inlaid wood floors, currently home to the most modern abbey museum in Austria, passing through the art-lined Kaisergang (Emperors’ Gallery) which stretches for 197 m. (644 ft.) and is decorated with portraits of Austrian royalty.

Room 5 -Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror … (1 Cor. 13,12)

The museum’s current exhibition, entitled “The Path from Yesterday to Today – Melk Abbey in its Past and Present,” was designed by architect Hans Hoffer, also the designer of the “Klangtheater Ganzohr” in Vienna and the director of the “Linzer Klangwolke” several times. The exhibits chronicle the ages of the abbey, and each room is lit up with a symbolic color.

Reusable coffin at Room 7 – In the Name of Reason

Room 9 – The Path to the Future

They are divided into the blue-colored “Listen with Your Heart,” the green-colored “A House for God and Man,” “The Ups and Downs of History,” “The Word of Life,” “Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror … (1 Cor. 13,12),” “Heaven on Earth,” “In the Name of Reason,” “The Whole Person,” “The Path to the Future,” “To Glorify God in Everything and The City on the Mountain” and “Motion Is a Sign of Life.”

Room 10 – a very complicated lock box that operated with a single key

Model of the 497-room Melk Abbey at Room 11 – Motion Is a Sign of Life

The Prelate’s Hall, with its Baroque painting gallery, is one of the most beautiful rooms in the monastery. Though not open to the public, it is used by the abbot for representative purposes.

The Marble Hall

From the museum, we proceeded to the Marmorsaal (Marble Hall), the gorgeous room that served as a dining hall for the imperial family and other distinguished guests, as well as a festival hall. Containing pilasters coated in red marble and walls of stucco marble, it has impressive allegorical painted ceiling frescos, by Tirolean Paul Troger (1731), and an optical illusion framing it. The architectural painting, done by Gaetano Fanti, gives the impression that the ceiling rises up and curves higher than it does but is, in fact, flat.

It shows, in the middle, Pallas Athena on a chariot drawn by lions as a symbol of wisdom and moderation. To her left is Hercules who symbolizes the force necessary to conquer Cerberus (the three-headed hound of hell), night and sin. Both Pallas Athena and Hercules allude to Emperor Karl VI, who liked to be celebrated as a successor to the Roman emperors in the Hercules legend. In effect, it shows the essence of the House of Habsburg – the ruler brings the people from darkness to light, from evil to good.

The ceiling frescoes of Paul Troger depicting Pallas Athena and Hercules

The doors, with frames made of genuine marble from Adnet and Untersberg (in the province of Salzburg), are inscribed with quotes from the Rule of St. Benedict, indicating the purpose of the room – “Hospites tamquam Christus suscipiantur” (“Guests should be received as Christ would be”) and “Et omnibus congruus honor exhibeatur” (“And to each the honor given which is his due”).

The abbey terrace connecting the Marble Hall with the library

From the Marble Hall, we went out into the abbey’s terrace, a balcony connecting the Marble Hall and the library. Napoleon probably used it as a lookout when he used Melk as his headquarters for his campaign against Austria. From here, we had a wonderful view of the Danube River, the western facade of the abbey church, the scenery of the Wachau Valley and the town of Melk.

View of the town of Melk from the terrace

View of the town of Melk and Danube River from the terrace

From the terrace, we entered the 12-room library which rises two floors. Second only to the church in the order of importance of the rooms in the Benedictine monastery, the library houses around 80,000 volumes of priceless medieval manuscripts including a famed collection of musical manuscripts, 750 incunabula (printed works before 1500), 1,700 works from the 16^th century, 4,500 from the 17^th century and 18,000 from the 18^th century. Together with the newer books, it totals approximately 100,000 volumes with about 16,000 of these found in this library room. They are organized by topics: beginning with editions of the Bible in Row I, theology (Rows II to VII), jurisprudence (Row VIII), geography and astronomy (Row VIIII), history (Rows X to XV) and ending with the Baroque lexica in Row XVI.

The Library (photo: www.stiftmelk.at)

The monks had a high regard for their library as seen from the valuable artistic decoration. The ceiling fresco, also by Paul Troger (1731 to 1732), shows, in contrast to the secular scenery of the Marble Hall, a symbolic depiction of Faith. In the center is a recognizable female figure, the allegory of Faith. She is surrounded by four groups of angels, who stand for the four Cardinal Virtues: Wisdom, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance. The four wooden sculptures are depictions of the four faculties – Theology, Philosophy, Medicine and Jurisprudence.

Spiral Staircase

The Small Library room contains mainly historical works from the 19^th century onwards. The spiral staircase, with Rococo grate, leads to the two upper floor reading rooms of the library, which are not open to the public. Its ceiling fresco, by Paul Troger, shows an allegorical portrayal of Scientia (Science), while the architectural painting on the ceiling fresco was done by Gaetano Fanti. From the library, we proceeded to explore the Stiftskirche (Abbey Church)

Check out “Stiftskirche“

Abbey Garden

Just outside is the abbey’s park, designed as a baroque park in 1750 and, in 1822, replanted as an English landscape garden. It has a picturesque Baroque garden pavilion, built like a small belvedere by Franz Mungenast in 1748. It houses some fine frescoes exotic animals and plants, jungles and native people created by Johann Wenzel Bergl in 1764.

Baroque Garden Pavilion

It was renovated from 1998-1999 and, since 2000, has been opened to the public. The pavilion was once situated above the Danube River which was once much wider, reaching as far as the rock below the gardens. Within the pavilion is a self-service café. Murals, in the courtyard, are modern additions that blend in well with the look of the place. Each is a representation of the four virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance.

Self-service cafe at Baroque Garden Pavilion

Before leaving, we dropped by the Stiftsrestaurant Melk, the abbey restaurant located near the entrance. It serves hot meals and monastery wine in beautiful Baroque and outdoor surroundings. Here, we had some ice cream sundae.

Stiftsrestaurant Melk

Melk Abbey: Abt-Berthold-Dietmayr-Straße 1, 3390 Melk, Austria. Tel: +43 2752 5550. Open 9 AM – 6 PM. Website: www.stiftmelk.at. Admission (abbey park and the bastion): Adults: (€4,00), Students (€ 3,00), Children (6-16 years) (€ 1,00).

Mauthausen Memorial (Mauthausen, Austria)

Posted on 30 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — 1 Comment ↓

Mauthausen Memorial

Come morning, after breakfast at our hotel, Grace, Manny, Jandy, Cheska, Kyle and I were met by my wife’s cousins Popong and Freddie at the hotel lobby. Once assembled, we boarded the rented van driven by Freddie that would take us on our 88.7-km. journey to Mauthausen Memorial, site of the first concentration camp established by the Nazis in in Upper Austria after their annexation of country in March 1938 and one of the last remaining concentration camps from World War II in Europe.

The idyllic Mauthausen countryside today

On our way out, we also picked up Vicky, another of Grace’s cousins, and her husband Isko who were to join us on our trip. Our journey took us a little over an hour, with a short stopover for snacks and a toilet break. Upon arrival, Freddie parked the van at a big parking area just outside the complex. Upon alighting, we first walked to the new, raw gray concrete visitor’s center, just outside the site’s walls.

The modern Visitors Center

Designed by architects Herwig Mayer, Christoph Schwarz, and Karl Peyrer-Heimstätt, the center was inaugurated in 2003. It covers an area of 2,845 sq. m. (30,620 sq. ft.). and has a book shop, information desk, workshop, toilets and a cinema. There is also a cafe but it has different opening hours depending on the time of year.

Vicky, Freddie, Grace, Manny and Popong inside the Visitors Center

The camp, situated on a 265 m. (869 ft.) rise of above Mauthausen town (2014 population: 4,913), on the Gusen River that flows into the Danube River, presently has a serene setting that belies its sordid past as, during World War II, Mauthausen was a labor camp designed to kill its inmates. The main camp of Mauthausen consisted of 32 barracks surrounded by an electrified barbed wire, high stone walls and watch towers.

Barracks and guard watchtower

From its beginnings, in August 8, 1938 (when prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp were sent to Mauthausen to begin the camp construction), to its liberation by the US 11th Armored Division, 3rd US Army on May 3, 1945, the concentration camp, one of the largest labor camp complexes in the Third Reich, worked people to death mining granite to build the granite fortress-prison of the main camp, pave the streets of Vienna and build Adolf Hitler‘s grandiose architectural projects. About 190,000 people from all over Europe were imprisoned in Mauthausen.

Czechoslovakia Monument

They included non-Germanic people groups (Jews, Slavs, Soviet prisoners, Czech and Polish intelligentsia, Roma, gypsies, etc.) who didn’t fit the Nazi ideal of racial superiority, perceived social threats (homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc.), and political dissenters (Social Democrats, Communists, anarchists, etc.). Mauthausen’s most famous inmate was Simon Wiesenthal who created the Simon Wiesenthal Center after the war to locate fugitive Nazi war criminals.

Poland Monument

Inmates here were literally worked to death at the rock quarry (known as the “Wiener Graben”) and their daily diet was only half the calories necessary for subsistence. Certain groups were simply summarily executed (including via a gas chamber) by the Nazi regime.

Soviet Union Monument

Over 100,000 people died. In 1949, it was declared a national memorial site and, on May 3, 1975, 30 years after the camp’s liberation, Bruno Kreisky, the Chancellor of Austria officially opened the Mauthausen Museum . The Mauthausen site remains largely intact, but much of what constituted the sub-camps of Gusen I, II and III is now covered by residential areas built after the war. Today, Mauthausen Memorial stands as a reminder of the darkest days of Austria’s history.

Mongol Gate

We entered the camp via the main entrance that former prisoners referred to as the Mongol (or Mongolian) Gate. The two identical guard watchtowers towers above the gate give the appearance of Chinese architecture. As there was a ready supply of granite, there was extensive use of this stone, making Mauthausen as the most ornate concentration camp during the war. The camp’s stone construction also made the camp look the same as when it was built in 1938.

Courtyard of SS Garage

There was once a metal eagle and swastika above the gate but it was removed when the camp was liberated in 1945. The stairs on the right lead down to the S.S. Garagenhof (garage yard) which was used for S.S. celebrations and as an assembly area for inmates during delousing actions. Overlooking the garage is the balcony where camp commandant S.S. Col. Franz Ziereis would give speeches to his S.S. guards and inmates.

Roll Call Square

Once inside the camp, we stood on a wide open courtyard called “Roll Call Square” located in front of the hospital and gas chamber. Each day, there were 3 roll calls held in this courtyard (reduced to 2 after 1943) and inmates were assembled to hear speeches and instructions from Ziereis. The prisoner’s working day started at 4.45 AM in the summer and 5.15 AM in the winter. The day ended at 7 PM. A number of memorials to the victims of Mauthausen are located in the roll call area.

Sarkophag Memorial

Straight ahead is the “Klagemauer” (“Wailing Wall”). When prisoners first arrived here, they had to pass an initiation ritual which included passing hours and, sometimes days, standing facing “The Wailing Wall” while chained to iron rings set in the wall.

Memorial plaques at Wailing Wall

They were also interrogated and brutally beaten. Today, the “Wailing Wall” and the wall on the left now have numerous personal memorial tablets placed there by families of the victims and a wide range of countries. There’s also a memorial to Pope John Paul II‘s visit to Mauthausen Memorial on June 24, 1988.

John Paul II Visit Memorial

Behind the granite wall, on the right, is the quarantine camp while the building on the left, with 2 chimneys, is the hospital which contained a gas chamber in the basement. In the former kitchen is a Catholic church. The majority of the prisoners sent to Mauthausen were Catholics.

Catholic chapel

To the left of the Mongol Gate are some of the remaining wooden prisoner barracks that have been restored using the same materials used during the camp construction. These barracks were overcrowded and the sanitary conditions deplorable.

Barrack interior

Each barrack had two bedrooms and two living rooms located on the left and right sides of the entrance. The prisoners were not allowed to spend much time in the living room, being forced to stay in the bedrooms, with two or three in the same bed. In front of the entrance, in the middle of the barrack, was the bathroom.

Barracks bathroom

At the ground floor of the old infirmary is a very well explained (they also have an English translation) museum, opened in May 2013, covering the history of Mauthausen, from its inception in 1938 to the liberation of the camp on May 3, 1945.

Museum exhibits

On display are samples of letters, clothes (the prisoners were forced to wear colored triangles in order to identify the category to which they belong – Gypsy, gay, Jewish, political prisoners, etc.) and other artifacts seen inside the camp. This kept us occupied for quite a long time.

Typical striped concentration camp inmate clothes

Next, we went down the basement where we followed the scene of the crime and the murder of prisoners. The gas chamber, refrigeration room, dissection room and crematorium complex, the very disturbing sections of the camp, are definitely not for the squeamish or for children.

Disinfection Room

The gas chamber, completed and used by the spring of 1942, could murder 120 people at one time and it is estimated that around 10,200 prisoners were gassed in this room. However, its construction was inefficient and the prisoners often died of suffocation rather than the gas. The Judas Opening, a hole in the door of the gas chamber, allowed the curious or, better said, the sadists, to see what is happening inside the chamber.

Crematorium

The dissection room was were, after a person was gassed, they were taken to have their gold fillings removed. The box on the right was for the collection of the fillings. After their fillings were removed, their bodies were stored in the refrigeration room before being taken to the crematorium.

Portion of the high-voltage electric fence

The dissection room was also used for cruel medical experiments and for taking organs from living people. The organs were bottled and stored on shelves. The crematorium ovens was the final procedure in the murder process of tens of thousands of inmates of Mauthausen.

Crematorium Memorial Room

Then there is the Room of Names which displays and lists the etched names of 81,000 known victims (the names are also available to view via the internet) onto various horizontally placed black glass plates. We then left the building and walk a short distance before returning to an older part of the museum.

Room of Names

On a green field at the entrance in the concentration camp, between the main camp and the quarry steps, is the Memorial Garden, originally the site of the S.S. administrative barracks.

Hungary Monument

Jewish Memorial

In 1949, the site was turned into a memorial garden with the first memorial being donated by France. Today, there are now 22 monuments and more than 30 inscribed plaques, donated by numerous nations subjugated by Germany during the World War II, to remember their prisoners from Mauthausen.

Bulgaria Monument

Monument to Women

Also inside the camp are many graves of different nationalities. Barracks 21–24 and Camp II, formerly used as quarantine camps after 1944, now house remains of the inmates from the “American cemeteries” which were transferred here in 1961.

Camp II (Quarantine Camp)

Just past the Memorial Garden Prisoners is the “Todesstiege” (“Stairs of Death”), were Jewish inmates were forced to run up the 186 steps carrying huge packs with 25 kgs. of blocks of granite on their backs from the Wiener Graben. The weight was gradually increased and, as the prisoners tired, they would fall backwards striking other prisoners, some of them being killed by the blocks that fell, and causing a domino effect, with the S.S. guards placing bets on who would fall.

Remembering the dead at Barracks 21-24

For their sick entertainment, the sadistic S.S. guards would frequently take those that survived that fate to the top of the quarry and often forced them to jump or push them, over the narrow ledge of the quarry, to their deaths in a procedure called the “parachute jump,” cynically referring to them as “Fallschirmspringer” (“parachutists”). Today, the ledge is now overgrown with trees and bushes but, from an observation point, we can see the valley below.

Stairs of Death

Our visit to this concentration camp was educational, making us see the awful conditions the inmates were forced to live when the world was at war, and also left us speechless as we understood the pain people here experienced at this place. It was like taking a trip back into time that, even though it is horrific, it is still part of history, a history that, for the sake of the world’s future, none should ever forget or pretend that it doesn’t exist. The Mauthausen Memorial truly deserves a visit, not just for the camp itself, but for the memory of all the people who lost their lives here.

L-R - Isko, Manny, PPopong, the author, Grace, Kyle, Jandy, Vicky and Cheska

L-R:- Isko, Manny, Popong, the author, Grace, Kyle, Jandy, Vicky and Cheska

Mauthausen Memorial: Erinnerungsstraße 1, 4310 Mauthausen, Austria. Tel: +43 7238 22690. Fax: +43 7238 2269 40. Admission: 2 EUR. Open daily, 9 AM – 5:30 PM (March 1 – July 10); Tuesdays – Sundays, 9 AM – 5:30 PM (July 11 – October 31) and Tuesdays – Sundays, 9 AM – 3:45 PM (November 1 – February 28). Audio guides, in a variety of languages, are available for 3€. There are a number of guided tours available but it is a case of checking the website or phoning the visitor’s centre. During winter, some parts of the camp aren’t accessible for safety reasons (ice). Website: www.mauthausen-memorial.at.

Neue Burg – Ephesos Museum (Vienna, Austria)

Posted on 29 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Ephesos Museum

Our combination ticket at the Neue Berg included entry to the Ephesos Museum and the much more memorable Imperial Treasury. This infrequently visited museum, an annex to the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities. may be hard to find as it is hidden away on the first floor at the back of the library section of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. It is essential to get an audio guide as the exhibits are labeled in German.

Check out “Neue Burg” and “Kunsthistorisches Museum“

Segment of gable (The Library of Celsus)

The exhibition consists of statues, busts, reliefs, pieces of architecture and other ancient Greek pieces of art. Most of the artifacts are damaged or broken but they are very well organized and exhibited in the best possible way. Photography without flash or tripod was permitted.

Segment of an Ionic capital

Ephesos, one of the largest and most important cities of the ancient world, lies on the Aegean coast of present-day Turkey. With two million visitors annually, it is Turkey’s most-visited tourist destination after the Hagia Sophia and Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. It was here that the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, stood. The city was also the home of Heraclitus, as well as of one of the largest early-Christian communities. In Roman times, Ephesos became capital of the Province of Asia, with around 200,000 inhabitants.

L-R: Cheska, Jandy, Manny, Vicky and Grace

The museum was completely deserted as we spent time enjoying, without interruption, these vibrant and exciting depictions of gods, emperors and battle scenes in their purpose built gallery. This collection of largely Roman statuary and artifacts was apparently gifted to Austria by the Turks. The museum’s collection began when Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II donated some of the archaeological findings to Emperor Franz Joseph I. Since 1895, Austrian archaeologists of the newly founded Austrian Archaeological Institute have began conducting research and excavating the ruins of Ephesos.

Fragmentary heads from an Erotes frieze

Between 1896 and 1906, a total of seven expeditions transported numerous recovered objects, their high quality probably equal to the Elgin Marbles or the Pergamon Gate, from Ephesos to Vienna by Austrian Navy vessels. With the proclamation of the Turkish Antiquities Law of 1907, the export of antiquities from Turkey was generally banned. However, archaeological digs, with Austrian involvement, still continue in Ephesos to this day.

Oktagon Arsinoe IV

For many years, the collection was provisionally warehoused and put on occasional display at the Theseus Temple (discontinued because of damage to the exhibits) in the Volksgarten (in 1911) until December 1978 when the Vienna Ephesos Museum was opened, in its present-day form, inside the Neue Burg section of the Hofburg Palace complex. Alongside the Ephesian artifacts, the museum is also home to architectural and sculptural cult relics from the Sanctuary of the Great Gods on the Greek island of Samothrace, which was explored by Austrian archaeologists in 1873 and 1875.

The Theban sphinx mangles a boy; Roman copy of a detail of the throne of Phidias’ statue of Zeus in Olympia. 440 BCE

Child with a Goose

We were presented with a representative selection of Roman sculptures that once decorated the’ richly decorated facades of magnificent ancient buildings such as the sprawling thermal bath facilities and the Ephesian Theater. The highlights of the collection include the so-called Parthian Monument; remnants from the late-Classical Altar of Artemis, including a sculpture of an Amazon; the bronze Athlete statue and the Child with a Goose.

Statue of Artemis

Staircases lead, from the entrance hall, to a large chamber, containing the The Parthian Monument, a frieze celebrating the emperor Lucius Verus‘ victory over the Parthians. During his Parthian Campaign of 161-165 AD, the emperor established a camp in Ephesos. Unique in both its size and importance, the friezes have a total length of about 70 m., of which 40 m. On display. are a panorama of military scenes with brilliant depictions of battle, hunt, the art of riding and victory.

Parthian Monument

It was sharp and brilliant, as if quite recently carved. Its individual pieces have been arranged in the form of a monumental altar in five thematic cycles. As they were not found in their original state, this is only a guess at their correct arrangement. There’s also a model of ancient Ephesos, on a scale of 1:500, that makes it possible for us to better understand the objects’ respective positioning within the city’s topography.

Hadrian and Antoninus Pius adopt Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus

The Emperor’s Apotheosis

The Ephesos Museum in Vienna serves as an ambassador for Austria’s intensive efforts in the interest of ancient Ephesos. Both the care of the ruins and the reconstruction and rebuilding of ancient monuments are also part of the Austrian researchers’ mission, and the Ephesos Museum provides an Austrian-based platform with which to represent their many years of work.

Model of ancient Ephesus, on a scale of 1:500

Ephesos Museum : Neue Burg, Heldenplatz, 1010 Vienna. Opening hours: Wednesdays – Sundays, 10 AM – 6 PM. Admission till half an hour before closing time. Tel: +43 1 525 24 4902. Website: www.khm.at. E-mail: info.ansa@khm.at.

Neue Burg – Collection of Arms and Armor (Vienna, Austria)

Posted on 29 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Collection of Arms and Armor

The outstanding Collection of Arms and Armor (Hofjadg und Rüstkammer) of Neue Burg, among the best of its kind in the world, is the best-documented collection of court arms and armor in the western world. The armor and weaponry is from military campaigns; but many were ornamental (good for checking out the girls, but not suitable for combat) – generally created or acquired in connection with important political occasions: coronations, tributes, engagements, weddings, baptisms, state events, Imperial Diets, ceremonies of homage, etc.

Check out “Neue Burg“

An array of suits of armor

Many of the suits of armor in the displays are custom creations made by the most notable armorers. Some of the most famous examples are the elegant cuirassier armor designed for jousting for the legendary Emperor Maximilian I by Lorenz Helmschmied (the “Rathausmann,” Vienna′s odd mascot on the top of the Town Hall, was inspired by Maximilian′s costume armor), the Armor for a Horseman by the Lombardy Italian artisan Tommaso Missaglia, the Half-Armor alla Romana by Filippo Negroli and the boy-sized Folded Skirt Armor suit created by Konrad Seusenhofer for the future Habsburg Emperor Charles V.

The often magnificent etchings were quite frequently based on designs by such famous artists as Albrecht Dürer and Hans Holbein. Also on display are the ceremonial rapier of Emperor Maximilian II – perhaps the most beautiful ceremonial weapon ever made. Aside from the beautiful pieces of armor for humans and horses and weapons, there are also tapestries, banners, paintings, etc.

Suit of armor components

The Arms and Armor Collection represents courts, from 14th century through the 19th century (with some even older items), of most of the western European states – Bohemia, Hungary, Galicia, various Balkan areas, territory of the present-day BENELUX countries (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg), provinces of present-day France (Burgundy, Alsace, Lorraine), Spain and large parts of Italy.

Fully armored knight and his horse

The arms and armor collection is essentially three collections of utilitarian military weapons joined and displayed in two main connected Baroque halls of honor commemorating the royal Austrian Hapsburg family history. Documented since 1436, the Chamber of Imperial Personal Armor (Leibrüstkammer) contains the ornamental weapons and suits of armor of the ruling house and associated families.

Armor for a young boy

The Court Weapon and Court Hunting Chamber (Hofgewehr-oder Hofjagdkammer), founded by the Emperor Ferdinand II of Tyrol, features the highest design works, created for hunting or for sport by the decorative artist, from every era up to the end of the monarchy and empire in 1918. It includes a vast array of exquisitely crafted shields, helmets and weapons, including the Adlergarnitur (Eagle Armor) for himself. Every single one of these objects is a work of art.

The stunning variety of court arms and armor include all types of melee weapons, shields, full suits of armor, swords, early firearms, helmets, maces, hammers, halberds, spears, lances, you name it they got it. The first room contained full scale models of jousting knights while a number of rooms containing helmets and sumptuous suits of armor from different historical periods. Some of the more unique pieces included numerous sets of ceremonial armor for horses (one had a 3D dragon design at its tail) and a mechanical breastplate used in jousting.

A display of swords

At an inner courtyard, we saw rifles and hunting equipment including a number of falcon hoods. A quite interesting section featured an extensive 16th century collection from the Middle East and Near Orient – ranging from those of the Turkish enemy (who very nearly broke the empire), to those of the Persians and Egyptians, who were occasionally allied with the Habsburgs.

Middle East and Near Orient swords and firearms

Middle East and Near Orient swords and helmets

A quite intriguing and more curious full-metal armor had gloves with spikes at the fingertips and helmets with just a sprinklings of tiny holes (making it painfully hard to see the enemy). Some highly decorated suits of armor, with bright, almost gaudy, patterns, just ha just enough space for a huge codpiece.

A gaudy and colorful suit of armor

Others, created for festival days (probably never saw a moment of combat), have metallic visor shapes in the form of fantastical faces (probably a reflection of those inside the armor) or creatures of pure fantasy. Another curious suit of armor, with a full skirt made out of billowing metal and a rather amble chest allowance, truly amazed me as it most probably was designed for a woman, one of the more unique examples to be found anywhere.

A Japanese samurai’s suit of armor

The collection, spread out over a large number of rooms, was not quite overwhelming as one of the collection’s outstanding aspects is the manner in which the items were displayed. Rather than being set out on rack upon rack, they were all set out differently as they were not hidden behind glass enclosures. We can approach each item closely and view it from 360-degrees, making for awesome pictures and allowing great detail observation.

A pair of saddles

After the first few thousands of arms and armor, it could be easily boring but the museum still does a very good job in teaching visitors about technical innovations in warfare and how they influenced the design of arms. Very quiet, with a few visitors, the exhibit was very interesting and enjoyable but not English friendly as all descriptions were in German. Still it was a must see, an ideal place to bring the boys in the family and well worth the two hour visit.

Crossbows

Display of rifles and pistols

Collection of Arms and Armor: Neue Burg, Heldenplatz, 1010 Vienna. Opening hours: Wednesdays – Sundays, 10 AM – 6 PM. Admission till half an hour before closing time. Photography is allowed. Admission prices: e €14 (adults), €11 (Concessions). Children and Teens are free. A combined ticket, including the Treasures of the Habsburgs (located in another building), is €20 for adults. The Audio Guide is an additional charge of €4 and Guided Tours in groups are €3. Vienna Card Holders get a price reduction.

Neue Burg – Collection of Historic Musical Instruments (Vienna, Austria)

Posted on 29 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Collection of Historic Musical Instruments

The Collection of Historic Musical Instruments (Sammlung Alter Musikinstrumente), located in the wing of the Austrian National Library that also houses the Ephesos Museum’s collection of antiques and the Collection of Arms and Armor, is home to one of the world’s most important, most comprehensive and also among the most valuable historical collections of late Italian Renaissance and early Baroque instruments. The collection includes a particularly comprehensive range of clavichords and Viennese fortepianos. It was interesting to see such old forerunners of our current instruments such as the coronet, oboe, piano, organ, and woodwinds.

Check out “Neue Burg“

The majority of the holdings of the collection have their origins in Habsburg holdings. The art and music-loving Tyrolean sovereign Archduke Ferdinand II’s love of preciosities started the collection. Among the richest and most valuable collections of the late Renaissance, it was part of an art chamber that was housed in the Ambras Castle in Tyrol. When the situation became dangerous due to the Napoleonic Wars, the collection was transferred from Innsbruck to Vienna in 1806.

The second core group in the collection consists of instruments of the Obizzi family dating back to the late Renaissance and the early Baroque period. Family-related events were responsible for the transfer of the Obizzi Collection to Vienna in 1870.

In the spring of 1947, the collection was presented in one room of the Neue Burg. Further rooms were set up an, after several years, a full range of instruments was finally on display. This process was completed in 1964. The collection has since been continually expanded via purchases, gifts and loans and, in the period since the 1980s, the collection has been expanded by a further 400 items.

The area of the Viennese fortepiano

Today, each of its 12 rooms are dedicated either to an era of music history or to a musical personality. The chronological approach to music history allows the presentation both of ensembles of related instruments, from the most diverse instrumental families, and of typical forms of music making.

A gallery is dedicated to Joseph Haydn and his days. Some of the harpsichords were played by Mozart and Beethoven. There’s also a set of 16th century shawms that are shaped like dragons; an elaborately decorated clavicytherium; a violin made from the shells of a tortoise and owned by Empress Maria Theresa; a glass harmonica invented by Benjamin Franklin; and a crystal flute.

Particularly noteworthy are the 4-stringed instruments by Jakob Stainer and Giovanni Battista Grancino, donated in 2003/04 by Dr. Herbert and Evelyn Axelrod. The violins by Stainer, although not approaching the mastery of Antonio Stradivari or Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu, are famous or their snail carvings (mostly the scrolls), evidence of the craftsmanship of the 17^th century.

A pair of harps

The museum maintains and presents numerous instruments that were played by famous musicians and composers. Among them is the violin played by Leopold Mozart (the father and pedagogue of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), on display by itself in a glass case, making it look like a shrine that bears the magic of genius. The grand fortepiano that was once in the possession of Clara and Robert Schumann, was later owned by Johannes Brahms.

You can also see the zither on which Anton Karas played the haunting theme-song from the 1949 British film “The Third Man.” Audio guides, produced in 2001 in several languages, takes visitors through the display collection, explaining organological details, affording insights into Austrian musical history and offering numerous listening examples related to the historical instruments on display.

Visitors can also play on reproductions of original instruments. The Matinees of the Collection of Historic Musical Instruments give visitors the opportunity to both see and hear the instruments, insofar as their condition allows them to be played. Several of the keyboard instruments were clearly labelled as playable by visitors.

The Collection of Historic Musical Instruments made us look back on a tradition that spans over four centuries. Truly the world of sound in which the composers of Viennese Classicism lived can be heard and understood here in a nearly complete fashion.

Collection of Historic Musical Instruments: Neue Burg, Heldenplatz, 1010 Vienna. Opening hours: Wednesdays – Sundays, 10 AM – 6 PM. Admission till half an hour before closing time. Tel: +43 1 525 24 4602. Website: www.khm.at. E-mail: info.sam@khm.at.

Neue Burg (Vienna, Austria)

Posted on 29 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Neue Burg

Upon arrival at the grandiose New Castle (Neue Burg) within the Hofburg Palace Complex, Grace, Vicky, Manny, Cheska, Jandy and I availed of a combination ticket that includes admission to important Imperial collections at three of Neue Burg’s four specialty museums, all branch museums of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, which was in urgent need for more exhibition space – the Ephesus Museum, the Sammlung Alter Musikinstrumente (Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments) and the Hofjadg und Rüstkammer (Collection of Arms and Armor).

Check out “Kunsthistorisches Museum,“ “Kunsthistorisches Museum – Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection,” “Kunsthistorisches Museum – Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities,” “Kunsthistorisches Museum – Picture Gallery” and “Kunsthistorisches Museum – Kunstkammer.”

L-R: Jandy, Grace, Vicky and Cheska

The massive, curved new wing on the southwest, the Neue Berg is the most recent and grandest addition to the Hofburg complex. Designed by Ringstrasse architects Gottfried Semper and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer, it was built between 1881 and 1913.

Ceiling frescoes

A symbol of architectural overconfidence, the Neue Burg was part of a much larger scheme to make the Hofburg rival the Louvre, if not Versailles. It originally contained the personal memorabilia of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

From the balcony of the terraced central bay on New Castle onto Heroes’ Square, Adolf Hitler, on March 15, 1938, proclaimed, to the tens of thousands of the Viennese gathered outside, the “Anschluss” of Austria into the Third Reich (Deutsches Reich).

The palace’s spectacular Baroque design is reflected both inside and out. The opulent marble staircase displays artifacts removed from the ancient Greek city of Ephesus (now in present-day Turkey).

The marble stairway

The Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments and the Collection of Arms and Armor are only accessible via an elevator at the ticket counter level while the Ephesos Museum can only be reached, from this level, via a 60-step stairway.

Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments

The Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments (Sammlung Alter Musik Instrumente), which arrived at Neue Burg post-war in 1945, contains a wonderfully diverse and impressive array of Renaissance-period musical instruments, including pianos owned by Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert and Joseph Haydn, and the world’s oldest surviving claviorgan (1596).

Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments

Showcasing the musical journey from harpsichord to modern-day piano, highlights in the museum include archaic wind instruments, mandolins and priceless violins.

Check out “Neue Burg – Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments”

Ephesos Museum

The Ephesos Museum features artifacts unearthed during Austrian archaeologists’ excavations, between 1895 and 1906, from the Greek and Roman site at Ephesus in Turkey plus findings from the Greek island of Samothrace, excavated in the 1870s.

Check out “Neue Burg – Ephesos Museum”

Collection of Arms and Armor

The Collection of Arms and Armor (Hofjägd und Rüstkammer), which moved into its palatial new home in 1935, displays to stunning effect, in long, marble-floored corridors, battle armor, worn by both man and beast, dating mainly from the 15th and 16th centuries.

Also on display are fine weaponry, remarkable in terms of size and workmanship (filigree inlay on swords, medieval ceremonial saddles and jeweled Turkish and Syrian maces), the core of which are the personal armories of the Habsburgs.

Check out “Neue Burg – Collection of Arms and Armor”

Aside from the three museums, it houses the reading rooms of the Austrian National Library, the Hofburg Congress Center of international renown, the Hofburg Info Centre, the Imperial Shop and the Weltmuseum Wien (Museum of Ethnology) whose galleries explore the aspects of travel, anthropology and ethnography with exhibits from across the globe.

Austrian National Library

Neue Burg: Heldenplatz, 1010 Vienna. Open Wednesdays to Sundays, 10 AM – 6 PM. Admission: adults (€12), young people under 19 years (free). Audio guides cost €5. Tel: 01-525–240.

How to Get There:

The closest subway station is Museumsquartier on the U2 line but it’s only a short walk from Volkstheater (U3 and U2), Herrengasse (U3) and Stephansplatz (U3 and U1). By tram/bus, the Ring trams stop practically outside. Take the 1, 2, D or 71 to Burgring.

Imperial Treasury (Vienna, Austria)

Posted on 29 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Imperial Treasury

After purchasing our combination tickets at the Neau Berg, we started our museum tour at the Imperial Treasury (Kaiserliche Schatzkammer), entering via the 13th century Schweizerhof (Swiss Courtyard, a reminder of the Swiss Guards once stationed here), the oldest part of the palace, which was rebuilt in the 16^th century in the Renaissance style under Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I.

Entrance to the 13th century Schweizerhof (Swiss Courtyard)

Located in the medieval part of the Hofburg Palace, next to the Hofburg Chapel, the Imperial Treasury, affiliated with the Kunsthistorisches Museum, is housed in 21 rooms. One of Vienna’s most important attractions, it is divided into two collections: the secular collection (subject to the responsibility of the Chamberlain or Oberkämmerer) and the ecclesiastical collection, covering over a thousand years of European history.

Imperial Crown, Orb, and Sceptre of Austria

Imperial crown, orb, and scepter of Austria

The secular collection is a valuable collection of numerous, fascinating and rare imperial treasures and insignia from the Imperial House of Habsburg (one of the most influential dynasties of the Christian Occident), set up from 1556 by the scholar Jacopo Strada, court antiquarian of Ferdinand I.

Imperial Regalia

Ceremonial robe of St. Stephen-Order

Among the treasures from the possessions are charming pieces of jewelry once worn by Empress Elisabeth; The regalia of the Archduchy of Austria (with the cord casing of the archducal hat made for the coronation of King Joseph II in 1764); the Burgundian Treasure from the 15^th century (including magnificently embroidered robes, all part of the dowry of Mary the Rich at her wedding with Archduke Maximilian I in 1477), the original insignia (scepter and the orb) of the Kingdom of Bohemia; and the Treasure of the Order of the Golden Fleece ( from the heritage of Mary’s father Duke Charles the Bold), unique textile art from the Late Middle Ages: precious gold and silk embroidery of the highest quality transferred from Brussels in 1794.

Chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece

Imperial Jewels

The Imperial Regalia (Reichskleinodien), insignia and jewels of the Emperors and Kings of the Holy Roman Empire (transferred from Nuremberg in 1800) include the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, circa 962, the legendary 8^th century Holy Lance, and the Imperial Sword.

Imperial Sword and scabbard

The 10th century Crown of the Holy Roman Empire

The Austrian Crown Jewels, comprising the personal crown (made in 1602) of Emperor Rudolf II (1552-1612) which, with the proclamation of the Austrian Empire in 1804, became the Imperial Crown of Austria, with sceptre and globus cruciger; the regalia worn by Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria on the occasion of his coronation as King of Lombardy–Venetia in 1835, as well as the vestments and other precious items of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary and the Military Order of Maria Theresa. The insignia of the imperial house of Austria, symbols of might and dignity for centuries, are set with valuable and intricately worked jewels, all witnesses to history and worth a fortune.

Coronation vestments of the Kingdom of Lombardy & Venetia

Emerald unction vessel (2860 carats)

Also on display are various valuable jewels and precious stones that, due to their unique size, could not be fitted into the imperial crowns. Like all secular treasuries, it was designed to attest to the political power, glory and geographical reach of the Habsburgs. They include one of the world’s largest cut emeralds.

Unicorn horn (actually a narwhal tusk)

Meissen altar set of the Empress Wilhelmine Amalla

Also part of the treasury are the crown of the Transylvanian prince Stephen Bocskay and the two “inalienable heirlooms of the House of Austria”- an almost two and a half meter long narwhal tooth, acquired in Poland in 1540, which was thought to be the horn of a unicorn (Ainkhürn) and the Agate bowl (the largest carved bowl of its kind in the world), from Late Antiquity (4^th century), which was thought to be the legendary Holy Grail.

Agate Bowl

Furthermore, there’s the Napoleonica artifacts) of Napoleon II (including his golden cradle with over a quarter of a ton of precious metals in it), Napoleon’s son known from his birth as the “King of Rome,” and his mother Archduchess Marie Louise.

Mary Louis Empress of the French

Napoleon II’s golden cradle

The ecclesiastical collection, administered by the Hofburg parish priest, contains numerous religious treasures, including relics and objects ascribed to the private ownership of saints. They include a piece of the cross on which Jesus was crucified (including a nail hole, thus suggesting the wood is impregnated with his blood); a tooth from John the Baptist; a piece of the tablecloth used at the Last Supper; the nail used to pin Jesus’s right hand to the cross; and a tooth from St. Peter. There are also devotional images and altars, mostly from the Baroque era.

Golden Rose by Giuseppe and Pietro Paolo Spagna. Rome, around 181819

Imperial Treasury: Hofburg, Schweizerhof, 1010 Vienna. Tel: +431 525 24 4031. Website: www.khm.at. E-mail: info.kk@khm.at. Open 9 AM – 5:30 PM.

How to Get There:

Subway:
U1: Station Karlsplatz or Stephansplatz
U2: Station Karlsplatz or Volkstheater
U3: Station Herrengasse or Stephansplatz
U4: Station Karlsplatz

Tram:
D Burgring, 1, 2, 71 to any stop between Karlsplatz and Dr. Karl Renner Ring

Bus:
1A or 2A and 3A to Michaelerplatz or Habsburgergasse

HOP ON HOP OFF: Red Line: Kunsthistorisches Museum / Heldenplatz

Hofburg Palace (Vienna, Austria)

Posted on 29 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Hofburg Palace Complex

The popular Hofburg, the extensive former imperial palace complex of the Habsburg dynasty rulers, was the political centre of the monarchy and was their principal imperial winter residence for over 600 years, as Schönbrunn Palace was their summer residence. Previously, the castle of the Austrian rulers had been located on the Am Hof, a square near the Schottenstift (Scottish Monastery).

Check out “Schonbrunn Palace and Gardens”

Since 1279, the Hofburg was the documented seat of government for various empires and republics, housing some of the most powerful people in European and Austrian history including kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (from 1438 to 1583 and from 1612 to 1806) and, thereafter, the seat of the Emperor of Austria of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918. Today, part of it forms the official residence and workplace of the Austrian Federal President.

Originally a fortified Medieval castle built in the 13th century, the Hofburg area has, over the centuries, been expanded by each emperor to include various residences (with the Amalienburg), the Imperial Chapel (Hofkapelle or Burgkapelle), the Naturhistorisches Museum (Natural History Museum) and Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Austrian National Library (Hofbibliothek), the Imperial Treasury (Schatzkammer), the Burgtheater, the Spanish Riding School (Hofreitschule), the Imperial Horse Stables (Stallburg and Hofstallungen), and the Hofburg Congress Center.

Check out “Kunsthistorisches Museum,” “Imperial Treasury” and “Natural History Museum”

This sprawling, asymmetric complex extends over 240,000 sq.m., consists of 18 wings, 19 courtyards and 2,600 rooms in which nearly 5,000 people still work and live today.

The Hofburg faces Heroes Square (Heldenplatz), ordered built under the reign of Emperor Francis Joseph, as part of what was to become an Imperial Forum (Kaiserforum), a two-winged structure reaching beyond the Ringstraße that was never completed. Standing at the foci of Heroes Square are the equestrian statues of Prince Eugene of Savoy and Archduke Charles, the two most important Austrian field marshals.

The statue of Archduke Charles

The Alte Burg (Old Fortress), the oldest part of the Hofburg has, since the 18th century, been called the Schweizertrakt (Swiss Wing) after the Swiss Guards who served as the palace watch. Over the centuries, the palace underwent alterations and, thought the core of the Medieval fortress complex has been preserved, its four corner towers, most of the moat and the drawbridge had to make way for that.

The Swiss Court (Schweizerhof), built during the reign of Emperor Ferdinand I in the style of the Renaissance, corresponds somewhat to a square formed around the oldest sections of the castle which originate from the 13th century and were primarily constructed by the last of the Babenbergers or by Ottakar II of Bohemia. The lower section of this wing once accommodated the imperial kitchen.

Grace and the author at the Imperial Treasury (Schatzkammer)

Situated here are the Burgkapelle (the Vienna Boys’ Choir still sings on Sundays at High Mass), a Gothic chapel built in 1449; the Schatzkammer, the Imperial Treasury which holds, among other objects, the Imperial Insignia of the Holy Roman Empire (Reichskleinodien) and that of the Empire of Austria); and the Hofmusikkapelle (the Imperial Music Chapel).

Cheska and Kyle entering the Swiss Gate

Its famous Schweizertor, the red-black Swiss Gate, is the main motif in the silver 20 euro Renaissance commemorative coin. The gate, designed by Pietro Ferabosco, is one of only a handful of Renaissance monuments in Vienna. It displays the many titles of Emperor Ferdinand I and the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece. It is flanked by two soldiers in period attire, a reminder of the unsettled times which saw Vienna besieged by Turkish armies in 1529, as well as the struggles between Protestants and Catholics during the Reformation.

The many titles of Emperor Ferdinand I and the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece at the Swiss Gate.

The formerly free-standing Amalienburg (Amalia Residence) wing, across from the Swiss Gate, was named after Empress Amalie Wilhelmine, who used it as her dower residence after the death of husband, Emperor Joseph I.

Grace and Vicky at Amalienburg

Constructed during the 16th century, in the style of the late Renaissance, as the Viennese residence of Emperor Rudolph II, it had already been in use for more than a century. Its last occupant was Empress Elisabeth, whose apartments are today open to the public. The small domed tower has an astronomical clock on its façade.

Astronomical Clock Tower at Amalienburg

The early Baroque Leopoldine Wing (the Leopoldischiner Trakt), connecting the Amalienburg with the Swiss Court, was designed by Italian architect-engineer Filiberto Luchese and built between 1668 and 1680 under Emperor Leopold I. After the Siege of 1683 by the Turks, the Leopold Wing was rebuilt by Giovanni Pietro Tencala with an additional floor installed.

The Leopoldine Wing

During the 18th century, it was occupied by Empress Maria Theresa and, after her death, its magnificent apartments were used as state rooms until the end of the monarchy. The architecture of this wing still bears a connection to the late Renaissance. Since 1946, this wing houses the offices of the Federal President. As well as that of the Amalienburg, the lower section of this wing served as the enormous wine cellar for the Hofburg.

Plaque at the Leopoldine Wing

The Imperial Stables (Stallburg), although not physically connected to the rest of the Hofburg complex, was started in 1559 and were originally built as a residence for Maximilian II, the son of Ferdinand I and the then crown prince. Later, this structure accommodated the art collection (which formed the core of the later Kunsthistorisches Museum from 1889) of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, the art-inclined brother of Emperor Ferdinand III. The first Austrian parliament sat here in 1848. Only later was it used to house the imperial horses. Today, it is still used by the Spanish Riding School (Spanische Hofreitschule). The famous Lipizzan stallions, can be seen here daily (except on Mondays), at their morning training.

The Winter Riding School (Winterreitschule), where you can watch performances of Lipizzan stallions, is located across from the Stallburg and was also designed by the Baroque architects Lukas von Hildebrandt and Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach.

Imperial Chancellery Wing (Reichskanzleitrakt)

The Imperial Chancellery Wing Reichskanzleitrakt, across from the Leopold Wing, was originally planned by Baroque architect Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt and completed in 1730. It accommodated the Aulic Council (Reichshofrat), the offices of the Imperial Vice Chancellor (Reichsvizekanzler). After the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, this wing housed the apartments of the Duke of Reichstadt (Napoleon II) and, from the middle of the 19th century, those of Emperor Francis Joseph I.

Attika with Shield of Kaiser Karl VI

On the Chancellery portals are sculptures, representing the Labors of Hercules, by Lorenzo Mattielli. The Kaisertor (Emperor’s Gate), at the central section, gives access to the imperial apartments. The imposing armorial shield of Emperor Charles VI with the double eagle bearing the Austrian shield in the colors of red, white and red and surmounted by the imperial crown, rises from the edge of the roof.

The originally free-standing Imperial Library (Hofbibliothek), housed on the other side of the complex, was founded by Charles VI. Now called the Prunksaal, it now houses the Austrian National Library (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek). Its construction was begun by Baroque court architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and, after Johann’s death in 1723, finished in 1735 by his son Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach. This magnificent hall, the most significant part of the Hofburg in artistic terms, contains the precious book collection of Prince Eugene, an enormous ceiling fresco by Daniel Gran, and statues of emperors by Paul Strudel.

The exterior, decorated with Attika figures, was executed, in 1726, by Lorenzo Mattielli who placed a statue of Pallas Athene, riding on a quadriga, above the main entrance. He also situated Atlas, supporting the celestial globe and flanked by Astronomy and Astrology, on the left portion of the roof and, on the opposite side, Gaia with the terrestrial globe, flanked by allegories of Geometry and Geography.

The present Joseph Square (Josephsplatz), one of the most beautiful locations in Vienna, was created when, from 1763 to 1769, Nicolo Pacassi connected the Imperial Library to the other parts of the Hofburg and its other side to St. Augustine’s Church (Augustinerkirche). At the center of Joseph Square is the equestrian statue of Emperor Joseph II by Franz Anton von Zauner.

On the southeast side of Joseph Square, adjacent to the Imperial Library, is the Baroque Augustinian Wing, so identified for its proximity to the Augustinian Church and Monastery. The Augustinian Church (Augustinerkirche), used by the Habsburgs as their court church and also for weddings, was where Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth, alias Sisi, were married.

As the Hofburg Palace expanded, the wing became part of it. Because of its structural connections to the Augustinian Monastery, the Archduke Albrecht Palace (formerly Tarouca-de Sylva Palace), home of the Albertina Museum, is also considered part of the Hofburg Palace after the renovation of the Albertina in the 1820s by Joseph Kornhäusel. In early years of the 19th century, Archduke Albrecht and, later, his nephew, Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen, both members of the Habsburg Family, lived in the building.

The Hearts’ Crypt, behind the Loreto side chapel, is a semicircular-shaped annex, separated by an iron door, where 54 hearts of House of Habsburg members are kept in silver urns.

The magnificent Zeremoniensaal (Ceremonial Hall), built for Emperor Franz II/I by the Belgian architect Louis Montoyer at the beginning of the 19th century, was nicknamed as the “Nose of the Hofburg,” derived from the fact that it, for almost a hundred years, formed a clearly visible protrusion at right angles to the Leopold Wing.

Neue Burg

Having a truly imperial aspect, the Zeremoniensaal, fully integrated into the New Castle (Neue Burg), has an ornate coffered ceiling, 26 crystal chandeliers (which once held 1,300 candles) and 24 Corinthian columns with an artificial marble finish (the surface is not real stone but a form of painted gypsum known as stucco lustro).

Check out “Neue Burg”

During an exclusive Ball at the Court held here, Napoleon I asked for the hand of Marie Louise, the daughter of Emperor Franz II/I and, during a traditional Maundy Thursday ceremony, Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth invited twelve poor old men and women to have their feet washed.

The St. Michael’s Wing, originally planned by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach, was built from 1889 to 1893, utilizing a slightly altered plan of Ferdinand Kirschner. It serves as the connection between the Winter Riding School and the Imperial Chancellery Wing.

The Redoutensaele (derived from the French word “wikt:redoute” meaning an elegant masked ball), a 17th-century opera house converted into the beautiful dance and concert halls by Maria Theresia, became the setting for a cultivated style of entertainment. Its original plans were drawn up by Jean Nicolas Jadot de Ville-Issey (de), while the external facades are the work of Nicolò Pacassi and Franz Anton Hillebrandt (de).

Johann Strauss served as musical director to the court for the balls held at the Redoutensaele, and the audience was treated to music by Joseph Haydn, Nicolo Paganini and Franz Liszt and, in 1814, the premiere of Beethoven‘s 8th Symphony took place there. Over the centuries, in line with changing tastes, various modifications have been made in the balls. On November 27, 1992 the whole wing with the Redoutensaele was seriously damaged by fire and the reconstruction and faithful restoration work performed lasted five years. The Redoutensaele reopened in 1998 and, since then, became part of the Hofburg Congress Center.

Fiaker (Horse-Drawn Carriage) inside the Hofburg

Hofburg Palace: Michaelerplatz 1 (Michaelerkuppel), 1010 Vienna, Austria. Tel: +43 1 5337570. Open 9 AM-6 PM.

How to Get There:

Underground: U3 Herrengasse

Tram: 1, 2, 71, D Burgring

Bus: 2A, 3A Hofburg

HOP ON HOP OFF: Red Line: Kunsthistorisches Museum / Heldenplatz

Kunsthistorisches Museum – Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities (Vienna, Austria)

Posted on 29 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities

From the Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection, a change of flooring and presentation, gave way to the delights of Ancient Greece and Rome with my entry into Gallery 10 and its Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

The 2,500 objects in the collection, some on permanent display, span a period of more than three millennia and range from Bronze Age ceramics of Cyprus dating from the 3rd millennium B.C. to early Medieval finds.

Check out “Kunsthistorisches Museum“

This collection, one of the best of its kind, covers three main areas in a beautifully atmospheric gallery layout – the unique and spectacular antique cameos and gemstones; the treasure troves dating from the period of the great migrations and the early Middle Ages (such as the golden Treasure of Nagy Szent Miklós); and the collection of vases (with such masterpieces as the Brygos Cup).

Votive Statue of a Man from Cyprus

Among the other highlights of the collection are the larger-than-life Votive Statue of a Man from Cyprus, the Amazonian Sarcophagus, the bronze tablet with the famous Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus, the Theseus Mosaic from Salzburg and the Youth from the Magdalensberg, to name only a few.

Sarcophagus with Fighting Amazons

Sarcophagus of the Muses

Sarcophagus with a Scene of Abduction of Persephone by Hades

However, though a lot of thought has been clearly put by the curators into how the items were displayed in this collection, surprisingly there was little English information for such wonderful displays and we needed an guidebook or an audio guide to really appreciate what we’re seeing.

Youth from the Magdalensberg

At Gallery 11, we saw a huge original mosaic in the floor. Taken from a 4th century villa near Salzburg, it tells one of the versions of the story of Ariadne and Theseus (of Minotaur-slaying fame).

Marble Statue of Discobolus (2nd century AD)

Torso of the Javelin Bearer Doryphoros (2nd Century AD)

As we walked toward the entrance portal of Gallery 13, we were welcomed by a statue of a majestic Emperor Vespasian, his head is from 70 A.D. and his torso from sometime in the first century.

Gallery 13 (Busts)

This bust gallery, possessing an eerie quality enhanced by the subtle and varied lighting and shadows cast on the marbled floor, has a delightful display of busts, each on its own high column. We also saw mummy portraits placed on mummies in Rome-influenced Egypt in the second century AD.

Gallery 14 (Greek Vases)

Gallery 14 features real Greek vases and other ceramics (not the kind from souvenir shops in Athens and Kos). The “Kabinetts,” leading off the rooms, each focus on a special topic such as Cypriot ceramics from the Bronze and Iron Ages, Etruscan Art, etc..

Gallery 14 (Greek Vases)

The magically dark Gallery 15 features bronze statues of the gods and other figures of mythology, each piece lit with pools of light that makes a dramatic impression, plus Roman tableware, jewelry, decorated oil lamps and fibulae (brooches for fastening clothing).

Marble Sphinx from Roman Egypt (150 – 200 AD)

The darkly lit Gallery 16, with wall cabinets and spotlights, features brightly-colored miniature reliefs (cameos) and engraved gems from Rome which were used as signet rings, pendants and other adornments. The room also features the famous Gemma Augustea, a large cut onyx stone, from 9-12 A.D., honoring the Emperor Augustus.

Spot-lit cabinets at Gallery 17 house a wide range of Roman and early Germanic jewelry and other items of bronze, silver and gold coming from various finds, such as Nagy Szent Miklós (in modern-day Romania) or Zalesie (modern-day Poland).

Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities: Raised Ground Floor, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Maria Theresien-Platz, 1010 Vienna. Tel: +43 1 525 24- 4902. E-mail: info.ansa@khm. Open Tuesdays – Sundays, 10 AM – 6 PM, Thursdays, 10 AM – 9 PM.

Kunsthistorisches Museum – Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection (Vienna, Austria)

Posted on 29 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — 1 Comment ↓

Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection

The Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, among the world’s most important collections of Egyptian antiquities, is located in Galleries 1 to 9 and consists of more than 17,000 objects that date from a period of almost four thousand years, from the Egyptian Pre-Dynastic and Early Dynastic periods (ca. 3500 – 4000 BC) to the early Christian era. Geographically, their origins range from Egypt, Nubia, the eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia to the Arabian Peninsula.

Check out “Kunsthistorisches Museum“

A pair of Egyptian monolithic columns at Gallery 1

In the early 19th century, avid interest in collecting Egyptian antiquities began in Europe and there was an emancipation of the genre when Napoleon invaded Egypt (1798-1799), resulting in unparalleled esteem for Egyptian culture. The focus of the Near Eastern Collection is on artifacts from the ancient culture of southern Arabia.

Display of Egyptian sarcophagi

Among its highlights are the richly decorated Offering Chapel of Ka-ni-nisut from the Old Kingdom, numerous sarcophagi and coffins, animal mummies, examples of the Book of the Dead, grave stelae, divine figures, objects of daily life (clothing, cosmetic articles, etc.), masterpieces of sculpture (Reserve Head from Giza, etc.), facial stelae from southern Arabia and a depiction of a lion from the Ischtar Gate in Babylon.

Here is the turbulent historical timeline of the collection:

Around 1560, an emissary of the Austrian imperial family purchased, in Constantinople, the kneeling figure of Gem-nef-hor-bak, thus laying the foundation for a collection of Aegyptiaca.
In the 18th century, the few Egyptian antiquities already in Habsburg possession were held in the coin collection and cabinet of antiquities.
In 1821, physician Ernst August Burghart considerably expanded the holdings of Egyptian artifacts by purchasing objects in Egypt.
At mid- 18^th century, Anton Ritter von Laurin, Austrian general consul in Alexandria from 1824 to 1849, received significant gifts of Egyptian antiquities. He is also credited for the discovery of the magnificent stone sarcophagus of Nes-shu-tefnut.
In 1869, three original Egyptian monolithic columns excavated in Alexandria were given as a gift to Emperor Franz Joseph I.
In 1881, Crown Prince Rudolf, the son of Emperor Franz Joseph, acquired numerous Egyptian artifacts during his travels to Egypt.
Several years later, the collection received a generous gift, from the Egyptian government, of coffins and coffin ensembles found in a a so-called cachette in Thebes.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the Miramar collection of almost 2,000 objects from the possession of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico was added to the inventory of the imperial collections.
Between 1882 and 1895, Eduard Glaser undertook four expeditions to Yemen, collecting Old South Arabian inscriptions that remain of fundamental importance for the study of ancient Yemen.
In the first half of the 20th century, more additions were the result of archaeological excavations in Egypt and Nubia financed by the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Between 1912 and 1929, excavations on the rocky plateau of Giza unearthed artifacts from the Old Kingdom such as the famous Reserve Head, numerous tomb statues, inscribed and reliefed architectural components such as false doors and architraves, coffins of stone and wood, Canopic jars, jewelry, vessels of various materials, etc.
In 1914, private financing made possible the purchase of the Offering Chapel of Ka-ni-nisut from the Egyptian Antiquities Service.

The small but significant collection, structured in four large areas (funerary cult, cultural history, sculpture and relief and the development of writing), take you through ancient Egyptian life, culture and religion. They are housed in magnificently decorated rooms following an Egyptianesque design, part of the original plan of architects Gottfried Semper and Karl von Hasenauer, offering an immersive experience with the walls, ceilings, columns and even the door arches of several rooms matching the Egyptian topic in terms of design and decoration.

Gallery 1

In Gallery 1, instead of the marble pillars, the architects reused the three, more than 6 m. high, original Egyptian monolithic columns from excavations in Alexandria, to support the ceiling. On display are mummies, sarcophagi, scarabs, coffins and canopic jars (where the internal organs were stored for the afterlife). Particularly impressive was the giant sarcophagus of Pa-di-pep from the late-period 26th Dynasty.

Murals on paper, which lend a special character to the large first hall, are copies of mural paintings from the tomb of Prince Chnum-hetep at Beni Hassan in Middle Egypt and were made by Ernst Weidenbach for the Vienna World’s Fair of 1873.

Gallery 2 houses the actual Offering Chapel of Ka-ni-nisut (a high-ranking civil servant from around the 4th/5th dynasty, some 4,500 years ago), a mastaba or large tomb which was shipped over from its location in Giza in 1914. You can go into the chamber.

Ushabti at Gallery 3

Gallery 3 has a collection of ushabti which were left in tombs to take on manual tasks for the deceased in the afterlife. They sometimes also included model overseers to manage the laborers.

Gallery 5

Gallery 5, dedicated to funerary literature, displays scrolls, wall inscriptions and similar containing the spells and texts required to ensure safe passage into the afterlife including an original papyrus showing a pictorial guide to the underworld.

Gallery 4, leading off Gallery 5, covers magic and gods. On display are various mummified animals, including a cat, crocodile, fish and snake. There’s even a tiny coffin built for a shrew (a divine animal representing the sky god Horus).

Gallery 7

Gallery 6 displays clothes, pottery and jewelry from the time while Galleries 7 to 9 displays various busts, statues, temple items and similar. In Gallery 7 are false doors that acted as symbolic gateways between the present and the hereafter plus the unusually lifelike and chubby statue of Sebek-em-saf from 1700 BC..

Sarcophagus of Nesshutefnut

In Gallery 9, there’s the unfinished 2nd century BC sarcophagus of priest Pa-nehem-isis whose every surface is inscribed with symbols.

Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection: Raised Ground Floor, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Maria Theresien-Platz, 1010 Vienna. Tel: +43 1 525 24- 4902. E-mail: info.ansa@khm. Open Tuesdays – Sundays, 10 AM – 6 PM, Thursdays, 10 AM – 9 PM.

This travel blog, a diary of the author’s local and international travels, aims to provide the reader with news and information on people, places and events that would interest the avid traveler and tourist. But, it also aims to be much more, providing insights on the wonders of this beautiful country, as well as the world, beyond the strict confines of the city. Have a BLAST seeing old churches, exotic temples, educational museums as well as palm-fringed islands; white sand beaches; thundering waterfalls; placid lakes; fiery sunsets; turquoise seas; cathedral-like caves; swirling rivers; majestic mountains; stupendous, amphitheater-like rice terraces; awesome volcanoes and the like. Get to know the movers and shakers in the tourism industry; find out where to titillate the palate; rejuvenate your body; feed your adrenalin, unwind and relax; satisfy your craving for history and culture; and find out what's being celebrated and where.

BENJAMIN “BENJIE” LAYUG, an architect by profession (he finished his B. S. Architecture degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1982), is also a copy editor for two publishing houses; travel writer; blogger; architectural historian; author; concert. movie and musical reviewer (for www.pep.ph); and a motivational speaker.

As a free-lance travel writer, he has, in the past, contributed articles to Travel Update, Philippine Daily Inquirer, COLORS, TODAY, 7107 Islands Magazine, Business Day and Bluprint. He currently writes for Artplus Magazine and the Business Mirror.

He is also the author of the following travel books:

A Philippine Odyssey (New Day Publishers, 2005)
Pathfinder’s Travel Guide: Boracay (Great Books Trading, 2006)
A Tourist Guide to Notable Philippine Churches (New Day Publishers, 2007)
A Tourist to Notable Philippine Historical Landmarks, Monuments and Shrines (New Day Publishers, 2010)
A Tourist Guide to Notable Philippine Museums (New Day Publishers, 2012)

Some of his books now appear in the local library shelves of the National Library of the Philippines, De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila University, University of Sto. Tomas, U.P. Diliman, Centro Escolar University, San Sebastian College, Miriam College, Silliman University, to name a few, as well as internationally at the National Library of Australia and the University of California Berkeley Library.

Now a senior citizen, he is probably one of the oldest, if not the oldest, active travel blogger in the country today. He also has a lifestyle blog called F.Y.I.:Firing Your Imagination (www.firingyourimagination.blogspot.com). Benjie has traveled to two-thirds (53) of the country’s 81 provinces and over 20 countries in 4 continents.