A Tale of Two Tours

Tuesday, August 3

Today's explorations of the city led us on two tours.  The first was a walking tour with our professor.  Instead of our regular lecture, our professor wanted to take advantage of the good weather and lead us on a short walking tour of the city.  First on our tour was the memorial to the victims of war and fascism.  Not only is this monument a memorial to victims of war but it is also a grave site.  During World War II, there was an apartment building on this site where hundreds of people took shelter.  During an Allied bombing campaign, this building was hit and so badly destroyed that the bodies could not be recovered for proper burial.  Directly behind this memorial to war and fascism, the monument continues with a memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. 

This grouping of monuments relates to the issues of memory that Austria has with its recent past.  These struggles are discussed in A concise History of Austria, by Steven Beller.  Beller writes, “It is very paradoxical: Austrians, renowned for their ‘happy-go-lucky’ temperament, and living in one of the most successful states in the world, continue to be extremely sensitive, even self-conscious, insecure and defensive, when asked about their ‘national’ past.”(3)  Vienna, and Austria as a whole, has great difficulty with the issues of how to correctly remember and come to terms with Austria’s role during the Nazi and World War II era.  

Next we experienced what our professor calls chronological whiplash as we traveled several centuries back to the Hofburg.  The Hofburg was the seat of power of the Habsburgs when they ruled the Austrian Empire.  We started on the outside of the Hofburg viewing the Austrian National Library and the Spanish Riding School.  At the Spanish Riding School we learned how the Austrians had adopted Spanish Court ceremony as their own.  This stemmed from the Habsburgs ruling both the Austrian Empire and the Spanish Empire under a single Habsburg ruler.  While later these empires were divided into separate ruling Habsburg houses and later the Habsburgs lost the Spanish throne, they still remained united in their strong defense of the Catholic faith and their strict adherence to the same court protocol.  As we continued to explore the Hofburg, we saw the many different wings that were built by many of the rulers of Austria.  Each of these rulers wanted to leave their mark on the imperial palace.  The Hofburg now contains museums and modern government offices for the Republic of Austria.  

The second was with Dr. O.  This was a bus tour, which took us from the heart of the city all the way up into the hills and woods surrounding Vienna.  On this tour, we spent time driving through the city as Dr. O pointed out and discussed the history of various sites such as the Secession, Karlskirche, and the Soviet soldier of Vienna.  The bus stopped in the third district and we got off the bus and toured the grounds of the Belvedere Palace.  This amazing and beautiful palace was built by a French aristocrat, Prince Eugene of Savoy, who later became an Austrian general.  He became a hero throughout the Austrian Empire after he devised and executed the strategy to save Vienna from the invading Ottoman Turks.  Ironically, the Turkish Embassy is now located in a building across the street from the Belvedere.  This palace was Prince Eugene's summer home.  It was an easy distance from the capitol at a time of poor roads and difficult travel but far enough away that, during his day, he was surrounded by prime hunting grounds.  Hunting was not the focus of his life though.  He was a shy man who liked to surround himself with art, books, and close intellectual friends who could share in his cultured interests.  

Our next stop was the Hundertwasserhaus, which is a really interesting example of modern architecture in the architecturally conservative city of Vienna.  These homes were designed by the artist Friedersreich Hundertwasser.  He believed in letting nature dictate his design.  This is exemplified in his free-form architecture and the greenery that grows out of the walls and the roof.  We continued exploring the city as we crossed the Danube and drove through Prater Park.  This extensive green space was once the private hunting grounds of the Habsburg Royal family.  It was opened to the public by Joseph II, who was a reformer in the spirit of the Enlightenment.  Across the Danube is modern Vienna where the UN and the offices for the US Embassy are located.  Driving back and forth across the Danube, Dr. O told us about the two Danube Rivers that have been created.  One is used for commercial water traffic and the other is used for more recreational purposes, such as sailing and swimming.  When the river was dredged, it created an island dividing the Danube.  This central island was left is now used as a park. 

After we crossed back over the Danube into the older part of the city we drove around the historic Ringstrasse.  This was the building project of the Habsburgs during the nineteenth century.  They tore down the old wall that had protected the city against their enemies, namely against the two Turkish sieges, and embarked on a massive building project.  Both private homes and public buildings were a part of this project.  The buildings on the Ringstrasse were built in the Neo- styles, mostly the neo-classical and neo-baroque styles.  

We finished our tour back at our classroom at the Austro-American Institute and we felt inspired with all our new knowledge of the city.