Vienna: architecture and classical music

The history of the city

Vienna is the capital of Austria and the state capital of one of nine states of Austria. It has a little less than two and a half million of population and s the political, economical and cultural center of the country. Originally a Celtic settlement from 2500 years ago, became a border city of the Roman Empire 15 years before the current year count, which was meant to defend the Empire from Germanic raids. In 13th century the vast Mongolian Empire was threatening it, but after the death of their ruler the Mongols left never to return again. In Middle Ages the city became the home of the Banbenburg family and in 1440 the Habsburgs took it over. It was then the city became the capital of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nationality. In 16th and 17th century the Turkish army tried to conquer the city and besieged it on two separate occasions. When Napoleon Bonaparte dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, the city became the capital of the Austrian Empire and in 1867 of Austro-Hungary (once the country got divided into these two parts). After the Great War in city became the capital of Austrian Republic, but when the country was forced into the Third Reich the city lost the status of a capital until 1945, when it again became the capital of the Republic of Austria.

The sights of the city

At a hostel or a tourist info point take a map of the city, where the special buildings, attractive to the eye and lens, are marked. I suggest you have a camera with at least 5 time optical zoom, otherwise you might not be able to capture the things you want to in the objective. If you don’t feel like walking all the way, you can rent a bicycle at the city hall, for the price of just a few Euros. Your artistic sense should point out the architecture to you, for most of Vienna really has beautiful 18th century architecture. It’s called the Biedermeier style, the main artistic style in literature, music, furniture and painting from between the years of 1815 (the great congress in Vienna) and 1848 (the year of national movements across the Europe). It’s on the level of British regency, American federal and French empyreal period. We might say, since they are all similar, it’s just one artistic movement, that got different names in different countries, but due to different artists, there is also some variety to it, making it even more interesting. Otto Wagner was the main architect of the city and was mostly active at the end of 19th century. The center and beauty of the city lays on the south bank of Danube, with five city parks. The biggest of them is the Stadtpark with an area of 65.000 m2. When it was opened in 1862 it became the first public park in Vienna. It’s also used for dances, concerts, congresses and there’s a restaurant in it. A gilded bronze statue of Johann Strauss II stands in the park, where he had conducted one of his concerts. Strauss II. was a composer of operettas and dance music, who wrote 500 waltzes, polkas and other compositions including librettos and ballets. He got famous as the king of waltzes  already in his own lifetime and is mainly responsible for the popularization of the Viennese waltz. No wonder, his statue is one of better known and photographed ones. The park itself can boast with most statues and monuments at one place in the entire city, along with the variety of flowers and trees including rare specimens like the wind hazelnuts from the Caucasus. If you however want fun, you should go to the Prater park, which has the amusement park with the giant wheel with a great view over the entire city. A closer inspection of the map shows us the most luxurious and beautiful buildings are placed around the Heldenplatza, in front of the royal palace. Two colossal statues of horsemen and many tourist carriages stand there, to take you around the city in the manner people traveled before cars came into everyday use. Originally the palace of the government is now a national museum that has the empyreal crown and jewels on display. The parliament was built at the end of 19th century in the classical Greek style, which includes the gilded copy of the goddess Athena. The statue might symbolize democracy, which originates from Athens. The city hall might surprise you, for at first glance it resembles a cathedral, due to its shape and steeples, but it is not. The three most famous churches of the city are: Votiv, St. Stephen and Charles’ church, the main object of which includes pyramid worship indicating the influence of the free masons. All the buildings even get a special dimension after dark, once the reflectors hit them. The fountains, statues and domes of buildings can be very splendorous as well, for some of them are also gilded. In the parks you’ll get to see famous people from the past times, such as Mozart, Beethoven, Goethe, Strauss and many others.

There are several opera houses in the city: The Vienna theatre, the City opera house and the National opera house, with the Vienna musical society building and Vienna concert house hosting concerts of classical music as well. There are also several museums, from the former empyreal palace Hofburg, museum Sisi (dedicated to empress Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie, with empyreal living quarters), National-history museum and many museums in the museum quarter of the city, with the Museum of national art, Leopold’s museum and the palace of Liechtenstein (with one of the largest private baroque painting collections in the world). You can also visit the Belvedere castle (exhibiting the erotic paintings of Gustav Klimt, and works of Egon Schiel and Franz Xavier Messerschmidt along with many painters of the early 20th century), Military museum, technical museum and the museum of the clock of Vienna. In short – you won’t be missing any cultural sights, but as the proverb goes: a picture is worth a thousand words. All the car lovers might be somewhat disappointed though, for I haven’t seen a single noteworthy car during my four day stay. It’s not Paris, Dubai, Monaco, so there’s very little chance to see a Bugatti, Pagani zonda, Bentley, McLaren or Lamborghini.

Food and souvenirs

There is a huge market place in the city, but fruit and vegetables are too expensive there. It’s much cheaper to buy in stores like Billa. There are many stands with fast food and some spaghetti houses, but most of all there are Chinese restaurants. There are many in general many restaurants around the city, from virtually all over the world, but I couldn’t find a Brazilian restaurant. There are quite a lot vegetarian and vegan restaurants, but it’s easier to Google them in advance. The souvenirs are not expensive, they are even surprisingly cheap.

Conclusion

Vienna is definitely a city worth a visit. With many universities and schools you can even stay there and get an education, or maybe even a job and will never be bored. To me, the whole city is just like made for walks. There’s also a lot of entertainment and I especially liked the amusement park. Typical for Vienna, there’s always a concert there, out in the open or in a hall, a theatre performance or even children theatre, opera or museum. go see it, it’s not far and you will not regret it.