The Week in Review

Alright, so as I promised, I'm going to do another "quick" post of how life on this side of the pond was last week. And let me tell you, it was a whirlwind of a week.

Monday, March 5, 2007

Karl came to visit today! He's doing a study abroad spring break through Wilkes, which means (at least as far as I understand it) that they cart him through Europe for about a week and a half, he writes a paper, and then they give him three credits for it. Not a bad deal. By the time they got to Vienna, he'd already been to Budapest, and they still had to hit up Prague and Munich.

Now it was kind of weird seeing someone from home here, just because I got used to the idea of being completely cut off from that world. I mean, I've been here for over two months now, and I'm kind of used to not seeing anybody. That and when two worlds collide like that, its just an odd feeling.

But it was really cool that he was here. I just wish that we would have gotten to spend more time together because between my classes and his tour stuff, we probably only managed to get in about two or three hours. So I met Karl by the Opera and took him and his friends to IES to show them a little bit of the Palais Corbelli. From there we walked up to Stephensdom and climbed up the tower. I want to say it was 343 stairs or something like that, curving around the inside of this relatively narrow tower. Like I said, I'm starting to get a thing for heights. Once we were up there, the view was pretty good. I think I've had better views of Vienna, but I'm not sure from where. Probably the mountain we were on during the tour when we first got to Vienna after orientation. But it was cool just to say that I climbed to the top of Stephensdom. And I got to play tour guide and point out all the buildings. At one point Karl said that they must be really pushing this history and culture at us, but I'm just dorky enough to do something, then look up all the details on Wikipedia or something. And you honestly pick up a lot just living here.

History and whatnot of Stephensdom:

St. Stephen's Cathedral was first built as a parish church of the Diocese of Passau in 1147 and rebuilt and enlarged over the centuries, with major new work concluding in 1511, although repair and restoration have continued from the beginning to the present day.

It was previously thought that the church had been built in an open field outside the city walls; but excavations for a long-awaited heating system during 2000 revealed graves that were carbon-dated to the fourth century, 8 feet (2.5 meters) below the surface. The 430 skeletons were then moved to the catacombs. Thousands of others must have been buried in the ancient cemetery of this neighbourhood, starting in Roman times; and this, instead of the Ruprechtskirche, may be the oldest church site in Vienna.

The first recorded church here was founded in 1137, by Duke Leopold IV in a contract with Reginmar, Bishop of Passau. The church was dedicated to St. Stephen, the patron of the bishop's cathedral in Passau, and is oriented toward the sunrise on his feast day (26 December) in the year its construction began. The first church building was built in the Romanesque style starting in 1137 and consecrated ten years later. It was extended westward from 1230 to 1245. The present west wall and Roman towers date from 1237.

After a great fire in the city in 1258, a larger replacement structure, also Romanesque and reusing the Roman towers, was consecrated, on 23 April 1263, an anniversary highlighted each year by a rare ringing of the Pummerin bell for three minutes in the evening.

In 1304, Emperor Albert I ordered construction of a Gothic three-naved choir, further east of the church and wide enough to meet the tips of the old transepts. Work continued under his son Duke Albert II; this latest work was consecrated in 1340, on the 77th anniversary of the previous consecration. The motif of the north nave furnishings was St. Mary; the middle nave was for St. Stephen and All the Saints; and the Apostles were honoured in the south nave. This part of the present cathedral, east of the present stubby transepts, is called the Albertine Choir.

In 1359, Albert II's son Duke Rudolf IV, who is called "the founder", laid, in the vicinity of the present south tower, the cornerstone for a Gothic extension of Albert's choir westward, to encapsulate the existing second church. That old church was then removed from the embrace of the new one in 1430 as work around it progressed.

In 1433 the south tower was finished. Vaulting of the nave began in 1446 and the nave was completed in 1474. In 1450 the foundation was laid for the north tower, but work on it was abandoned in 1511.

Although it was merely a parish church, in 1365 Rudolf IV presumptuously established a chapter of canons here, such as a cathedral would have. It was a long-held desire of Vienna, with its rising importance, to become its own diocese. Despite long-standing resistance by the bishops of Passau who did not want to lose control of the area, in 1469 Emperor Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor prevailed upon Pope Paul II to grant Vienna its own bishop (appointed then and thereafter by the emperor) and so the Stephansdom became a cathedral. (During the reign of Emperor Karl VI, the see was elevated to an archbishopric in 1722 by Pope Innocent XIII.)

St. Stephen's Cathedral was saved from intentional destruction at the hands of retreating German forces during World War II, when Captain Gerhard Klinkicht disregarded orders from the city commandant, Sepp Dietrich, to "fire a hundred shells and leave it in just debris and ashes."

One of the fires set by civilian plunderers of nearby shops when Russian troops entered the city was carried by the wind to the cathedral, severely damaging it on 12 April 1945 as the roof collapsed. Fortunately, protective brick shells had been built around the pulpit, Frederick III's tomb, and other treasures, so that damage to the most valuable artworks was minimized. Unfortunately, the beautifully carved Rollinger choir stalls from 1487 were burned. Rebuilding began immediately, with a limited reopening on 12 December 1948 and a full reopening on 23 April 1952.

St. Stephen's Cathedral's massive south tower (at location ST on the Plan below) is the dominant feature of the Vienna skyline at 136 meters (445 feet) and is affectionately called Steffl (a German diminutive form of Stephen) by the Viennese. It served as the main observation and command post for the defence of the walled city during the Siege of Vienna in 1529 and again during the second siege in 1683. It is as much the most recognised symbol of Vienna as the Eiffel Tower is of Paris. Its construction took 65 years to complete, from 1368 to 1433, and it contains an apartment for the watchmen who, for centuries (ending in 1955), manned the tower during the night to ring its bells if they spotted a fire. The tip of the tower has the double eagle imperial emblem with the Habsburg-Lorraine coat of arms on its chest, surmounted by the double-armed apostolic cross symbolic of the emperors' style Apostolic Majesty as kings of Hungary.

The north tower (at location NT), planned as a twin to the south tower, has not been completed and is only half as tall, at 68 meters (223 feet). It was given a temporary cap that the Viennese call the "water tower top" when its construction paused in 1511. Construction has not yet resumed.

On the left and on the right from the main entrance (called the Giant's Door (Riesentor) from the bone of a mastodon that once hung over it) are the two Roman towers (at locations RT on the Plan below) which are about 65 meters (215 feet) tall. They are called "Roman" (heidnischen in old Viennese dialect) because they were built from rubble of structures built by the Romans during their occupation of the city site. Square at their bases, and octagonal when they rise above the roof, these Heidentürme housed bells, and although the south Roman tower lost its bells during World War II, the north one is still a working bell tower. Along with the Giant's Door, they are the oldest parts of the church. The tympanum above the entrance depicts Christ Pantocrator, flanked by two winged angels.

A glory of St. Stephen's Cathedral is its ornately patterned, richly coloured roof, 110 meters (361 feet) long, and covered by 230,000 glazed tiles. Above the choir on the south side of the building the tiles form a mosaic of the double-headed eagle that is symbolic of the empire ruled from Vienna by the Habsburg dynasty. On the north side the coats of arms of the City of Vienna and of the Republic of Austria are depicted. In 1945, fire caused by World War II damage to nearby buildings leapt to the north tower of the cathedral and went on to destroy the wooden framework of the roof. Replicating the original bracing for so large a roof (it rises 38 meters above the top of the walls) would have required an entire square kilometre of forest, so over 600 metric tons of steel bracing were used instead. The roof is so steep that it is sufficiently cleaned by the rain alone and is never covered by snow.

St. Stephen's Cathedral has 23 bells.

The largest is officially named for St. Mary, but usually called Pummerin ("Boomer") and hangs in the north tower. At 20,130 kilograms (44,380 pounds), it is the largest in Austria and the second largest swinging bell in Europe (after the 23,500-kilogram (51,800-pound) Peter in Cologne Cathedral). Originally cast in 1711 from cannons captured from the Muslim invaders, it was recast (partly from its original metal) in 1951 after crashing onto the floor when its wooden cradle burned during the 1945 fire. The new bell has a diameter of 3.14 metres (9.6 feet) and was a gift from the province of Upper Austria. It sounds on only a few special occasions each year, including the arrival of the new year. There are three other bells hanging in this tower, but they are older and no longer used.

A peal of eleven electrically operated bells, cast in 1960, hangs in the soaring south tower. Replacements for other ancient bells also lost in the 1945 fire, they are used during Masses at the cathedral: four are used for an ordinary Mass; the quantity increases to as many as ten for a major holiday Mass; and the eleventh and largest is added when the Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna himself is present. From the largest to the smallest, they are named the St. Stephen (5,700 kg); St. Leopold (2,300 kg); St. Christopher (1,350 kg); St. Leonhard (950 kg); St. Josef (700 kg); St. Peter Canisius (400 kg); St. Pius X (280 kg); All Saints (200 kg); St. Clement Maria Hofbauer (120 kg); St. Michael (60 kg); and St. Tarsicius (35 kg). Also in this tallest tower are the Primglocke (recast in 1772) and the Uhrschälle (cast in 1449), which mark the passing of the hours.

The north Roman tower contains six bells, five of which were cast in 1772, that ring for evening prayers and toll for funerals. They are working bells of the cathedral and their names usually recall their original uses: Feuerin ("fire alarm" but now used as a call to evening prayers) cast in 1859; Kantnerin (calling the cantors (musicians) to Mass); Feringerin (used for High Mass on Sundays); Bieringerin ("beer ringer" for last call at taverns); Poor Souls (the funeral bell); and Churpötsch (donated by the local curia in honor of the Maria Pötsch icon in the cathedral).

The 1945 fire destroyed the bells that hung in the south Roman tower.

It is said that the composer Ludwig van Beethoven discovered the totality of his deafness when he saw birds flying out of the bell tower as a result of the bells' tolling but couldn't hear the bells.

Along the outside walls of the cathedral can be seen

• the spot (near location SJC on the Plan below) where the body of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was blessed after his funeral inside.
• the outdoor pulpit (at location SJC) where St. John Capistrano preached a crusade in 1454 to hold back Muslim invasions of Christian Europe. The 18th century Baroque statue shows St. Francis under an extravagant sunburst, trampling on a beaten Turk. This was the original cathedral's main pulpit till it was replaced by Pilgram's pulpit.
• a figure (at location CT) affectionately known to the Viennese as "Christ with a toothache," from the agonized expression of his face.
• various other memorials, from the time the area outside the cathedral was a cemetery.
• a recently-restored 15th century sundial, on a flying buttress at the southwest corner (location S).

There are 18 altars in the main part of the church, and more in the various chapels. The High Altar and the Wiener Neustädt Altar are the most famous.

High Altar [HA]

The first focal point of any visitor is the distant High Altar, built over seven years from 1641 to 1647 as part of the first refurbishment of the cathedral in the baroque style. The altar was built by the Tobias Pock at the direction of Vienna's Bishop Philipp Friedrich Graf Breuner with marble from Poland, Styria and Tyrol.

The altarpiece shows the stoning of St. Stephen, this church's patron. It is framed by figures of the patron saints of the surrounding areas — Saints Leopold, Florian, Sebastian and Rochus — and surmounted with a statute of St. Mary which draws the beholder's eye to a glimpse of heaven where Christ waits for Stephen (the first martyr) to ascend from below.

Wiener Neustädter Altar [WNA]

This altar at the head of the north nave was made in 1447 on the orders of Emperor Frederick III, whose tomb is opposite it, at the head of the south nave. On the predella is his famous A.E.I.O.U. device.

Frederick ordered it for the Cistercian Viktring Abbey (near Klagenfurt) where it remained until the abbey was closed in 1786 as part of Emperor Joseph II's anti-clerical reforms. It was then sent to the Cistercian monastery of St. Bernard of Clairvaux (founded by Emperor Frederick III) in the city of Wiener Neustadt, and finally sold in 1885 to St. Stephen's Cathedral when the Wiener Neustadt monastery was closed after merging with Heiligenkreuz Abbey.

A project to restore the altar was begun on the 100th anniversary, in 1985, and, primarily because of the large surface area (100 square meters) involved, took 20 years, 10 art restorers, 40,000 man-hours, and €1.3 million to complete.

The altarpiece is composed of two triptychs, the upper being four times taller than the lower one. When the lower panels are opened, the gothic grate of the former reliquary depot above the altar is revealed.

On weekdays, the four panels are closed and display a drab painted scene involving 72 saints. On Sundays, the panels are opened showing gilded wooden figures depicting events in the life of the Virgin Mary.

The Wiener Neustädter Altar

Maria Pocs Icon [MP]

This Byzantine style icon of St. Mary with the child Jesus was originally in the Uniate church in the Hungarian town of Pócs (pronounced Poach), from which this Marian icon takes its name. After two miraculous incidents in 1696 of the mother in the picture shedding real tears, Emperor Leopold I, king of Hungary, ordered it brought to St. Stephen's Cathedral, where it would safe from the French-supported Muslim armies that still controlled much of Hungary. Upon its arrival after a triumphal 5-month journey in 1697, Empress Eleonora Magdalena commissioned the splendid Rosa Mystica oklad and framework (now one of several) for it, and the Emperor personally ordered the icon placed near the High Altar in the front of the church, where it stood prominently from 1697 until 1945. Since then, it has been in a different framework, above an altar under a medieval stone baldachin near the southwest corner of the nave — where the many burning candles indicate the extent of its veneration, especially by Hungarians.

The 20 by 28-inch icon was commissioned in 1676 from painter Istvan Papp by Laszlo Csigri upon his release as a prisoner of war from the Turks who were invading Hungary at the time. Perhaps Csigri was unable to pay the 6-ducat fee, because the icon was bought by Laszlo Hurta who donated it to the church in Pócs.

The picture shows the mother pointing to the child (signifying he is the way), and the child holds a three-stemmed rose (symbolizing the holy trinity) and wears a prescient cross from his neck.

Since its arrival the picture has not been seen to weep again (perhaps because it enjoys the Gemütlichkeit of Vienna) but other miracles and answered prayers have been attributed to it, including Prince Eugene of Savoy's victory over the Turks at Zenta a few weeks after the icon's installation in the Stephandom.

The residents of Pócs wanted their holy miracle-working painting returned, but the emperor sent them a copy instead. Since then, the copy has been reported to weep real tears and work miracles, so the village changed its name from merely Pócs to Máriapócs and has become an important pilgrimage site.

Pötscher Madonna

Pulpit [P]

A masterwork of late gothic sculpture is the stone pulpit. Long attributed to Anton Pilgram, today Niclaes Gerhaert van Leyden is thought more likely to be the carver. So that the local language sermon could be better heard by the worshipers in the days before microphones and loud speakers, the pulpit stands against a pillar out in the nave, instead of in the chancel at the front of the church.

The sides of the pulpit erupt like stylized petals from the stem supporting it. On those gothic petals are relief portraits of the four original Doctors of the Church (St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Ambrose, St. Gregory the Great and St. Jerome), each of them in one of four different temperaments and in one of four different stages of life.

The handrail of the stairway curving its way around the pillar from ground level to the pulpit has fantastic decorations of toads and lizards biting each other, symbolizing the fight of good against evil. At the top of the stairs, a stone puppy protects the preacher from intruders.

Beneath the stairs is one of the most beloved symbols of the cathedral: a stone self-portrait of the unknown sculptor gawking (Ger. "gucken") out of a window (Ger. "fenster") and thus famously known as the Fenstergucker.

The pulpit

The Fenstergucker. Note the chisel in the subject's hand, and the stonemason's signature mark on the shield above the window, leading to speculation that this a self-portrait of the sculptor.

Chapels

There are several formal chapels in St. Stephen's.

• St. Katherine's Chapel, in the base of the south tower, is the baptismal chapel. The 14-sided baptismal font was completed in 1481, and its cover was formerly the sound board above the famed pulpit in the main church. Its marble base shows the four Evangelists, while the niches of the basin feature the twelve apostles, Christ and St. Stephan.
• St. Barbara's Chapel, in the base of the north tower, is used for meditation and prayer.
• St. Eligius's Chapel, in the southeast corner, is open for prayer.
• St. Bartholomew's Chapel, above St. Eligius' Chapel, has recently been restored.
• The Chapel of the Cross [PES] , in the northeast corner, contains the burial place of Prince Eugene of Savoy. It is not open to the public.
• St. Valentine's Chapel, above the Chapel of the Cross, is the current depository of the hundreds of relics belonging to the Stephansdom, including a piece of the tablecloth from the Last Supper. A large chestholds the bones of St. Valentine. They were moved here about a century ago, from what is now the Chapter House to the south of the High Altar.

St. Katherine's chapel

Tombs

Ground Floor

In the cathedral may be seen the tombs of

• Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, (21 September 1415 - 19 August 1493) [Fr3] under whose reign Vienna obtained its own bishop. His motto "A.E.I.O.U." became synonymous with Austria. Constructed over a span of 45 years, starting 25 years before the emperor's death, this impressive sarcophagus is made of the unusually dense red marble found at the Adnet quarry. Carved by Niclaes Gerhaert van Leyden, the tomb lid shows Emperor Frederick in his coronation regalia surrounded by the coats of arms of all of his dominions. The body of the tomb has 240 statues and is a glory of medieval sculptural art. It is prominent in the Aposles' Choir in the southeast corner of the cathedral.
• Prince Eugene of Savoy, (16 October 1663 – 24 April 1736) [PES] commander of the Imperial forces during the War of the Spanish Succession, and others to repel Muslim invasions. His vault is in the large chapel named for him, in the northwest corner of the cathedral. That chapel has several other names, among them Chapel of The Cross and the beard on the crucified Christ above the altar is of real hair.

Tomb of emperor Frederick III

Catacombs

When the charnel house and eight cemeteries against St. Stephen's Cathedral's side and back walls were closed due to an outbreak of bubonic plague in 1735, the bones within them were moved to the catacombs below the church. Burials directly in the catacombs occurred until 1783, when a new law forbade most burials within the city. The remains of over 11,000 persons are in the catacombs (which may be toured).

Preservation and repair of the fabric of the medieval cathedral has been a continuous process at St. Stephen's Cathedral since its original construction in 1147.

The porous limestone is subject to weathering, but coating it with a sealer like silicone would simply trap moisture inside the stone and cause it to crack faster when the water freezes. The permanent Dombauhütte (Construction Department) uses the latest scientific techniques (including laser cleaning of delicate features on stonework), and is investigating a process that would impregnate the cavities within the stone with something that would keep water from having a place to infiltrate.

The most visible current repair project is a multi-year renovation of the tall south tower, for which scaffolding has been installed. Fees from advertising on the netting around the scaffolding were defraying some of the costs of the work, but the concept of such advertising was controversial and has been discontinued.

Systematic cleaning of the interior is gradually proceeding around the walls, and an outdoor relief of Christ in Gethsemane is being restored.

Recently completed is a giant project for which visitors and worshipers in St. Stephen's Cathedral had been waiting since 1147: better heating of the church during the winter. Previous systems, including fireplaces, just deposited soot and grease on the artwork, but the new system uses apparatus in many different locations so that there is little moving airflow to carry damaging particles. The church is now heated to around 10° C. (50° F.).

Some of the architectural drawings date from the middle ages and are on paper 15 feet long and too fragile to handle. Laser measurements of the ancient cathedral have now been made so that a digital 3-dimensional virtual model of the cathedral now exists in its computers, and detailed modern plans can be output at will. When weathered stonework needs to be repaired or replaced, the computerized system can create life-sized models to guide the nine full-time stonemasons on staff in the on-site workshops against the north wall of the cathedral.

Plan of St. Stephen's Cathedral, with features mentioned in this article marked with red letters. CT "Christ with a Toothache" sculpture; Fr3 Tomb of Emperor Frederick III; G Giant's Door HA High Altar; MP Maria Pötsch icon; NT North Tower; P Pulpit; PES Prince Eugene of Savoy burial chapel; RT Roman Towers; S Sundial; SJC Saint John of Capistrano pulpit; ST South Tower; WNA Wiener Neustädter Altar

And just for fun, I found a cute story about the weathercock that I took a picture of when we were in the tower.

Since olden times there has been a weathercock on the back roof of the cathedral. It is said to serve as protection from the devil, who can carry out his evil deeds only until the cock's first crow. The following legend is associated with the weathercock on Saint Stephen's Cathedral:

Young Knight Kaspar von Schlezer was to carry a secret message to the Sultan in Constantinople.

Sadly he took leave from his beautiful young wife, who -- at their last farewell -- placed a silver crucifix around her beloved husband's neck to protect him from danger. He then set forth on the long and difficult route to Turkey. After a long journey Herr von Schlezer arrived safely at the Sultan's residence and delivered the secret parchment. Then he set forth toward home.

The knight's ship was attacked by pirates. They fettered him and at the next port sold him to a rich sheik. For many years the prisoner had to do difficult labor as a slave. Only the silver crucifix that he kept hidden on his breast comforted him and gave him hope that he would one day regain his freedom.

In his homeland his wife mourned for her missing husband for five years, but finally she gave up hope of ever seeing him again and became engaged to her husband's friend. Even as she was making preparations for the wedding her husband had a strange dream:

His wife was standing before the altar in Saint Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna and was exchanging wedding vows with Knight von Merkenstein.

A soft voice whispered in the sleeping man's ear: "You still have time to prevent this marriage."

Bathed in sweat, the knight awoke. In desperation he cried aloud: "I must be in Vienna tomorrow, even if the devil takes me!"

Instantly the Evil One, astride a feathered mount, appeared and spoke: "This rooster will carry us to Vienna, but in return I must have your soul!"

Herr von Schlezer agreed, but only under the condition that if he could sleep through the entire flight, the Prince of Hell would have no power over his soul.

The devil and the knight climbed onto the rooster's back and took off through the air. Before putting himself into the Evil One's hands, the nobleman secretly took hold of the crucifix on his breast. Then he committed his soul into God's hands and fell fast asleep. With uncanny speed they crossed meadows and fields, seas and lakes.

As dawn approached, the Steffl [Saint Stephen's Cathedral] came into view. Filled with joy, the rooster let out a loud cock-a-doodle-doo, upon which Schlezer awoke. The devil had lost power over his victim. Cursing loudly, he cast the knight and the rooster into the Danube River. Then the Evil One, mad as a rabid fox, returned to Hell.

Two fishermen pulled the pair from the water. Thus the nobleman was able to prevent the marriage of his wife to Knight von Merkenstein. Filled with joy, they fell into one another's arms.

To thank the rooster, who had freed him from slavery and returned him to Vienna in time, the knight had an iron weathercock constructed and installed on the back roof ridge of Saint Stephen's Cathedral. It can be seen there even today, where it reminds us of a devil's ride in the middle ages.

After we walked through the Cathedral, which we didn't tour because that costs money, Karl and I went for some gelato while the others fended for themselves. The guy at the gelato place winked at me, but he still hasn't given me a break on what I buy. I guess I have to smile more.

Then we went over toward the Albertina because the Volksgarten is in that area of the city and we still had some time to kill. And lo and behold, they were giving out free beer! The Ottakringer factory, which is housed in my district, has apparently developed a new "flavor" of beer called "Blech," which means something along the lines of industrial and which would explain the design of the can. Since I pretty much refuse to drink beer (I swear it all tastes like Natty), I took a can and put it in my pocket to bring home for my roommates.

Karl had to go back to his meeting place then, and I had to get home to do some work for classes the next day, but we made plans to get together for a bit on Tuesday.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Another wonderful day of classes, and I managed to meet Karl for a few minutes while they were eating lunch. We even took a picture, which is something I usually forget to do. I got involved with talking to Karl and his friends, and forgot to check my watch, so I was a bit late for class, which wouldn't have been a big deal, but we had the director and two of the actors from "Woyzeck" coming in to talk to us about the play.

It was an interesting talk, and we got out of class early, so I think it was a pretty positive thing. I also got to play with Dimple, who is Sue's dog. Sue is the registrar of IES Vienna. And Dimple is adorable. Not as adorable as Cheers, but she's about the same size, so I like to play with her.

I can't remember anything special occuring on either Wednesday or Thursday, except that I scheduled for my classes for next fall. And I've pretty much decided that I need to visit each and every advisor I have when I get back to the States. But I don't need to worry about that for at least another couple of months.

Friday, March 9, 2007

Friday was a very exciting day. I decided to get a bit more sleep, so after German, I needed to come home and do the shower thing before I had my Skype date with Matt. Since I was making him get up at 7:30 so I could talk to him, the least I could do was look good. Normally, this wouldn't even be a problem, except that Rosa, our cleaning lady, comes on Fridays and we're pretty much banned from the apartment when she's here. Since I've never met Rosa, I had this horrible image of her as a grumpy old lady that liked to yell at people that got in her way when she was cleaning. And because I had this image of her, I waited at IES until about 11:00 because she's usually done about 11:30 and it takes about half an hour to get home.

When I got back to the apartment, it was so nice and clean. Again, I wouldn't even comment on this, but living with six other people tends to make an apartment messy at best. It's just the way of the world (if I remember correctly, Doc described it as endothermic energy, but don't quote me on that). Rosa and Ellie, our landlady, were upstairs so I hopped in the shower really quickly and cleaned up the bathroom when I was done so I wouldn't incur the wrath of Rosa. When I was in the middle of drying my hair, Ellie and Rosa came back in, and I thought it would be rude to not say hello. Well, it turns out that Rosa is a very nice lady, and neither one of them minded that I came home a little bit early. Yay! So I finished getting ready, and hauled my laptop to IES so I could have my date.

I think I talked to Matt for about an hour, which was really nice because I've talked to him online a lot and sometimes on the phone, but I don't think we've skyped in a very long time. It's just hard trying to coordinate schedules across time zones.

After my date, I went shopping with Barbara, Andre, Adrianne, Mandy, Anna, and Mary on Mariahilstrasse. That's the big shopping street in Vienna. Pretty much, there's so many people and so many cars and so many stores, that it looks like you're in New York City over there. It's completely different than anything I've seen near the center of the city. But we went into H&M and I fell in love with a grey trench coat. It was absolutely perfect, and I look a lot more European in it. Not to mention the fact that I don't stick out like sore thumb when I wear it, which I do when I wear the blue one. I swear, I'm the only person in all of Austria to have a blue coat and actually wear it in the winter. And I've noticed since I got it that a lot more people are coming up to me and speaking German.

From our shopping excursion, I had to run home and change really quickly because I was meeting Mr. and Mrs. Schaub for dinner. Mr. Schaub is a graduate of MMI and is the Honorary Consulate General to Austria. He's a very nice man and both he and his wife take an active interest in MMI, especially the German department. Originally, I was supposed to meet them at a Strassenbahn stop along the J line, but plans had changed and I hadn't gotten the email, so when we hadn't met by about 6:30, I called Mr. Schaub to see if everything was all right. He sent Mrs. Schaub up to get me from the original meeting point, and it all turned out ok!

We went back to their apartment and shared a glass of what I call "Welcome Wine." I'm sure it has some complicated German name, but I honestly can't remember it, and I would have felt bad if I tried taking notes on what went on. It was a sparkling white wine from Italy, where they had been the week beforehand. I also got a tour of their apartment. From there, we went back to the J and rode it towards the outter edge of the sixteenth district (which, in case you forgot, is where I live). We were going to a heuriger known as "10er Marie." It's one of those protected properties because it has some historical significance. Back in the days of Crown Prince Rudolph von Hapsburg, the 10er Marie was used as a meeting place between him and his mistresses. He was the guy that eventually convinced one of his ladies to kill herself when he committed suicide so that their bones could be "together for eternity." Just a little morbid, don't you think?

But the heuriger was anything but morbid. We had a reservation there, so we had a place to sit. The 10er Marie isn't a really touristy restaurant, which is very nice. A lot of locals go there, and the food and wine was very good. They have almost like a deli-set-up. You order your drinks at your table, and then for the food, both hot and cold, you go up to a little counter and order it by weight and serving. I thought it was very nifty. And the wine here was very good too. Unfortunately, I get tipsy rather quickly, so I couldn't try that much of it, especially after the welcome wine back at the apartment.

The food was very good. We had all sorts of cold salads and bread with the spreadable cheese and also beef. It marked the first time I had beef since I got here. I tend to be vegetarian here to a large degree because meat can be expensive and I'd rather eat pasta and use my food money toward traveling.

The dessert was ordered in the same way the dinner was, but it came in a little package. We got something that I called solid Nutella (which is heaven on Earth). It's a chocolate wafer with hazelnut spread and then covered in chocolate and pieces of nuts. It was like whoa.

We took some pictures after dinner, and the waiter also wanted to get a picture with me. I'm not sure how that worked out with him because I have the picture on my camera and he doesn't have one of me. That, and I don't even know his name!

The Schaubs didn't want to keep me too late, so around 9:30, we jumped back on the J and headed back toward the center of the city. I got off one stop before them so I could ride the U6 to Thaliastrasse where I would pick up the 46, which would take me home.

My roommates were having a dinner party when I got back, and being the hungry person I am, I grabbed a bowl of pasta and joined in. Sarah made all the food, and it was very very good. Anna had brought some Glühwein, so we all had a glass of that after dinner. It's kind of like a mulled wine and there's some spices added to it as well. It's very yummy. Then Jeremy made cocktails, so I had one of those too. I think they were vodka and grapefruit juice.

Georg, Sarah's Austrian friend, was at the dinner party as well. He should have been, because it was held for him. She met him at the TU Ball back in the day, and I think they went for lunch last week. He's studying for his PhD in Chemical Engineering right now, and is doing research for his degree. A lot of the night was in German, but towards the end when we were discussing welfare, homelessness, and education, the conversation switched to English. Since Georg is fluent in English, it wasn't a problem, and he got some information on American culture I suppose.

By the time things were sort of cleaned up and we got to bed, it was after two, and four of us had to be out of the door by 6:40 the next morning. It made for a rough morning for them, but I got to sleep in, so I didn't mind. Saturday turned out to be a lazy day for me, and since all I did was organize my music, I won't even bother blogging about it.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

The US changed their clocks forward on Sunday. This makes it kind of confusing for the next couple of weeks because now I have to remember that I'm only five hours ahead of them instead of six. We change on March 25th and then I'll be back to six hours ahead.

In the afternoon, Mandy, Sarah, and I went to Belvedere to go through the museums there. It was an absolutely gorgeous day in Vienna -- blue skies, warm temperatures, you name it. We took a lot of pictures of the gardens, and promised ourselves that we would come back because not all of the greenery is out yet.

The art housed in the Upper Belvedere is more modern than what is in the Lower Belvedere. Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" is there and so are some works by Hundertwasser and Schiele. I'm starting to impress myself because I can pick out different artist's work. Later this month, there is some impressionistic art that will be visiting the Upper Belvedere, and since I got a museum pass from IES, I can go into a lot of the museums here for free. We walked around the museum for about an hour and a half, and I took pictures of some of the architecture, which made the museum people nervous because they thought I was taking pictures of the pictures.

The ceilings in the Upper Belvedere are really cool. A lot of them have decorations that look like plaster sculptures on them. In one room, there were horses drawing a chariot and one of the horse's legs was actually sticking out from the ceiling. It was super cool. Then there is a main hall which is done all in marble and carved wood and its absolutely amazing. The paintings on the ceilings in this room were so pretty and just wow. So I took some "illegal" pictures of it.

After we left the Belvedere, we walked over to Karlskirche to see if we could get in there. In front of the Church was a man selling watercolors of the city, and I bought one for myself because they're so pretty. He told us that admission into the church was free after six, but since we planned on going to the Sound of Music at the Volkstheater, we couldn't go that night. Instead, we walked over to the Secession Building and took pictures of that. None of the exhibits interested us, so we skipped walking through it.

Information on Karlskirche, from wikipedia:

The Karlskirche (German for St. Charles's Church) is a church situated on the south side of Karlsplatz, Vienna, which is located on the edge of the 1st district, 200 metres outside the Ringstraße. It is one of the most outstanding baroque church structures north of the Alps and boasts the spectacular feature of a dome in the form of an elongated ellipsoid.

Ever since Karlsplatz was restored as an ensemble in the late 1980s, the Karlskirche has garnered fame due to its dome and its two flanking columns of bas-reliefs, as well as by its role as an architectural counterweight to the buildings of the Musikverein and of the Vienna University of Technology.

The church is cared for by a religious order and also has long been the parish church as well as the seat of the Catholic student ministry of the Vienna University of Technology.

In 1713, one year after the last great plague epidemic, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, pledged to build a church for his namesake patron saint, Charles Borromeo, who was revered as a healer for plague sufferers. An architectural competition was announced, in which Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach prevailed over, among others, Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena and Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt. Construction began in 1716. After J.B. Fischer's death in 1723, his son, Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach, completed the construction in 1737 using partially altered plans. The church originally possessed a direct line of sight to the Hofburg and was also, until 1918, the imperial patron parish church.

As a creator of historic architecture, J.B. Fischer united the most diverse of elements. The façade in the center, which leads to the porch, corresponds to a Greek temple portico. The neighboring two columns, crafted by Lorenzo Mattielli, found a model in Trajan's Column in Rome. Next to those, two tower pavilions extend out and show the influence of the Roman baroque (Bernini and Borromini). Above the entrance, a dome rises up above a high drum, which the younger J.E. Fischer shortened and partly altered.

The iconographical program of the church originated from the imperial official Carl Gustav Heraeus and connects St. Charles Borromeo with his imperial benefactor. The relief on the pediment above the entrance with the cardinal virtues and the figure of the patron on its apex point to the motivation of the donation. This sculpture group continues onto the attic story as well. The attic is also one of the elements which the younger Fischer introduced. The columns display scenes from the life of Charles Borromeo in a spiral relief, however they also recall the Pillars of Hercules and act as symbols of imperial power. The entrance is flanked by angles from the Old and New Testaments.

This program continues in the interior as well, above all in the dome fresco by Johann Michael Rottmayr of Salzburg and Gaetano Fanti (pseudoarchitecture) which displays an intercession of Charles Borromeo, supported by the Virgin Mary. Surrounding this scene are the cardinal virtues. The frescos in a number of side chapels are attributed to Daniel Gran.

The high altar painting portraying the ascension of the saint was conceptualized by the elder Fischer and executed by Ferdinand Maximilian Brokoff. The altar paintings in the side chapels are by various artists, including Daniel Gran, Sebastiano Ricci, Martino Altomonte, and Jakob van Schuppen.

As strong effect emanates from the directing of light and architectural grouping, in particular the arch openings of the main axis. The color scheme is characterized by marble with sparring and conscious use of gold leaf. The large round glass window high above the main altar with the Hebrew Jehova Tetragram symbolizes God's omnipotence and simultaneously, through its warm yellow tone, God's love.

Next to the structures at Schönbrunn Palace, which maintain this form but are more fragmented, the Karlskirche is Fischer's greatest work. It is also an expression of the Austrian joie de vivre stemming from the victorious end of the Turkish Wars.

And information on the Secession Building, also from wikipedia:

The Vienna Secession or (also known as Secessionsstil, or Sezessionsstil in Austria) was part of the highly varied Secessionism movement that is now covered by the general term Art Nouveau. It was formed in 1897 by a group of 19 Vienna artists who had resigned from the Association of Austrian Artists, housed in the Vienna Künstlerhaus. The first president of the Secession was Gustav Klimt.

The Vienna Secession was founded on April 3, 1897 by artists Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Max Kurzweil, and others. The Secession artists objected to the prevailing conservatism of the Vienna Künstlerhaus with its traditional orientation toward Historicism. The Berlin and Munich Secession movements preceded the Vienna Secession, which held its first exhibition in 1898.

Also in 1898, the group's exhibition house was built in the vicinity of Karlsplatz. Designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich, the exhibition building soon became known simply as "the Secession" (die Sezession).

The group earned considerable credit for its exhibition policy, which made the French Impressionists somewhat familiar to the Viennese public. The 14th Secession exhibition, designed by Josef Hoffmann and dedicated to Ludwig van Beethoven, was especially famous. A statue of Beethoven by Max Klinger stood at the center, with Klimt's Beethoven frieze mounted around it.

In 1903 Hoffmann and Moser founded the Wiener Werkstätte as a fine-arts society with the goal of reforming the applied arts (arts and crafts).

On June 14, 1905 Gustav Klimt and other artists left the Vienna Secession due to differences of opinion over artistic concepts.

Unlike other movements, there is no one style that unites the work of all artists who were part of the Vienna Secession. The Secession building could be considered the icon of the movement. Above its entrance was carved the phrase "to every age its art and to art its freedom". Secession artists were concerned, above all else, with exploring the possibilities of art outside the confines of academic tradition. They hoped to create a new style that owed nothing to historical influence. In this way they were very much in keeping with the iconoclastic spirit of turn-of-the-century Vienna (the time and place that also saw the publication of Freud's first writings).

The Secessionist style was exhibited in a magazine that the group produced, called Ver Sacrum, which featured highly decorative works representative of the period.

Secessionist architects often decorated the surface of their buildings with linear ornamentation in a form commonly called whiplash or eel style. Otto Wagner's Majolika Haus in Vienna (c. 1898) is a significant example of the Austrian use of line.

Wagner's way of modifying Art Nouveau decoration in a classical manner did not find favour with some of his pupils who broke away to form the Secessionists. One was Josef Hoffmann who left to form the Wiener Werkstätte, an Austrian equivalent of the Arts and Crafts Movement. A good example of his work is the Stoclet House in Brussels (1905).

We had some time before the play to run home and make dinner. Since it was Sunday, it was scarce pickings, but we managed to make a meal out of it. Once Mandy and I got back on the Strassenbahn, we called Wini to let her know that we would be a bit late. That's when she told us that there wasn't a show that night, but there was one on Monday. I jumped off the Strassenbahn at the next stop because I could be more productive at home, and I think Mandy also went home from there. But we made plans to go to see the Sound of Music tonight at the Volkstheater.

Since I seem to mention my district a lot in here, I wikipedia-ed it and found some information for all you folks at home:

Ottakring is the 16th district in Vienna. It was formed from the independent villages of Ottakring and Neulerchenfeld in 1892.

The district of Ottakring is embedded in the western part of Vienna between the Gürtel (a substantial road around Vienna) and the hills of the Wienerwald (Vienna forest). The district of Hernals borders to the north, Josefstadt and Neubau to the east, and Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus and Penzing to the south. The highest points in the district are the Jubiläumswarte at 449 metres and the Gallitzinberg (also known as Wilheminenberg) at 388 metres. The canals of the Ottakringer Bach (Ottakring Stream) begin at Gallitzinberg and originally flowed along what are today the streets of Ottakringer-Straße, Abelegasse, and Thaliastraße; through Lerchenfelderstraße and the Minoritenplatz; and into the Donaukanal, an arm of the Danube river. The buildings vary considerably in style. The working class settled around the industries and factories near the Gürtel, resulting in a dense checkerboard pattern of residential housing. A little further up is a collection of villas around the Ottakring cemetery surrounded by an extensive number of deciduous trees. The district is made up of 36.7% greenery (of which 22% are forest), 45.4% buildings, and 17.9% transportation. Thaliastraße is the busiest and most commercially important street in the district. A total of 1.23% of the land area is used for agriculture. The once important vinyards have mostly disappeared. Gardens are found primarily around Schloss Wilheminenberg (castle) and on the border to Penzing.

In 1888, Franz Joseph I declared that he wanted to unite Vienna with the surrounding villages. The Lower Austrian government passed Eingemeindung der Vororten zu Wien (village annexation to Vienna) in 1890. On January 1, 1892, the resolution took effect. Despite initial resistance, the independent villages of Ottakring and Neulerchenfeld were united into the 16th district of Vienna. It had 106,861 residents.

After the annexation, the area experienced rapid growth. By 1910, 177,687 people lived in Ottakring. Though the number of employment opportunities was limited, the number of workers was extremely high. This encouraged industries to move to the area. After World War I, residential construction boomed. Between 1922 and 1934, 28 Gemeindebauanlagen (community housing) with more than 4,517 apartments were constructed. Among this number were the 1,587 large Wohnhausanlagen (condominiums), the first in Vienna. The economic collapse of the 1930s brought great adversity to the district with unemployment surging to over 50%. The Februaraufstand (February uprising) of 1934 brought major instability and fighting to the region. The local insurgency overpowered the army of the original social democratic party, and the residential buildings escaped mostly unharmed. There was however heavy fighting around the workers housing in the street Kreitnergasse.

After World War II, Ottakring belonged to the French-occupied zone of Vienna (which was divided into quarters and split among the Allies). The efforts to rebuild the area were slow at first and eventually even the oldest parts of the district were finally renovated. The French replaced the Negerdörfel barracks and construction continued.

When the subway line U3 was extended into Ottakring in 1998, the district area around the new end station was revitalised. The above-street-level end station earned the name Schwesternturm (literally Sisters Tower, but originates from the German Krankenschwester, nurse) due to the secondary use of the building as a medical centre. The empty factories of an old tobacco company and the long-unused stores beneath the arches for the Schnellbahn (fast local trains) were converted into a tech school (HTL, see de:HTL in German). The centre of Vienna can be reached in 13 minutes via the subway.

District Government

The directorship was elected by a common vote until 1918. After that, the social democrats designated the district as a worker's district. On May 4, 1919, the social democrats gained the great majority of the vote and voted the railroader Johann Politzer to be District Director. He held the position until 1934, when the Patriotic Front party took power in Austria. After the fall of the Nazis in November 1945, the people were able to freely vote for the first time in 10 years. Of the 30 government positions, the SPÖ won 20 seats, ÖVP won 8, and KPÖ won 2. The SPÖ held their dominance for decades, until the start of the 1990's. In 1996, the FPÖ gained a lot of popularity at the expense of the SPÖ, with the SPÖ falling from 50.54% to 40.58%, and the FPÖ gaining 30.59%. The trend reversed itself in 2001, when the SPÖ rose back up to 49.45% and the FPÖ fell down to 20.86%. The Greens took 12.54% in 2001, putting them at almost the same level as the ÖVP, which took 13.13%. The Liberal Forum lost almost half of their support and with 2.47% took only one seat representation.

Coat of arms

The left half of the coat of arms stands for the once-independent town of Ottakring. The mountains symbolise the three important features of Ottakring: Jubiläumswarte, Gallitzinberg and Predigtstuhl. The shield with cross and mitre stands for the former monastery in Klosterneuburg. The right half of the coat of arms illustrates where the name of Neulerchenfeld comes from. A larch tree (German: Lärche) with circling larks (German: Lerche) sits in a field (German: Feld), giving the name Neulerchenfeld.



Industries settled quickly in the district after it was united into Vienna. In 1898, for example, the tobacco factory opened in Thaliastraße. Photo industry (eg, Herlango) and machinery factories (e.g., Österreichische Industriewerke Warchalowski, Eißler & Co. AG) were notable new companies to settle in Ottakring. The largest employer was the textile industry. Following World War II, many of the industries were outsourced to other areas, which created a marked difference between the living areas and the abandoned factories. The most well-known services still operating in Ottakring are the Ottakring Brewery and the coffee roaster Julius Meinl.

Heuriger in old Ottakring

This is the 10er Marie, which is found in the 16th district.

Now, since I've been at this post for almost two hours, I think it's time to call it quits for a while. So that's all folks!

Love,
Amanda