Vienna: Art and Churches

While in Vienna, we visited the Vienna Succession, formed in 1897 by a group of artists who wanted to take art in another direction. I'd have to say they succeeded. The Succession building itself is beautiful. (It's the building with the gold filigree ball on top.) The inside, which we weren't allowed to photograph, had a definite Art Nouveau influence.

The art ranged from funky, to weird, to disturbing. It varied from this sculpture, found outside by the front door (which I thought was appealing and whimsical), to a room with art that consistent of strange photographs and videos of people do various things, such as silently walking in front of a window. That exhibit still gives me the willies if I think about it too long.

There were works of art like this one, which is more or less how I think of modern art.

A significant work in this building is the Beethoven Frieze, by Gustav Klimt. Wikipedia says the frieze "illustrates human desire for happiness in a suffering and tempestuous world in which she has to contend not only with external evil fores but also her own internal weaknesses".

Ok, yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking.

Poster of a figure from the frieze

 Since a frieze, by definition, tends to run around the top of the room, there was a bright greeny-yellow platform to climb to view the frieze at eye level. The frieze was rather unusual and contained enough female nudity to make me blush, so I'm going to spare the rest of you from viewing it close-up.

 My feeling about the art in this building? It's a bit like the music my kids liked over the years--some I didn't get, some I didn't like, and some I found appealing and still listen to. This Succession building, and the art inside, was a wonderful and dramatic contrast to the more traditional art museums we saw later and I'm glad we checked it out. It opened my eyes to a side of the art world I didn't know about.

Next we visited a couple of churches which were markedly different from each other. First up is St. Charles's Church. Construction began in 1716. The style is Baroque. It has a beautiful dome and

two heavily decorated columns, one on each side of the entrance. I loved the outside of this church-it was a nice change from the fabulous Gothic exteriors we saw so much of.

 Like many other churches in Europe, there is ongoing restoration along with the necessary scaffolding. This cathedral had the deep pink marble with gold leafing accents we saw again and again, a striking combination.

Some of the marble was masterfully faux painted, although you had to look closely to find it.

note the great quilt pattern on the floor

 This particular church had wonderful natural light

as well as extensive and lovely painting on the ceiling.

Again, like other churches we viewed, there was a painting of a descending dove in the upper most dome of the ceiling.

The second church we visited was St. Stephen's Cathedral. This is an ancient and important European church. The original Gothic-style building was completed in 1160. This is the cathedral in which Mozart was married in 1782.

The tye-die effect inside was really interesting in the beginning.

I thought the coloring inside the cathedral came from these stained glass windows, but soon realized the windows were actually covered with colored plastic and that there were dozens of strategically placed colored lights, giving the interior the multi-colored look. After a while I wished I could turn the lights off and see what the inside REALLY looked like-I found the staged effect irritating.

The cathedral was saved from destruction during WW II when a captain disregarded orders to "leave it in just debris and ashes".  However, the roof was later heavily damaged and collapsed when invading Russian troops set fire to nearby shops, which then was carried by the wind to the cathedral.

This cathedral is particularly known for its beautiful tiled roofs. Originally we imagined that dark, stained limestone of European churches was caused by pollution, but later learned it is the result of minerals, particularly iron, in the sandstone, and that cleaning it often results in less than desired outcomes. These beautiful churches never got old for me--I looked forward to each one that we visited.

Vienna is important in our travels because it is the place Stan became a lifetime lover of Wienersnitzel.

I don't mean to be critical, but Stan ordered this dish again and again.

Personally, I can't imagine what would lead a person to be so completely obsessed with one food.....