Vienna, Austria

I studied here.

So coming back to this place brings memories. Of everything.

Let me start with the view on Danube river. We used to drink coffee at the top of the buildings on the left side, having the Austrian cakes and enjoying the view from bars.

Most of my time there I spent living in the times before the splitting of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

So let’s start from the beginning.

I studied political sciences at Universitat Wien.
It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is one of the oldest universities in the German-speaking world.

Universitat Wien

I was spending loads of my time in the called Harry Potter library: old wooden tables and chairs that make squitchy noise everytime you move a bit, green art nouvea table lamps, chandelier, tall book shelfs that go up until the ceiling…

Making breaks was important so we would sit in the atrium of the University in the back chairs.

Or simply at the near by Votiv Park in front of the Votiv Kirche (church).

Votiv Kirche

As the University is at the Ring 1 or 1 Bezirk (in Vienna the districts are circled areas of the center), at Schotenring the nearby places had other famous Baroque-era monuments like Rathaus or the City Hall.

Rathaus (city hall), Vienna, Austria, Europe

Once we had organized visit to the Rathaus. I remember the jar dropping down as it houses the office of the Mayor of Vienna as well as the chambers of the city council.

Or the another neo – gothic building such as Volkstheater.

Theater

The Innere Stadt is the Old Town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the Innere Stadt was congruent with the city of Vienna. Traditionally it was divided into four quarters, which were designated after important town gates: Stubenviertel (northeast), Kärntner Viertel (southeast), Widmerviertel (southwest), Schottenviertel (northwest).

The nearby is beautiful Cathedral of Sankt Steffan.
The current Romanesque and Gothic form of the cathedral started to be built in 12th century.

St. Stephan cathedral in Vienna, Austria

On the façade of St. Stephen’s Cathedral is a figure of Christ with a Toothache. 
How it came to this name tells the following story?

Once upon a time three jolly fellows lived in Vienna. They often sat together and drank until late into the night and on their way home they used to play tricks on one or the other Viennese. 

One night after the curfew of their favourite pub they strolled frolicsomely through the streets of Vienna. On their way they passed St. Stephen’s Cathedral. 

”Hey, this looks as if the Lord had a toothache! No wonder he definitely stands at a draughty place!”

For a while they continued joking. Finally they went to their homes. 
But that night they couldn’t fall asleep as their cheeks began to burn and a short time later they got a very bad toothache.  They immediately went to the doctor, but the doctor said all teeth are fine. So they went back to Cathedral to apologize for blasphemy and sarcastic comments.

If you walk towards the Hofburg – the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty rulers and today the official residence and workplace of the President of Austria – you will see this:

Hofburg palace

The left and the right wing continues to big big museums called Naturhistorische Museum and Kunst (Art) Museum. Left building was erected in the name of Joseph I Habsburg and the seconf to his mother Empress Maria Therese. 

Museum of Science and History dedicated to Empress of Habsburg Empire Maria Theresa of Austria and the Art museum on the other side, dedicated to her son Habsburg Emperor Joseph ll.

Iron meteorite fell down in Zagorje county of Croatia, in in 1751, today in Naturhistorische Museum

From Schwedenplatz up again towards the old city:

… will bring you to one of my favourite places in Vienna: Alt Wien – a beer house. To meeting point Saturday evening with my friends from Uni. 🙂

If you are looking for something more relaxing, then the coffee Julius Meinl with sweet marzipan Mozartkugeln might be for you. Or perhaps Sachertorte? Cakes and pastries in Vienna are a must try. Actually, even the croissant is comig from Vienna, not from France!

Mozartkugeln

For the good concesrts we used to go to Donauinsel. It kinda makes parallel excavated channel Neue Donau (“New Danube”). I remember celebrating my name day in June with the song Brenna tuats gut – some dialect of austrian german… don’t ask!

For the good Sunday time was the Praterstern. It is a major square in the Leopoldstadt district of Vienna but also the amusement park. It derives from the old Latin word which means meadow.

Talking about the fun and amusement – the high fashion is gathered in MariaHilferstrasse.
It is the city’s longest and most lively shopping street. It will be worth your while to explore the side streets in the 6th and 7th districts. This is where many out-of-the-ordinary shops and outlets have sprung up recently.

The same is true for the Naschmarkt area. Although night life there is better 🙂 Pubs, pubs!

When living in Vienna, it feels like a fairytale. The architecture, the politeness, the curtsy, the lifestyle…

Perhaps, the main reason for that is the must visit castle called Schönbrunn. The residential palace of Habsburgs dynasty who rulled half of Europe in its times.

This Baroque palace is one of the most important architectural, cultural, and historical monuments in the country.

The most important rulers and adresees of the palace were Empress Marie Therese and her son Franz Josef l who married Sissi or Elisabeth. Her beauty was astonished, her good heart even more, However, she died from a terrorist act at the lake of Geneva.

Elisabeth of Austria, 19 century, the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I, and thus Empress of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Queen consort of Croatia and Bohemia. My favourite empress ever! 
❤

However, Vienna is famous for its Christmas markets. So I will finish with the photo below:

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2023

The Alumni celebration (10 years from graduation) brought me here again. This time I wasn’t alone so I had to re-do almost everything while presenting one of my favourite cities. 🙂 We had a hotel in 2. Bezirk called Leopolstadt. This means Orthodox Jew were mingling around. It was interesting to see their lifestyle and how they behave, dress and live.

Leopoldstadt becomes in the times of baroque. The plague is not a threat anymore so the city is expanding. At that time, the first factories were built, starting in Leopoldstadt. Leopoldstadt became a site where many Jews lived, as they had been driven out of their 50-year-old ghetto in 1670. Hygienic problems began to become noticeable: sewers and street cleaning began to develop. Also in this time, the first house numbers (the Konskriptionsnummern) were issued, and the government postal system began to develop.

The first stop, quite spontaneous was Barmherzigenkirche or Church of Mercy. The 15th-century church is famous because Joseph Haydn, the famous Austrian composer of the Classical period (18th century) has performed here.

While operating around, we visited Katholische Kirche St. Josef. Beautiful baroque church with wooden altars.

The next stop was the famous Schwedenplatz. Passing the bridge over Danube canal, we spotted a Wurstelstand. A Würstelstand is a traditional Austrian street food retail outlet selling hot dogs, sausages, and side dishes. They are an ubiquitous sight in Vienna.

And when you pass the Schwedenplatz, you get to Dominikanerkirche. Also baroque, with wooden altars but a bit more spacious.

The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. The 1. Bezirk. From that humble beginning of Roman times, Vienna grew from the Roman settlement known as Vindobona to be an important trading site in the 11th century. It became the capital of the Babenberg dynasty and subsequently of the Austrian Habsburgs, under whom it became one of Europe’s cultural hubs. During the 19th century as the capital of the Austrian Empire and later Austria-Hungary, it temporarily became one of Europe’s biggest cities.

Like many other cities of Continental Europe, Vienna originated in ancient Roman times. In the first century AD, the Romans set up a military camp, called Vindobona, which formed part of the large number of similar facilities along the Limes frontier. The camp was situated in what is today the core of the city. The Roman ruins can be still seen around in Vienna city.

As a multicultural centre of an Empire, Vienna attracted people of different origins and religions. In the city centre, we found the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. Greek Orthodox churches have existed in Vienna since 18th century as a result of the 1781 Patent of Toleration issued by Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor. The current building is a Byzantine Revival in all its glory. 🙂

I aid the visit to my favourite student cafe Alt Wien. The smell was still there. So lively and bohemian. Since 1922! I have so much memories around this city. I ordered Gösser beer – a local must.

St. Stephen’s Cathedral seen today in the Stephansplatz is a gothic church from 14th century. The most important religious building in Vienna, St. Stephen’s Cathedral has borne witness to many important events in Habsburg and Austrian history and has, with its multi-coloured tile roof, become one of the city’s most recognizable symbols. You can spot the two-headed eagle on the roof (because the Empire spreads to the East and West and because the political power comes from God and is represented by an Emperor).

When you walk further in Graben street you can see the residential building called Ankerhaus erected between 1894 by Otto Wagner (art nouveau architect), presumably for himself. Its name owes to the fact that the previous building had been purchased by the eponymous insurance firm Der Anker.

Just in front, there are two monuments: the Pestsäule constructed by Emperor Leopold I following the Great Plague of Vienna and Leopoldsbrunnen. This translates as the well of Saint Leopold.

Leopoldbrunnen with Ankerhaus

Monument of the Great Plague

Graben with Monument of the Great Plague

Peterskirche is at the end of Graben. Come on Patrick you don’t need translation, do you?

The church has been given to the priests of Opus Dei. There is speculation that it could be the oldest church in Vienna, dating since the Charlemagne times.

The history of Viennese coffee house culture is closely linked to the end of the Siege of Vienna in 1683. Legend has it that the Viennese citizen Kolschitzky was the first to obtain a licence to serve coffee in the city following his heroic actions during the Siege of Vienna. The coffee beans left behind by the Ottomans were the only good that ever came from them.

Cafe Melange

With the good coffee comes good newspapers, good music and a cake. In Vienna we have Sacher torte. The original recipe claims Cafe Demel, which is a coffee house since 18th century. Quite impressive, isn’t it?

In Mozartcafe we had a chance to listen the music played live on a piano. Vienna is a musical city and to see a scene like this is quite usual here. This is where Graham Greene wrote The Third Man.

After the battles against the Ottomans, Vienna was turned into a baroque city. The following period was characterised by extensive building activities.

Vienna is full of cute passages through beautiful baroque and secession palaces. These passages are usually filled with Kaffeehaus and shops. In the courtyard of the Palais Ferstel shopping arcade, you can spot the Danube mermaid. Actually, there are three mermaids that emerge from the water of the marble basin, shake hands and dance around the column rising from the middle of the water basin.

The Vienna Ring Road (German: Ringstraße) is a 5.3 km circular boulevard that serves as a ring road around the historic Innere Stadt (bravo Patrick, indeed it is the Inner Town). The road is located on sites where medieval city fortifications once stood. The was to demolish the medieval wall and created new spaces for the growing city. Many baroque and classicistic buildings have been erected along the road.

Getting out of the Innere Stadt to the Ringstrasse, I had to pay the visit back to my Uni. Nothing ever changed. Except that I am older and richer for the more travel experiences. Oh, and I went blue. 😛

Then I went down from Schottenring following the Ringstrasse to see if the Rathaus was still there. There was a movie festival going on as it was summertime. The city hall is constructed in 19th century in a Neo-Gothic style.

Vienna isas well one of Europe’s gourmet capitals for both food and wine and is home to many delicious local treats. You have to try Wiener schnitzel. And Zwiebelrostbraten. If you pair it with nice Spritzer (wine with mineral water) you will go full Austrian.

Nearby Schottentor is the house of Sigmund Freud. He was born in Czech Republic but lived most of his academic time in Vienna. I am not much into his over sexualised theory of psychoanalysis so I didn’t have much interest to enter.

But down the very same street, you can find interesting entrance to a certain place.  Boudoir is a woman’s private sitting room or salon in a furnished residence, usually between the dining room and the bedroom, but can also refer to a woman’s private bedroom.

When your mind becomes too dirty, it needs to be clean. You can drop by near Votivkirche. Following the attempted assassination of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1853, the Emperor’s brother inaugurated a campaign to create a church to thank God for saving the Emperor’s life. Funds for construction were solicited from throughout the Empire. The church was dedicated in 1879 on the silver anniversary of Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Empress Elisabeth.

Freud’s favourite place to have a cafe melange was just nearby. Café Landtmann served as a meeting place for many of the leading industrialists, politicians, thinkers, and artists in Austria.

Because of my recent visit to Liechtenstein where I discovered that they have some land in Austria where they gradually do their vineyards, I just had to pay a bit more attention to their presence here in Vienna. The Palace of Liechtenstein was built in 16th century and it belongs to the princely family of Liechtenstein.

Another important building down the Ringstrasse is the Operahouse. It is yet another example of Renaissance Revival architecture in Vienna.

Nearby is the Stadtpark with famous and notable citizens of Vienna. They all took the best of the city, returning back with their biggest contributions to human kind.

Vienna’s diverse architectural styles echo its compelling history, which means that all you really need to do to experience its intriguing past is take a stroll through the streets of the Austrian capital. As an important cultural centre during the Habsburg dynasty’s reign, and once the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire – it welcomed great thinkers and artists from around the world. This rich heritage is clear in the impressive architecture that populates the city, with Baroque palaces sitting alongside post-war Modernist and Brutalist structures. These are some of the best places to experience the history of Vienna in the city’s streets.

The Minoritenkirche is a 13th-century church. A mosaic of Da Vinci’s Last Supper adorns this Gothic church with a rebuilt flat roof. Perhaps nothing special, in compare to other sites mentioned, but when you pass by you have to look up.

Hofburg is perhaps the most important place for Habsburg Vienna. It is the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty, it was built in the 13th century and expanded several times afterwards. It also served as the imperial winter residence, as Schönbrunn Palace was the summer residence. Since 1946, it is the official residence and workplace of the president of Austria. And OSCE and the Spanish Riding School.

Hofburg is placed in Heldenplatz. With the equastrian statue of Prince Eugene of Savoy. This military leader was quite genius. He refused a command in the French military, so he popped across to Austria and offered his sword and brain to Emperor Leopold I, beginning his service at the lifting of the 1683 siege of Vienna. The one when Ottomans surrounded the city.

Prince Eugene of Savoy

Hofburg

I entered to see the Imperial Armoury. The Viennese collection numbers among the best of its kind in the world. Furthermore, it is the best-documented collection of court arms and armour in the western world, since the exhibits were generally created or acquired in connection with important political occasions: on the occasion of military campaigns, Imperial Diets, ceremonies of homage, coronations, engagements, marriages and baptisms. No family of rulers was connected by marriage with so many European countries as were the Habsburgs. For this reason, nearly all western European princes from the 15th to the early 20th centuries are represented with armour and ornamental weapons.

Buying the ticket, you can visit the Museum of the Musical instruments. The Collection of Historic Musical Instruments is home to the most important collection of renaissance and baroque instruments worldwide. Furthermore, the museum keeps, maintains and presents numerous instruments that were played by famous musicians and composers. The collection includes a particularly comprehensive range of clavichords and Viennese fortepianos. The world of sound in which the composers of Viennese Classicism lived can be heard and understood here in a nearly complete fashion. The holdings of the collection have their origins in Habsburg holdings; they have since been continually expanded via purchases, gifts and loans.

Bass Lute Citern – the body of this fantastically designed instrument had a fundamental problem of reaching the lowest string with the hand.

The Museums in Vienna are a must. I had the occasion to visit Naturhistorische Museum but never Kunsthistorische Museum. Besides having famous paintings inside, the buildings are a monument per see from the outside. Each of them built in the time of Maria Theresia and later her son Franz Josef. Her statue is in the middle – still ruling from her throne.

First part is dedicated to the life of Vienna in the past times. There was a one big portrait of Maria Theresa in her younger ages. I felt biggest admiration towards the Empress that believed in the education and built schools all across her Empire, including in my hometown of Krapina.

The second part of the museum are the paintings of Tintoretto and Velasques. To put here just a few, otherwise, the post might never finish 🙂

The most interesting part is Bruegel. I have seen his paintings before in Brussels (both father and son) but I have been missing some main works of their art.

The Fight between Carnival and Lent

Children’s Games

Massacre of Innocents

Babel Tower

Hunters in the Snow

The Procession to Calvary

One more building at Ringstrasse: Karlskirche. A Baroque church located on the south side of Karlsplatz. Widely considered the most outstanding baroque church in Vienna, as well as one of the city’s greatest buildings.

In 1713, one year after the last great plague epidemic, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (during his reign the Habsburg Empire was the biggest) pledged to build a church for his namesake patron saint, Charles Borromeo, who was revered as a healer for plague sufferers. Borromeo was as well a great fighter against the Church Reformation.

The style of most of the finest secular buildings in Vienna is Baroque. Vienna’s leading architectural style in the 17th and 18th centuries brings it to perfection. The vast complex of the Imperial Palace, the Hofburg lies all around with several wings and squares in the middle.

It is in this environment that the first seeds of the Secession movement began to germinate, led by a group of artists who searched for a synthesis of the arts and a place where their new works could be exhibited. 

To see more of this beauty, you can extend your walk to Kärntner Straße. The facades in this street are next level, imitating the style of an Italian Renaissance villa.

But before we get out of the Hofburg complex, a bit of more details to these facades that could have not been more admired. The statues are mostly depicting ancient greek mythological episodes. Hence, neoclassic.

Spanish Horse Riding School is part of Hofburg dedicated to the preservation of classical dressage and the training of Lipizzaner horses. I wanted to enter to participate the show but there was no luck. The show was booked for the next days.

When you walk out of Hofburg complex, towards East, you back to Innere Stadt. More specifically at Michaelerplatz. Here you can find St. Michael’s Church. The Habsburgs were very religious and built churches across the Empire.

This church is one of the oldest churches in Vienna and also one of its few remaining Romanesque buildings. Dedicated to the Archangel Michael (patron of warriors) with 13th century frescoes.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Vienna was taken by the French twice, in 1805 and 1809. The first conquest happened without a battle. After Napoleon’s final defeat, the Congress of Vienna took place in 1814 in Belvedere Palace. This Baroque palace complex was built as a summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy, the guy mentioned above who just got bored with French and came to Vienna.

The choice of paintings here is relatively great as well. I was particularly amused with the set of paintings by Thomas Ender and Matthias Gauermann that had glacier painted but the glacier melted in the meantime as a result of climate change.

One of the most popular paintings in the museum is Napoleon Crossing the Alps (also known as Napoleon at the Saint-Bernard Pass).  In fact, this is a series of five oil on canvas equestrian portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte painted by the French artist Jacques-Louis David between 1801 and 1805. The original painting remained in Versailles.

Much f the baroque art in the Habsburg time was commissioned by Catholic Church. Altarpieces, devotional images, and sculptures were frequently integrated in religious architecture as part of an overall narrative.

In 1878 Austro-Hungarian troopes occupied Bosnia. It was probably in this context that viennese painter decided to paint the capital Sarajevo. He choose to depict a bustling market scene at Latin Bridge over the Miljacka river. In July 1914, the Austro-Hungarian hire to the throne and his wife were assassinated at this place. An event that would spark World War I and eventually bring to an end the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Habsburgs.

What people come for to Belvedere Palace, I mean, the main reason is Gustav Klimt. I never understood the hype around this guy. To me he looked like someone who likes to have sex, and is at the edge of his perversion. Others were calling it art. This is perhaps the reason why he was painting so many women, naked women. The story goes that the has been expelled out of the contract when he was invited to paint the ceiling in University of Vienna.  This Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement draw quite erotic figures on the wall and ceiling which shocked the society.

His colleagues of the time Schiele and Kokoschka were there too, but for some reason I was not allowed to take the photo of the paintings. Like it would matter that much to the world…

Time to grab a bite of Austrian cuisine again. Austria has an old hunting tradition since there are many woods across the country. In the autumn season many restaurants in Austria traditionally offer game on their menu along with seasonal vegetables and fruits like pumpkins from Styria. With a beer called Edelweiss you can not go wrong either. Edelweiss the national flower of Austria. And Switzerland.

For the dessert, I recommend you Kaiserschmarrn – a lightly sweetened pancake that takes its name from the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I, who was fond of this fluffy shredded pancake. It is served as a dessert or as a light lunch alongside apple sauce and contains raisins or dried cranberries.

Kaiserschmarrn

Marillenknudeln

In Vienna there is a wine drinking culture. But not so fast! There is something called antifreeze scandal which occurred in the 1980s. Several Austrian wineries illegally adulterated their wines using the toxic substance diethylene glycol (a minor ingredient in some brands of antifreeze) to make the wines appear sweeter and more full-bodied. Germany was the first one that noticed this scam when performing the control check.

A number of people involved in the scandal were sentenced to prison or heavy fines in Austria and West Germany.

The short-term effect of the scandal was a complete collapse of Austrian wine exports and a total loss of reputation of the entire Austrian wine industry, with significant adverse effects on the reputation of German wines as well. The long-term effect was that the Austrian wine industry focused their production on other wine types than previously, primarily dry white wines instead of sweet wines, and increasingly targeted a higher market segment, but it took the Austrian wine industry over a decade to recover. Much stricter wine laws were also enacted by Austria.

If you will give it a try, do the Grüner Veltliner or Riesling. For the red wine, choose the region of Burgenland.

I encourage you to visit the nearby hills on Nussdorf. There are plenty of wineyards with a tasting guest houses and spectacular views on Vienna and the Danube river.

To feed your hunger or perhaps to do some treasure hunt, it is the best to visit Naschmarkt. You could find many architectural and interior design elements described as Jugendstil. This is a local version of Art Nouveau. So a synonym for that decorative style that makes use of curves, natural forms and ornate motifs along with modern materials. Jugendstil blossomed in Vienna during the late 19th century and early 20th century.

This July was particularly hot in Vienna. I was often searching for refreshments and somehow stumbled upon the almost forgotten juice called Almdudler. Or perhaps the Sissi’s favourite cocktail?

But for the more thirsty ones, there is always a beer. I caught the guy in typical Austrian traditional clothes. 🙂

Schönbrunn Palace was the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers. It started as a summer residence moving away from Hofburg and hot streets of Innere Stadt. The name Schönbrunn (meaning “beautiful spring”) has its roots in an artesian well from which water was consumed by the court.

It was a great hunting place, with spacious gardens and Zoo. Apparently, it is the oldest Zoo.

We were not allowed to take photos from the inside. But as this was my third time visiting the capital of the emperors who once ruled my country, I kinda became an expert of Empress Maria Theresia and her son Emperor Franz Josef l who married Bavarian rose Empress Elizabeth – the Sissi.

Ceremonial painting: It shows the Ladies’ Carousel, a kind of tournament at which the ladies of the court, led by Maria Theresa, demonstrated their carriage-driving skills. The occasion for this celebration held in 1743 was a military victory in the War of the Austrian Succession, when after the death of her father Maria Theresa was forced to defend her claim to power against half of Europe.

Bed of Franz Josef in which he died in the end. To the left you can see the praying table. He was religious and strict in his agenda. He would wake up every morning at 4:00.

Bed of Franz Josef and his wife Empress Sissi.

At the court of Maria Theresa the Hall of Ceremonies served as the Second or Great Antechamber. Here, enthroned under the canopy of state, the monarch received her guests in audience. Today this place is occupied by probably the most famous portrait of Maria Theresa, showing her as the ‘First Lady of Europe’ in a sumptuous gown of Brabant lace.

Emperor Franz Joseph, the longest-reigning emperor of Austria, was born here at Schönbrunn and spent a great deal of his life there. He died there, at the age of 86, on 21 November 1916. Following the downfall of the Habsburg monarchy in November 1918, the palace became the property of the newly founded Austrian Republic and was preserved as a museum.

The wedding of a Franz Josef and Sissi – significant event for a dynasty such as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, which is why Maria Theresa had the festivities immortalized on canvas for posterity. You can see painted coat of arms of each crowned family of the time as they came to participate the event.

Walnut room built entire;y of the walnut from Slavonia, a region in eastern Croatia.

Empress Maria Theresa gave birth to 16 children. Maria Theresa’s first child, a daughter named Maria Elisabeth died while still a young child. The second child was Maria Anna with a strong intellectual interests and was very similar in character to her father. Afflicted by a deformation of the ribcage, she was not considered marriageable and remained with her mother until the latter’s death in 1780. The third daughter, Maria Karolina died in infancy.

The arrival of Joseph put an end to the long wait for a male heir.

Maria Christina was Maria Theresa’s favourite daughter but was not particularly popular with her siblings. She was the only child allowed to marry for love rather than political considerations. According to contemporary accounts, Maria Elisabeth was very pretty and thus chosen to play a leading role in her mother’s marriage schemes. However, her looks were destroyed by a bout of smallpox and she remained unmarried, later becoming rather eccentric and cantankerous.

The second boy Karl Joseph was Maria Theresa’s favourite son: intelligent and charming. His early death at the age of just sixteen, when a smallpox epidemic carried off several members of the family, was a particularly heavy blow for his parents.

Maria Amalie was married off to Duke Ferdinand of Parma against her express will as part of the rapprochement with the Bourbons. Determined and forceful, she never forgave her mother and their relationship remained cool for the rest of their days. Habsburgs were famous for marrying to extend the Empire. Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria nube – ‘Let others wage war: thou, happy Austria, marry’. This famous saying is invariably quoted when the rise of the Habsburgs is put down to the success of their dynastic marriage policy, in which young archdukes and archduchesses were frequently married off as children to members of other dynasties, or indeed to relatives of their own.

The third son Peter Leopold initially had little chance of inheriting the throne. He was followed by two girls, who both died young: Maria Karoline died shortly after birth, while Johanna died from smallpox at the age of twelve. Another smallpox victim was Maria Josepha who died shortly before she was due to marry the Neapolitan crown prince. Her place was taken by the next eldest daughter, Maria Karolina who as controversial queen of Naples and Sicily would prove to be a true daughter of Maria Theresa. She was even more prolific than her mother, giving birth to a total of eighteen children.

Ferdinand Karl Anton was a rather nondescript character. He married the heiress to the d’Este dynasty, which ruled over the northern Italian principality of Modena, and founded the collateral Habsburg-Modena line. The best known daughter of Maria Theresa was Maria Antonia (1755–1793), who as Marie Antoinette would become queen of France and eventually meet her end under the blade of the guillotine.

Maximilian Franz, Maria Theresa’s youngest offspring, was a sickly child and thus destined for a career in the Church. He became archbishop and elector of Cologne, and was appointed Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights. 

Empress Maria Theresa gave birth to 16 children

Empress Elisabeth, Sissi was beautiful and unusually tall. Through fasting and exercise such as gymnastics and riding, she maintained her weight at approximately 50 kg for most of her life. She enjoyed travelling where she could enjoy her privacy. Due to her beauty, she would attract much attention that she didn’t enjoy at all. In fact, most of her time, she was depressed. Especially after the murder/ suicide of her son (the only heir to the throne) Rudolph.

The Mayerling incident is the series of events surrounding the apparent murder–suicide pact of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, and his lover, baroness Mary Vetsera. They were found dead on 30 January 1889 in an imperial hunting lodge in Mayerling. Apparently, crazy Rudolf planned to kill himself with his old mistress and prostitute. But when he came to her with the idea, she ditched him off and reported everything to the police.

Sissi was killed in the age of 60 in Geneva, Switzerland by an Italian anarchist.

To finish on a positive note, have a look into Vienna International Airport Lounge. They have a painting of Gustav Klimt, I think this is the best Lounge so far.

Posted on January 30, 2019 28 By RED RIDING HOOD Castle Posted in Castle, cathedrals, food and drink, History, Home page, kings and queens, Travel

RED RIDING HOOD

Weltschemerzer mit Sehnsucht. Travel is my catharsis.