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Habsburg High Tech
With great fanfare, the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum, or Museum of Fine Arts, opened a new wing a year ago: the Kunstkammer. Its twenty grand galleries contain many of the curiosities and playthings...
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Another Tragic Habsburg: Marie Antoinette
In various places in Vienna, I’ve encountered the proud features of Marie Antoinette, the Habsburg-Lorraine daughter of the redoubtable Empress Maria Theresa. Poor Marie Antoinette was packed off to...
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Tree Tenants in Vienna
Photo by Lucian Ilica, Public Domain Last time I was in Vienna, I finally took the time to have a look at the Hundertwasserhaus. It’s a short tram ride from the center, in a residential neighborhood of...
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Walking on a Forest Floor in the City
Now that I’ve been to the Kunsthauswien, I’m sure I’ll make my way there every time I’m lucky enough to be in my favorite city, Vienna. The medium-sized museum, dedicated to the artist Friedensreich...
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Hundertwasser’s Window Rights for All
What are “window rights?” The visionary artist/architect/activist Friedensreich Hundertwasser believed that life in big cities destroyed human individuality, unless the buildings themselves allowed...
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Hundertwasser’s Three Skins
In 1967 and 1968, the artist and activist Friedensreich Hundertwasser delivered his famous “Naked” speech as a kind of manifesto of his ideas at the time. He appeared naked, and rounded up some...
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An Imperial Last Stop
Since about 1633, members of the Habsburg dynasty have enjoyed a rare privilege: their own private burial vault under the Capuchin Church in Vienna. It’s right in the middle of the city. Someday...
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A Cheerful Resting Place
The Augustinian Church in Vienna is still very much a working church. When I’m lucky enough to visit in December, I look forward to the little Christmas market held by church ladies (and gentlemen)...
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Maria Theresa, the Original “Lean In” Woman
The Habsburg dynasty was about to die out in the year 1740, when Emperor Charles VI died without a male heir. He had seen this coming; he had worked during his entire reign to promote the Pragmatic...
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Vienna Conservatory: Glorious Music, Free Concerts
One of my first stops when I am lucky enough to visit Vienna is the bulletin board of the biggest and most central branch of the Vienna Conservatory. Concerts at all three locations are always...
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Why I Love Vienna in Winter
Christmas trees, even commercial ones, are decorated with simplicity. They all look like they were decorated by a cheerful child with very good taste. The moon rises over Baroque buildings,...
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Habsburgs Hatched, Matched and Dispatched
The Augustinian Church adjacent to the Hofburg palace in Vienna is the traditional parish church of the Habsburgs. It was originally built in the 14th century; the present Gothic interior, elegantly...
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Marie Antoinette: Women and Window Treatments
The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna has one of the most famous images of Marie Antoinette, painted by Elisabeth Vigee Lebrun in 1779. It was one of her most important paintings, and the artist...
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The Fashionable Knight in Shining Armour
A couple of months ago in Vienna, I wandered into the Arms and Armour section of the Kunsthistorisches Museums–included with my museum pass, but not something that usually interests me much. But whoa!...
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Maria Christina: The Sister Who Got Everything
A few months ago in the Albertina Palace and Museum in Vienna, I came upon a small painting that showed the wreck of a carriage–an unusual subject for such grand surroundings. The caption explained...
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Maria Christina: She Even Got the Canova!
The Augustinian Church, adjoining the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, contains one of the saddest and most grandiose memorials I’ve ever seen. It occupies a huge section of wall space in the family church...
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Karlskirche Dome: Up Close and Personal
Vienna’s Karlskirche, St. Charles’s Church, is a spectacular Baroque creation, built between 1716-1737. It honors St. Charles Borromeo, who was a church reformer of the 16th century and who also had...
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Ludwig at Linderhof
“King Ludwig II of Bavaria,” Ferdinand Piloty, 1865, Public Domain “Mad” King Ludwig II of Bavaria was found dead in Lake Starnberg on June 13, 1886. He was 40 years old. The cause of death is still...
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Velazquez in Vienna
Last winter the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum had a wonderful exhibit of paintings by the Spanish master, Diego Velazquez. Many of them were from the museum’s stellar collection by the artist, but...
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Prince Felipe Prospero: A Sad Infante
Diego Velazquez, “Prince Philip Prospero,” circa 1660, Public Domain, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna This painting is one of my very favorites works of the great Spanish court painter Diego Rodriguez...
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