Vienna: A City of Christianity and Judaism

[smallhobbit]

We're back from our visit to Vienna, which was a fascinating city, and where we did a lot of walking.  There was a lot to see, and needless to state we didn't see everything, but we did manage quite a lot one way or another.

We began, as all good tourists do, with a visit to St Stephan's Cathedral.  The roof is incredible, and, inevitably the stained glass windows attracted me.  Equally inevitably, my photos of the window aren't too good as the sun insisted on shining through them.







Once we'd visited the Cathedral, we spotted a poster advertising Leonard Bernstein: A New Yorker in Vienna at the Jewish Museum.  SM is a big fan of Bernstein, so although the Jewish Museum wasn't on our list of places to see we were open to detour and we found the museum and the extremely interesting exhibition.  In addition there was a display on the Jewish presence in Vienna up to the 1400s.  The museum is in two sites and one ticket buys entrance to both sites, with four days to visit.  So a couple of days later we saw the other museum, which covered the period from the 1800s onwards.  What I hadn't realised was the strong anti-Jewish feeling from the ex-Nazi element in Vienna even after the end of WWII.  And sadly it remains today, both museums have armed soldiers posted outside.

Below is the door of the hotel we were staying at, plus the plaque in the pavement by the door.



We were staying near the Votivkirche, and the morning we were leaving we went to have a look inside.  More glorious stain glass:

Comments

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Those are some impressive stained glass windows! So big! I am glad you had a good time and had time to work in impromptu things that appealed.

[smallhobbit]

The stained glass was brilliant. We had things we wanted to do, but we also had time to vary what we did, which was good.

[annofowlshire]

Lovely pictures, it sounds like a glorious trip! Vienna is definitely on my (long, long) list of "places to go in Europe."

[smallhobbit]

It was a great trip. Very tiring by the end of each day, but well worth visiting.

[solosundance]

Lovely photos - the Cathedral interior with that gorgeous floor is wonderful. Appreciated your instagram posts too. Glad you had a good trip!

[smallhobbit]

Thank you. The cathedral is a beautiful building. I'm so pleased you liked the Instagram posts, I shall be using a number of the photos in my blog.

[aome]

It's Leonard Bernstein's 100th birthday this year, so there's been a LOT of tributes to him, at least in the States, mostly in the form of everybody and their brother performing West Side Story (either as the full-on musical, or by doing famous selections in orchestral/band arrangements, etc).

Vienna is such a beautiful city - including St. Stephens. It's been 21 years since I was last there, and I didn't know about the Jewish museum or the lingering attitudes there, so thanks for my Something Learned today!

[smallhobbit]

Yes, we've seen a lot of Bernstein celebrations and this clearly tied in with that.

I'm pleased you learned something from my blog. I learned lots on our trip which makes me very happy.

[scfrankles]

What a wonderful cathedral - that roof really is something else. And those stained glass windows in the Votivkirche are beautiful.

I hadn't heard of the Jewish Museum before - it sounds so interesting. How depressing though that both sites need to be guarded like that. And the plaque in the pavement at your hotel is so quietly powerful.

[smallhobbit]

We were really taken with the roof and the stained glass.

Yes, the Jewish Museum was very interesting, and the plaque just spoke of so much.

[howsmyenglish]

may i ask, why do you say "ex-nazi"? do you really mean the old, almost died out people, who were Nazis during WWII? is this some information that was given to you or what you thought after seeing the guards?

[smallhobbit]

The Bernstein exhibition spoke of the number of members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra who had been members of the Nazi party during WWII, and who were made up a significant proportion of the orchestra even in 1946-7, which was why Bernstein refused to conduct them at that point.

We saw the guards - who were members of the Austrian army, and not simply appointed by the museums, so indicative of the need for protection felt by the government - and we enquired about it. We were aware of a right-wing element being present in the country.

[howsmyenglish]

I was so interested in this that I googled it: it looks like the Austrian Bundesheer is guarding the Jewish Museum and Judenplatz (right?) since 2017 along with "a number of foreign embassies" (they don't say, which, but the number is given as 28) "to help the police" - this last statement sounds strange: do they mean that usually it is the police, who guards such places?
But yes, after reading comments beneath the news item about the guards ("I hope Israel is paying for it" etc.) I, too, am aware of a right-wing element present there somewhere. Very sad. I had no idea.

Before these posts of yours, for me, Vienna was mostly the city that was chosen by one of my favorite writers (Jonathan Carroll, an American). I've never been there myself, only jumped from one train into another once...

[smallhobbit]

You are correct that those are the two places. As in Britain, most embassies would be guarded by the police (in Britain armed police, as you probably know most of our aren't armed), but clearly the Austrian government sees a need.

The presence of the right-wing element is sad - even more so because it is growing more apparent in many western European countries.

[moth2fic]

I think I liked the exterior of the cathedral even better than the interior. The Bernstein exhibition must have been interesting.

[smallhobbit]

The exterior of the cathedral is impressive - the interior is better than my photos show. And we were very pleased to have spotted the advert for the Bernstein exhibition and gone to it.

[margaret_r]

Lovely photos and really interesting details about the museums and exhibits. So sad that the nazi influence is still going strong and there's a need for guards.

Sorry this is a bit late, RL has been on my tail again so I'm behind with things in general.

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much - I'm delighted you found it interesting.

It's hardly late - we've been back less than a week!

[corvidology]

I hope you had a really good time In Vienna. I always love the stained glass in old churches.

[smallhobbit]

We did thank you. I'm a great fan of stained glass.