Wofford Travels – 2018-10-12 – Vienna, Austria

Day 3, Vienna

This was going to be the “palace” day, so, we left our hotel at 9:30 (much better), and headed over to the Hofburg Palace, in the Old City and not far from St. Stephan’s Cathedral, which we covered yesterday. It was about 10:00 AM.

First, we went to the Hofburg Palace Treasure Room, which contains some of the best jewels on the continent. There are 21 rooms filled with secular and religious ornaments, scepters, swords, crowns, orbs, heavy robes, gem-studded jewelry, a “unicorn” horn, and much, much more

The Habsburgs saw themselves as successors to the ancient Roman Emperors, and they wanted crowns and royal regalia to match that of the ancients. Because this is a well-preserved and massive collection, I will just give a few examples of the many displays.

The jewels are the true treasures used by the Habsburgs to impress their relatives (or to hock when funds got low). You will find such things as an irregularly-shaped 2,680 karat emerald, which was made rough cut as the cutter wanted to do only the minimum to avoid making a mistake and shattering the giant gem. Or, you might be impressed by a 492 karat aquamarine. I certainly was!

I found the religious rooms most interesting. They contained crosses, chalices, mini-altarpieces, reliquaries, and bishops’ vestments. Like the medieval kings who preceded them, Habsburg rulers mixed the institutions of church and state, so these precious religious accoutrements were also part of their display of secular power.

Another fascinating section dealt with the regalia of the Holy Roman Empire. Several of these rooms contain some of the oldest and most venerated objects of the Treasury. The big red-silk and gold-thread mantle, nearly 900 years old, was worn by the Holy Roman Emperors at their coronations. Readily evident is the oriental imagery. The hem is written in Arabic wishing its wearer “great wealth, gifts, and pleasure.” The robe was brought back from the east by the Crusaders, giving the German Emperors an exotic look like the great biblical kings such as Solomon.

Next, we went to the Sisi Museum. Some background:  Sisi grew up on a Bavarian estate around horses and woods, far from sophisticated city life. Franz Joseph (he came into power as Emperor during the popular revolution year of 1848) who’d been engaged to her older sister, saw Sisi and her happy and carefree manner and fell in love with her. They married. However, at the reception, she burst into tears, making evident the first signs of things to come. (We later learn that she suffered from bouts of depression and her periodic melancholy was evident in her poetry.)

The museum begins with Sisi’s (Empress Elisabeth of Austria) sad end (1837-1898) showing her death mask and photos of her funeral procession. And with her death, the obscure, private empress’ legend began to grow. A plaster cast makes evident one aspect of her persona that everyone knew, her beauty. She was 5’8″  (a head taller than Franz Joseph) with a 20″ waist (she wore very tight corsets, and yes.. 20 inches…I saw it myself) and weighed only 100 pounds.  (Her waist only grew to 21 inches at age 50 after bearing four children. Also, she was known for her magnificent hair which fell down to her ankles in her youth. (She became well-known in the 1950s with a series of movies based on her life. She is portrayed as either singing or crying at any given point in the film.)

The last room shows the cause of her demise, an assassination. Sisi was traveling and while walking along a street in Geneva, was stalked and attacked by an Italian anarchist who despised royal oppressors and wanted notoriety for his cause. (He’d planned on  assassinating a less famous French prince that day – whom he’d been unable to track down – but quickly changed plans when word got out that Sisi was in town.) The murder weapon was a small, crude, knife-like file. It made only a small wound, yet it proved fatal. (You could see the slight tear in the dress where the attack occurred.)

After all that “intense” history, we decided to take a break and walked over to the Cafe Hofburg nearby, breaking our 2-meals-a-day routine. Our feet and brains needed a rest. It was a beautiful day, sunny and pleasantly warm, and we could sit outside. We ordered spinat-schafkäsestrudel (spinach and feta cheese strudel and herb sour cream…beer and my “fizzy” water (with gas-as they say. or sparkling).

After lunch (2:30) we went to see the Imperial Apartments. Background: There were private apartments and public meeting rooms for the emperor and empress. Franz Joseph lived there from 1857 until his death in 1916 .

Franz Joseph was the last great Habsburg ruler. In these rooms, he presided over defeats and liberal inroads as the monarchy was becoming obsolete. He met with advisers and foreign dignitaries, hosted lavish balls and dinners, and raised 3 children. He slept on his austere bed alone while Sisi retreated to her room. And, he suffered through the execution of his brother, suicide of his son and heir, the murder of his wife, and the assassination  of his nephew, Archduke Ferdinand, which sparked World War I and the end of the Habsburg Monarchy.

Again, there is way too much to cover the rooms and their furnishings here in any detail. Suffice it to say, we saw Franz Joseph’s Audience Chamber (anyone could meet with him, if for only a minute or two to discuss whatever concern they had), his study, bedroom, large and small salons, the empress’ bedroom and drawing room, dressing and exercise rooms (she was a health and exercise fanatic for the purpose of maintaining her looks…it seems to have worked!), the laundry and bathroom, servants’ quarters, the empress’ large and small salons,  and dining room. Needless to say, tables, chairs, and sofas were lavish. There were tapestries, and formal carpeting, gold gilding, numerous china collections, large silver flatware collections, a gold centerpiece that stretched across an extremely long table, and on and on.

At around 5:30, we decided it was time to call it a day for sightseeing and headed over to the Esterhazzykeller Restaurant. Tom decided on a a Esterhazzykeller burger and sweet potato fries (maybe the best he’s ever had), and I had a soup bowl with liver dumplings, cheese gnocchi (it was a bigger plate than I could finish) and salad. (I would have ordered something else had I known I would be getting such a high carb plate.)

Then the trip back to our hotel…at a reasonable time…so we could start to get ready for our departure the following morning.

Tita