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Vienna signtseeing in "Hahns Vienna Apartments(HVA)"
Sightseeing : The others - Various Click below !!
1. Danube Island (Donauinsel)
2. Danube Tower
3. Heldenplatz (Heroes' Square)
4. Hundertwasserhaus
5. Kaisergruft (Imperial Crypt)
6. Riesenrad
7. Ringstrasse)
8. St. Marx Cemetery
The Donauinsel (Danube Island), an island of about 20 km in the river Danube, is known to most visitors to Vienna, Austria as a recreational mecca with bars, restaurants and nightclubs, a wealth of sports opportunities from rollerblading, cycling and swimming to canoeing and a beach that looks and feels so good that it has been nicknamed the "Copa Cagrana/Copa Kagrana" (as it lies in the 22nd District of Vienna named Kagran). For over 20 years at the
end of June a couple million people (in 2005, it was 3 million) gather at the Donauinsel to visit the biggest open air festival in Europe, the Donauinselfest. The festival, which charges no admission fee, is very popular among the Viennese population and beyond.
The Vienna Donauturm (English: Danube Tower) was created in 1964 by architect Hannes Lintl in the course of the Viennese International Horticultural Show (WIG 64). Since then it has become a part of the Viennese skyline and has become a popular lookout point and a tourist attraction. It is situated in the middle of the Donaupark, which was built to host the horticultural fair in Vienna's 22nd District, Donaustadt, near the northern bank of the Danube. With a
height of 252 meters, it is one of the tallest buildings in Vienna. 776 steps lead to its viewing platform, which is at a height of 150 meters. It can be reached by means of two elevators, which take visitors upwards in only 35 seconds. Two rotating restaurants (at a height of 160 and 170 meters) offer a varied view over the Austrian capital. It takes the platform either 26, 39 or 52 minutes per revolution.
The Heldenplatz ("Heroes' Square") is a historical plaza in Vienna. Many important actions took place here, e.g. Adolf Hitler's announcment of the Anschluss of Austria to the German Reich in 1938.
The Heldenplatz is the outer plaza of the Hofburg and was built under the reign of Emperor Francis Joseph, as part of what was to become the Kaiserforum (imperial forum), which, however, was never completed. In the northeast, it is bordered by the Leopoldinian Tract of the Hofburg, in the southeast by the New Hofburg, and in the southwest by the Ringstraße, from which it is separated by the Äußeres Burgtor (Outer Castle Gate). The northwestern
part, where there are no buildings, offers a view of the Ringstraße with the Austrian Parliament, the Vienna Rathaus (Town Hall), and the Burgtheater.
On the plaza, there are the two equestrian statues of Prince Eugene of Savoy and Archduke Charles of Austria, who are remembered as great military leaders.
The Hundertwasser House Vienna (German Hundertwasserhaus) is an apartment house in Vienna, Austria, designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. This landmark of Vienna is located in the 3. district, Kegelgasse 34-38 / Löwengasse 41-43.
The house was built between 1983 and 1986 by architects Univ.-Prof. Joseph Krawina and Peter Pelikan. It features undulating floors ("an uneven floor is a melody to the feet"), a roof covered with earth and grass, and large trees growing from inside the rooms, with limbs extending from windows. Hundertwasser took no payment for the design of the house, declaring that it was worth it, to prevent something ugly from going up in its place.
Within the house there are 52 apartments, four offices, 16 private terraces and three communal terraces, and a total of 250 trees and bushes. The Hundertwasser House is one of Austria's most visited buildings, and has become part of Austria's cultural heritage.
Since 1633 The Imperial Crypt in Vienna has been the principal place of entombment for the Habsburg dynasty, hereditary Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, and their descendants. The Imperial Crypt (in German: Kaisergruft but usually called the Kapuzinergruft, "Capuchins' Crypt") lies below the Capuchins' church (the Church of St. Mary of the Angels) and monastery founded in 1617 and dedicated in 1632. It is on the Neue Markt square, near the imperial
Hofburg Palace. The bodies of 142 aristocrats, plus urns containing the hearts or cremated remains of four others, are deposited here (as of 2005). They include 12 Emperors and 18 Empresses. The most recent entombment was in 1989. From other families there are 32 spouses, plus four others, who have found their resting place here. Everyone else in the Imperial Crypt was born with the Habsburgs-only title of Archduke or Archduchess. The visible 103 metal sarcophagi and 5 heart urns range in style from puritan plain
to exuberant rococo. The Imperial Crypt is one of the top tourist attractions in Vienna. To this day, some of the dozen resident Capuchin friars continue their customary role as the guardians and caretakers of the crypt along with their other pastoral work in Vienna.
Empress Anna of Tyrol1, wife of Emperor Matthias2 conceived the idea of a Capuchin cloister and burial crypt for her and her husband, to be built in the neighborhood of the Hofburg castle in Vienna. She provided funds for it in the will she made on 10 November 1617, and graciously soon made the funds available by dying just a year later. Her spouse followed a year after that. The foundation stone was laid on 8 September 1622 in the presence of Emperor Ferdinand
IIx578 and after slow progress caused by the distractions of the Thirty Years' War the church was dedicated on 25 July 1632 and at Easter of the next year, the simple sarcophagi containing the remains of Emperor Mathias2 and Empress Anna1 were transferred with great ceremony to what is now called the Founder's Vault.
Emperor Leopold I37 enlarged the crypt in 1657 in the area under the nave of the church and his son Emperor Joseph I35 extended it further westward in 1710, but awkwardly, beginning the vault that his brother Emperor Karl VI40 continued westward in 1720 that extends under the chancel and the apse choir above. For the first time, a well-known architect (Lukas von Hildebrandt) was involved with an enlargement of the crypt.
In 1754, his daughter Empress Maria Theresia56 went even further west, completely past the church above, into the monastery garden with her domed addition that admits natural light. The imposing dome and crypt is the work of architect Jean Jadot de Ville-Issey. During the reign of her grandson Emperor Franz II57 architect Johann Aman turned to the north for his addition in 1824.
The monastery surrounding the church had fallen into disrepair after 200 years of constant use, so during the reign of Emperor Ferdinand62 in 1840 the monastery (but not the church) was torn down and rebuilt. As part of that project, architect Johann Höhne built Ferdinand’s Vault and the Tuscan Vault as part of the basement of the new structure. As part of the jubilee celebrating his 60 years on the throne in 1908, Emperor Franz Joseph142 had architect
Cajo Perisic build another mausoleum chamber and a chapel to the east of Franz II57 and Ferdinand’s62 vaults. At the same time, new annexes for visitors were created on either side of the church.
By 1960 it was obvious from the deteriorating condition of the tombs that the environment of changing heat and humidity needed to be controlled if the historic sarcophagi were to be survive for future generations. The New Vault, north of the Tuscan, Ferdinand’s and Franz Joseph’s Vaults, was built by architect Karl Schwanzer, with metal doors by sculptor Rudolf Hoflehner. It added about 20% to the space of the crypt, and was used as part of a massive rearrangement
of the tombs in the vaults. The original small vault had held, besides the tombs of the two founders, those of a dozen children and had been called the Angel’s Vault. Those were moved to open niches newly made in the front wall of Leopold’s Vault. Selected tombs from various other vaults were moved to the New Vault and grouped in themes such as Bishops, the direct ancestors of the last reigning emperor, and the immediate family of Archduke Karl122 the victor of Apern. Thirty seven other tombs, of some minors
and minor members of the ruling family, were walled-up into four piers created in Ferdinand’s Vault. Thus about half of all the tombs were moved out of the original vaults to more orderly places as part of that great reorganization.
In 2003 another project made the crypt accessible to the handicapped, and opened previously unused doors so that the visitor route no longer requires the 100% backtracking that was necessary before. The entire crypt was also air conditioned to prevent deterioration of the tombs. The free-standing tombs are usually variations of either a flat-topped storage chest, or a tub with sloping sides and a convex lid of tapered decks. Ornamentation ranges from simple to
elaborate.
Until far in the 1700s, the most common material for a sarcophagus here was a bronze-like alloy of tin, coated with shellac. The splendid tombs of the baroque and rococo eras are made of true bronze, a nobler and therefore more expensive material. Reforming Emperor Joseph II42 decreed simplified burial customs for the people, and introduced the use of lighter and cheaper copper into the Imperial Crypt, where it was then used into the 1800s. In the later 1800s
a mixture of cast brass and bronze as well as silver-bronzed copper was adopted. Other metals were used only rarely, except for silver and gold plating on decorations. Only one sarcophagus, that of Emperor Franz Joseph,142 is made from stone instead of metal. Various techniques of metalworking were used: full casting for the sarcophagus; hollow casting for decorative sculpture; carving, engraving, and hammered relief for surface decoration. The parts for chests and covers are riveted together, ornaments and decorative
figures are screwed on. The sculptor responsible for the most elaborate tombs is Balthasar Ferdinand Moll.
In order to guarantee the stability of the enormous display tombs, they have iron bracings and wood lining inside. This avoids both cave-ins and a buckling of the side walls from the weight of the cover. (The cover of the double tomb of Empress Maria Theresia56 and her husband,55 weighs approximately 1700 kg/3,800 lb!)
Within the outer case lays a wooden coffin that is wrapped in silk (black with gold trim for rulers, red with silver trim for others). The coffin usually has two locks, the key to one is kept by the Capuchin Guardian of the crypt, the other is kept in the Schatzkammer of the Hofburg palace in Vienna. Within the coffin, the body usually has had the organs removed as a necessary part of the embalming process for its display before the funeral. For about one-third
of the bodies, the heart has been placed into a silver urn and sent elsewhere (usually the Herzgruft in the Augustinerkirche), and for some the intestines and other organs have been put into a copper urn and deposited in the Dukes Crypt in the catacombs of Vienna’s cathedral, the Stephansdom.
Over the centuries, constant humidity, variations in temperature, and the host of visitors had taken a great toll on the sarcophagi. Corrosion craters, holes and tears had developed. Layers of the horizontal surfaces had peeled, base plates had broken through, decorative fixtures had been broken or stolen by visitors, the cast metal absorbed too much humidity and puffed up, and heavy covers had caused some sidewalls to bend or cave.
The first major restoration effort was undertaken in 1852, but further work was needed by 1956 when the Gesellschaft zur Rettung der Kapuzinergruft (Association for Saving the Capuchin Crypt) came into being to inform the public of the problem, raise funds, and preserve and restore the tombs. It was first necessary to create additional space and to dehumidify the crypt. After completion of the New Vault in 1960 and the transfer of 26 tombs from the overflowing
Tuscan Vault, the work of dehumidification could begin. Also, a workshop was created in the south end of the Tuscan Vault where highly-skilled artisans could work on selected tombs temporarily moved there for restoration.
In 2003 remodelling of the ground-level visitor facilities took place to create a new visitor entrance and make the crypt accessible to the handicapped. The visitor route was also changed so that visitors now see the tombs in historical sequence by entering at one end and leaving at the other, instead of both entering and leaving via a single stairway that is in the middle of the route. Most importantly, the entire crypt was air conditioned so that humidity can
be controlled. The repair and conservation of the artistic work takes place in close cooperation with the monks, the Association, the Austrian Monument Office and the Vienna Old City Preservation Fund. In 1960, with the various vaults overcrowded, a major rearrangement project began which resulted in the construction of the Children's Columbarium and the New Vault. At the same time many bodies were moved to those new areas, others were moved from the Tuscan Vault and Ferdinand’s Vault and walled up into the
corner piers of Ferdinand's Vault. In 2003, the Vaults were air-conditioned, more for the preservation of the tombs than the comfort of visitors
The Riesenrad (meaning "giant wheel") is a Ferris wheel at the entrance of the Prater amusement park in Vienna, Austria. It was one of the earliest Ferris wheels to be built, having been erected in 1897 to celebrate Emperor Franz Josef I's golden Jubilee. The designer was an Englishman, Walter Bassett, which explains why the wheel's diameter is a round number in Imperial units - 200 feet (approximately
61 m). The Riesenrad is now one of Vienna's most
popular tourist attractions, and symbolises the city for many people.
The wheel originally had 30 gondolas, but was severely damaged in the Second World War, and when it was rebuilt, only 15 gondolas were replaced. The Riesenrad famously appeared in the post-war film noir The Third Man. It is also featured in the 1987 Bond film The Living Daylights, and appears prominently in the 1995 Richard Linklater film Before Sunrise.
The Ringstraße is a circular road surrounding the Innere Stadt district of Vienna, Austria and is one of its main sights. It is typical of the historical style called Ringstraßenstil (Ringstraße Style) of the 1860s to 1890s.
The street was built to replace the city walls, which had been built during the 13th century and reinforced as a consequence of the First Turkish Siege in 1529, and instead of the glacis, which was about 500m wide. The fortification had been obsolete since the late 18th century, but the Revolution of 1848 was required to trigger a significant change. In 1850, the Vorstädte (today the Districts II to IX) were incorporated into the municipality, which made
the city walls a simple impediment to traffic. In 1857, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria issued his famous decree "It is My will" (Es ist Mein Wille at Wikisource) ordering the demolition of the city walls and moats. In his decree, he laid out the exact size of the boulevard, as well as the geographical positions and functions of the new building. The Ringstraße and the planned buildings were intended to be a showcase for imperial Habsburg grandeur and the glory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
On the practical level, Emperor Napoléon III of France already demonstrated with his boulevard-building in Paris how enlarging the size of the streets effectively made the erection of revolutionary barricades an impossibility
Since the Ringstraße had always been meant primarily for show, a parallel Lastenstraße (burden road) was built on the outside of the former glacis. This street is commonly known as 2-er Linie, named after the index "2" in the identifiers of the tram lines which used it. It is still important for through traffic. After some disputes about competence between the government and the municipality, a "City Extension Fund" was created,
which was administered by the government. Only the town hall was planned by the city. During the following years, a large number of public and private opulent buildings were erected. Both nobility and the moneyed aristocracy rushed to build showy mansions along the street. One of the first buildings was the Heinrichshof, owned by the beer brewer Heinrich Drasche, which was located opposite the opera house until 1945.
The only sacred building is the Votivkirche, which was built after Emperor Franz Joseph had been saved from an assassination attempt in 1853. The Hofburg was extended by an annex, the Neue Hofburg (New Hofburg), which houses the Museum of Ethnology and the Austrian National Library today. On the other side of the street, there are the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History) and the Naturhistorisches Museum (Museum of Natural History), which were built
for the imperial collections. Originally, there should have been a parallel wing opposite the Neue Hofburg, which would have been attached to the Museum of Natural History. The Heldenplatz and the Maria-Theresien-Platz would have become the Kaiserforum. However, that plan was shelved for lack of funds. The construction ended only in 1913 with the completion of the Kriegsministerium (Ministry of War). At that time, the Ringstraßenstil was already somewhat outdated, as is shown by the Postsparkassengebäude
(Postal Savings Society Building) by Otto Wagner, which was built at the same time.
The Ringstraße was also generously planned with green areas and trees, the most notable parks being the Stadtpark with the Kursalon, Burggarten, Volksgarten, and Rathausplatz, as well as a number of squares such as the Schwarzenbergplatz, Schillerplatz, Maria-Theresien-Platz and Heldenplatz. Dotted along the Ringstraße are various monuments. They include statues to Goethe, Schiller, Empress Maria Theresia, Prince Eugene of Savoy, Archduke Charles
of Austria, the founders of the First Austrian Republic, Athena, Andreas von Liebenberg, Count Radetzky, Georg Coch, and Johann Strauß amongst many.
The biggest catastrophe was the fire of the Ringtheater in 1881, in which several hundred people died. It was subsequently demolished and replaced with the Sühnhof, which was built in memory of the more than 300 victims, and inaugurated by Emperor Franz Joseph. It was destroyed during the bombing of Vienna in 1945, today the municipal police-headquarters is there.
Other buildings that were destroyed or heavily damaged during WWII was the Opera, the opposite building Heinrichshof which was replaced in the 50's with the Kärtnerhof. The Urania observatory, the Kriegsministerium and the Parliament building were heavily damaged, and the Burgtheater burned down. The famous Metropol Hotel, which was located at the Franz-Joseph-Kai, was completely destroyed and replaced with a monument to the victims of Nazism.
St. Marx cemetery (Sankt Marxer Friedhof) is a cemetery in Landstraße, Vienna, used from 1784 until 1874. It was named after an almshouse nearby. The cemetery was opened in response to a decree by Emperor Joseph II that forbade further burials in cemeteries within the outer walls of the city. He also ordered that bodies should be buried unembalmed and without coffins in mass graves. Thus the common assumption that Mozart's grave (see below) was unmarked
because he was too poor is false: his burial in 1791 after a normal funeral in the Stephansdom simply followed the regulations of the day.
It hosts the graves of
* Johann Georg Albrechtsberger
* Josef Strauss
* Anton Diabelli
* Count Philipp von Cobenzl
* Georg Donner
* Alexander Ypsilanti
* Franz Pfeiffer
* Baron Ernst Von Feuchtersleben
The most famous is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. However, 17 years after his death, his widow couldn't find his grave, neither could Vincent Novello in 1829. In 1855 a gravestone was erected at the assumed position. Later it was transferred to the group of famous musician graves at Zentralfriedhof. A cemetery worker replaced it with a memorial tablet, which was again expanded by several contributors. The rest of the cemetery decayed. It was restored, put under historic
preservation and opened to the public in 1937.
Text Source : Wikipedia
Picture Source : Planet Vienna
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