August 10 Klosterneuberg and 11 Kuntericheshistore
August 10 Monday
Today was our trip to Klosterneuberg with Prof. Stuart who had ordained me with the responsibility of figuring out our route. Over the weekened we determined the easiest way to get there would be to meet at Heiligenstadt across from the Karl-Marx-Hof prior to our bus ride. This allowed us to sit in the nearby park for a few minutes at the Karl-Marx-Hof, a housing project spawned in the wake of WW1 and the ascension of Socialists to power in Vienna during the interwar period in an era called Red Vienna.
After Taking our moment in the park to socialize and soiree we made our way back to the bus stop across from the hof to take the 400 bus out to the town of Klosterneuberg. More specifically the stop at stifgarten since the prof wanted to walk up the back side of the monastery. The monastery itself is upon a hill with a commanding view of the freeway, formerly a bend in the river Danube but this portion of the river had been redirected for public health during the projects
of Franz Ferdinand II. The monastery is also quite large in scale, even though it only hit one quarter of its planned orginal size. It is just mind boggling to me to consider just how truly massive the monasstery would have been. Alas the construction was never completed as when Maria Theresa came to power in Austria-Hungary she redirected the construction efforts towards the expansion and completion of her summer palace at Schloss Schonbrunn.
Arriving at the monastery after the brief walk from our stop we entered into the side hall called The Hall of Giants, a large oval shaped room decorated with statues of atlas around the ceiling of the room. Originally used for storage the room was since converted into a gift shop and cafe as well as the entrance to the Monastery's vault, our first stop on the tour. Not a museum but a vault, as the many items held within including scepters and vestments are still actively used for the many feast days celebrated at the monastery throughout the year. There are also a few sanctified relics, which I'm not sure I've ever truly stood in the prescene of, a strange feeling to see something like someones skull that has been so revered for so many centuries.
After our time in the vault we briefly walked the exterior of the monastery in through what would've been a simple side entrance but has since become the main entrance. I only mention this 'simple' side entrance since it had beautiful interior decorations and a large vaulted ceiling, and I struggled to imagine just how massive the planned main entrance would have been. For me the most interesting part of the tour was the walk through the private sections of the abbey and especially a small private chapel meant for the canons which holds the remains of St. Leopold III, the founder of the abbey, and his wife. I just felt it was a very surreal experience to stand so close to someone who had been sanctified. After our tour our canon guides led us to a nearby weinhof for our end of day siesta where we enjoyed a fantastic cheese spread and the Abbey's own branded wine.
August 11 Tuesday
Today was our trip to the military history museum within the arsenal of Vienna. Construction on the project began in 1850 in the wake of the 1848 revolutions across Europe. Contructed at the behest of the young Kaiser Franz Joseph I the 'weapons museum', as it was called in its arsenal days, was built and extended over about the next decade and was intended to be the centerpiece of the new Viennese military structures located along the ringstrasse. Meant to be 1 of 3 major military fortifications within the city the locations of these buildings would effectively allow the rapid deployment of troops to anywhere within the to suppress any and all uprisings or large public gatherings.
We had been instructed today to pay special attention to Ottoman-Turkish forces, particularly how they were depicted by Austrian artists in scenes of battle against Austrian Forces. I find it frequently in museums western artists may fall upon the tropes of Eastern Invaders as hordes of barbarians but I found in many of these depictions the Ottoman-Turkish forces were displayed as a much more exotic opponent, perhaps to infer just how deadly these enemies were as a sort of round about way to depict the Austrians own prowess. So I'm not certain if the depictions are respectful out of a honest place, or if the Austrians simply take more pride in defeating a more deadly foe.
For me personally the most deeply impactful part of the museum was the exhibition dedicated to the royal couple Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Sophie, Duchess of Hochenberg, and their murder at the hands of Serbian anarchist Gavrillo Princep.
Featured in the exhbit in their tour car, in which they were shot, as well as the uniform of Franz, bearing the bullet hole and the marks of the desperate attempts of the doctors to remove the stiff woolen uniform. Also present in the exhibition are the pistols used by the assassins that day, as well as the specific pistol used by princep to fire the two shots that ended the lives of the royal couple. To stand in the midst of so much history, to ponder upon the way history was and all the ways it could've been will likely be all the food for thought I need for the remainder of today.
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