Tag Archives: Austria

Jul30

The Vienna Natural History Museum – Naturhistorisches Museum Wien – Part 1 (The Natural History)

Posted on by
Standard

Monday, 01-July-2024


After an equestrian tour, three churches, and a crypt, I was ready for some SCIENCE.

Now… where had I seen some SCIENCE recently? Ahh yes – the Art History Museum!



Well… sort of. You see, dear readers, the Art History museum has a twin. Literally, a twin building, immediately across the gardens, built as a mirror. Art History, presented as one part of a twin pairing with Natural History. Kind of a neat idea, isn’t it?

I thought so. So did Emperor Franz Joseph, who opened both buildings simultaneously in 1891. Guess I’m in good company, huh?



I walked over. Bought tickets, had a slice of Vienna cake and a coffee, and then ventured into the exhibits.



Holy crap were there exhibits. Rows upon rows, ranks upon ranks. Minerals, gems, meteorites, fossils and placards.

I tried my best to focus and enjoy and learn, but… I’m going to be honest here. I got pretty saturated. There was just so much to see, so much to enjoy and to appreciate and to just take in. Descriptions of how gems formed, detailed analysis of the mineral deposits found in Austria and abroad and how they impacted history. A full walkthrough of an ancient salt mine, in more depth than even the Wieliczka mine got into. Plants and animals and even an Animatronic Dinosaur! Placards in German and English, some in just German…



I walked, I learned, and I became overwhelmed. I enjoyed it, until I didn’t… and then I simply walked. I didn’t stay longer than I wanted to, but I will admit that the last few rooms and exhibits definitely went by a bit quickly.

Thankfully that was expected and planned for, though, and those final rooms were examples of taxidermy animals from… drumroll please… North America! That wasn’t an accident either – I’d made a point to save those for last, just in case I got overloaded… so they made for a nice little send-off before I headed out, and set my sights on dinner…

Jul29

St. Stephen’s Cathedral – Domkirche St. Stephan

Posted on by
Standard

Monday, 01-July-2024


After emerging from the endlessly ornamented underground crypts of the Hapsburgs, I felt like I needed a bit of opulence to make up for the sudden lack of decadence.

I set my sights on the Natural History Museum – the twin to the Art History museum, one that I expected to fully satiate my need for incredibly ornamented beauty. On the way, though, I found their equal – or even their better, if you’re interested in gothic architecture over baroque.

St Stephen’s Cathedral, a landmark of soaring gothic buttresses and spires.


I… uhh… I explored it. Went in, looked around, took some photos… I mean, it’s a cathedral, but it didn’t have an unexpected concert going on, so I didn’t really have much reason to stay too long. There were some beautiful paintings, of course, but… well, I wandered, explored, and moved on.



Now, to be clear, I could have explored much further. There were catacombs and tombs, from what I could gather, along with a bell tower that could be visited. All of those, though, required one to book a tour… which only ran at certain times of the day.

For one reason or another, I was feeling a bit antsy. I wanted to walk, and to move, and to do my own thing on my own timetable. I avoided the tours, and set my sights on my next stop – relegating the various tours and options to my list of things to see the next time I visit Vienna.

Jul29

The Crypt of the Hapsburgs – Kapuzinergruft

Posted on by
Standard

Monday, 01-July-2024



Have I mentioned that Vienna is slightly well ornamented, possibly to the point of being ostentacious, and well within the realm of opulence?

Well.

Turns out, the Hapsburgs are buried here, in a private crypt safeguarded by a private monastery. Turns out, new (joking) life goal – have my own order of monks.

As I was walking back from a lovely lunch, I noticed a sign for “The Crypt of the Hapsburgs” in English, along with the German version of “Kapuzinergruft”. I hate to say it, but I grew up hearing “Kaput” as a kind of joking way to say something’s broken… so while I logically know that it’s just the root of the name of the monastery…

Well, I definitely had to stop in and see what it was.

It was… it started normally enough, with a few small caskets that seemed fancy, but not overwhelmingly so. There was also a sign, mentioning a quote from one of the Emperors who was quoted along the lines of “everyone is equal in death”, which seemed a little inaccurate when I walked into the next room and saw a casket roughly the size of a mid-sized sedan, or a little bigger than a nominally-priced New York City apartment.



Still, it was interesting to walk through the crypt and see the caskets and how they varied over time. Those that were still actively venerated with flowers and offerings, and those that apparently hadn’t been visited except for dusting and tourists like myself.

It was a bit of a quick trip, for me, since none of the placards were in English… though I did stop at a few spots to do a translation to read a little bit more. Frankly, though, that was few and far between. In general, I simply wandered and appreciated the ornamentation and sculpture, along with the architecture of the varying rooms and the general “feel” of the area.

It was definitely interesting, and absolutely worthy of a quick stop-by.



Also, interestingly, the Hapsburg line has NOT ended – the most recently interred member was last year, in 2023, and there are quite a few currently living members:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Habsburg