Palaces, museums, and churches! Oh, My! Explore the amazing Vienna, Austria!
Vienna (Wein in German) is one of the top destinations in Central Europe. The capital of Austria is chock full of museums, palaces and churches. I set aside four full days for Vienna. Honesty, it was not enough time.
Vienna’s history spans from its time as an Ancient Roman military camp to today as a very modern European city. Not much remains of the Ancient Roman camp, as the area in right in the town center. The current city wouldn’t really develop into a city until the 11th century. Not much remains from the medieval period either. Vienna was reconstructed several times, the latest being after WWII. Quite of few of the damaged historic buildings thankfully were rebuilt.
Jana Irving Starting off with some remains of the Ancient Roman military camp. This was the floor and hypocaust of an officer’s fancy villa found in the basement of the Römermuseum, Vienna’s Roman museum.
Now for a wander. I started my visit on a Sunday. It was gloriously sunny, but the amount of sun was deceiving. It was ridiculously cold. Frigid. The entire time I was there. Missouri winter did not prepare me for a wind chill below 20 degrees F (-6 C) as a high. I guess this is what I get for traveling in February.
Jana Irving Mozartdenkmal (Mozart Monument) in Burggarten, a city park I walked past every day. The Treble Clef is normally made of flowers in the summer. Now it’s just outlined by the snow that fell the day before.
Jana Irving The giant Hofburg was the imperial palace of the Habsburg empire. This wing was never quite finished before the dissolving of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of WWI. This win hosts the national library, and a bunch of other museums and collections. I ran out of time to visit the museums in this section of the Hofburg.
Jana Irving Next door to the Hofburg is the Schmetterlinghaus, an Art Nouveau butterfly garden. Another thing I missed.
Jana Irving The Hofburg is just a bunch of buildings built at different times joined together. This courtyard, Schweizerhof (Swiss Court), in the oldest section of the palace and mostly dates from 13th-17th centuries.
Jana Irving The Schweizertor (Swiss Gate) was the original main gate.
Jana Irving The Innerer Burghof (Inner Castle Square) complete with a statue of Emperor Franz I.
Jana Irving St. Michael’s Wing has the fanciest covered driveway ever. This became the formal entrance of the Hofburg in 1893.
Jana Irving That’s quite an entrance.
Jana Irving Heading away from the Hofburg. It will make another appearance.
Jana Irving The Graben, a lovely pedestrian area. That column thing is the Wiener Pestsäule (Column of Pest) which was built to commemorate victims of the plague, in the late 17th century.
Jana Irving St. Peter, a gorgeous baroque church.
Jana Irving I was able to check out the interior the next morning.
Jana Irving Gorgeous ceiling.
Jana Irving The gorgeous St. Stephen’s Cathedral.
Jana Irving The cathedral wasn’t open yet when I walked past on Sunday. But I did stop in the next morning. It is simply stunning.
Jana Irving The previous picture was the free view, but I paid a small fee to explore the rest of the church. Why not?
Jana Irving Even the altar is stunning. I love the little guy in the window.
Jana Irving Very Gothic.
Jana Irving Tiny, gorgeous chapel.
Jana Irving The Tomb of Emperor Frederick III (1415-1493).
Jana Irving Gorgeous altar.
Jana Irving Back to that cold, sunny frigid day.
Jana Irving St. Johannes der Täufer, an unexpected Maltese church.
Jana Irving It’s located on a very busy shopping street.
Jana Irving Found a little quiet spot.
Jana Irving Coming into a very 19th century area of the city.
Jana Irving Vienna has a fairly extensive tram network.
Jana Irving Just a casino.
Jana Irving The Vienna Music Society.
Jana Irving An old art nouveau subway station at Karlsplatz. Unfortunately, it’s not well taken care of.
Jana Irving Vienna’s most famous church, the gorgeous Karlskirche, a Baroque and Rococo masterpiece finished in 1737.
Jana Irving I was even impressed.
Jana Irving Looking back toward the main entrance.
Jana Irving Just look at that altar!
Jana Irving Just stunning.
Jana Irving That’s one fancy confessional.
Jana Irving A very oval church.
Jana Irving They let you go up to the roof so you can get a close-up of those giant columns. They are based on the style of Trajan’s Column in Rome.
Jana Irving Quite a church.
Vienna is amazing. This was only a bit of two days and I have much more to share, more palaces, more museums, and more awesome.
Check out my next update where I continue exploring Vienna!
or
Start at the beginning of this adventure in Zurich!
